HeadRightOut - Live Your Bucket List: Super Powers and Angry Man on the South West Coast Path - 002: Julia Goodfellow-Smith

Live Your Bucket List: Super Powers and Angry Man on the South West Coast Path - 002: Julia Goodfellow-Smith

09/17/21 • 54 min

Author, Julia Goodfellow-Smith talks about her need to adventure, and how it was spurred on by a personal health scare and the death of her mother. We chat about why it took her 25 years to realise that there were many things on her bucket list. One in particular that really needed conquering, she discovered she could actually do it. The resilience and positivity of this woman is incredible. Julia shares insights about our superpowers and how we can harness them to use to our advantage.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 00:20

Well, hello lovely people! Welcome to the HeadRightOut podcast. In today's episode, I'm going to be talking to Julia Goodfellow-Smith, and we're going to be talking about her need to adventure, and how it was spurred on by the death of her mother just before retirement, and a personal health scare. And we discuss how it took her 25 years to realise that there were many things on her bucket list. But one thing in particular that she really needed to conquer, and that she could actually do it. My goodness me the resilience of this woman is incredible. And we talk about our superpowers and how we should harness them to use to our advantage. And for me, I could really see a direct link with work ethics and routine and just think about how you operate in your own work life. I'm pretty certain you'll find your superpowers there, lurking somewhere. So Julia recently published a book and we're going to talk about her book as well. So without further ado, I am going to launch into our conversation to HeadRightOut.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 01:37

Well, hello everybody, and welcome to the HeadRightOut podcast. Today is the 7th of July 2021, and I have with me today a very special lady. Her name is Julia Goodfellow-Smith, and she is going to talk to us, all about making your dreams a reality. So there's some very exciting things that she has been up to of late, so I'm going to just read you a little bit about Julia and what she's what she's been doing. So Julia Goodfellow-Smith is an ordinary person who is doing something extraordinary. Living her bucket list, she would like to help others do the same, which is why she has written this book. She has held a variety of management and consultancy roles in a range of sectors, including conservation, volunteering, banking, and construction. She is currently focusing her attention on adventure, writing, and presenting. Julia lives close to the Malvern Hills with her husband, Mike. She spends a lot of time either wandering on the hills or working in their small woodland nearby. She is a member of the Women's Institute and Toastmasters International, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a senator of Junior Chamber International JCI.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 02:53

Wow. That is amazing. So, Julia, thank you. Thank you so much for agreeing to come on the podcast that is quite a list of things that you've been up to there, and that you have attached to your name? Where do we start? I think before I just dip in and allow you to tease out some of that I would just like to start with a quote from your book. And I believe it might even be the first quote. It's on page nine of your book. And this just absolutely resonated with me, because I did get a pre-copy to read for Julia. So it says "life is to be lived as a magnificent adventure, or not at all". And wow. Was that...? I didn't actually write down who wrote that quote. I think it was... it was a lady.

Julia Goodfellow-Smith 03:44

It was Helen Keller.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 03:45

Helen Keller. Yes, I was. I was about to say Helena Bonham-Carter but I know that's not right!

Julia Goodfellow-Smith 03:50

No that's not quite right.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 03:51

No it's not is it?!

Julia Goodfellow-Smith 03:52

So? Well? Yeah. I mean, that just absolutely sat with me perfectly. Because that's that's what I'm about. So where did this come from this need to adventure and this realisation that if life is about adventure, you've got to just grab it. What was that all about?

Julia Goodfellow-Smith 04:09

Well, there are two things that have happened to me that have had a big impact on my desire to adventure. The first happened quite a long time ago now - twenty years ago, and it was my mum, she died from cancer at a very early age, she was only 59. And I was in my thirties. And I thought to myself, I can't wait for retirement to have adventures, because she died six months before she retired. So that got me really thinking about how I was spending my life and what I was doing for work and things like that. And my life did change radically after that moment, but more recently, I had a bit of a health scare. I know it's a bit of a cliche, but I was told that I had a lung condition. That means that as I get older, I'll be more susceptible to respiratory disease when I found that out, the words that I heard were actually, "i...

Zoe Langley-Wathen 00:20

Zoe Langley-Wathen 01:37

Zoe Langley-Wathen 02:53

Julia Goodfellow-Smith 03:44

It was Helen Keller.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 03:45

Helen Keller. Yes, I was. I was about to say Helena Bonham-Carter but I know that's not right!

Julia Goodfellow-Smith 03:50

No that's not quite right.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 03:51

No it's not is it?!

Julia Goodfellow-Smith 03:52

Julia Goodfellow-Smith 04:09

Previous Episode

HeadRightOut Trailer

How many times have you wanted to try something new, but that mean little voice in your head has held you back? How often do you really step out of your comfort zone? Come on, be honest. Have you even explored what this feels like or is it simply too terrifying for words? I know I've been there.

HeadRightOut is a new podcast looking at exactly this topic. You can expect conversations with resilient women who have stepped, jumped or dived headfirst out of their comfort zone. We'll be sharing HeadRightOut Moments, and you can follow me on my own journey to test and sustain a life to HeadRightOut.

My name is Zoe Langley-Wathen. And at the age of 40, I did just that I headed out of my comfort zone on a solo long-distance walk that I'd avoided for fifteen years because I thought I couldn't do it. But that challenge stretched my capability boundaries beyond belief. And beware the cliche, it changed my life, forever.

Ten years later, I have walked countless trails, long-distance and otherwise, left my job. I'm writing a book about the South West Coast Path. And I've moved from an established home in 2020 to go and live on a narrowboat. Plus, I'm setting up this podcast.

I am SO excited to be able to share my HeadRightOut story with you, and the conversations that will take place with many awesome, resilient women. And whether you're male, female, or non-binary, I want you to know that neither age or gender should ever decide what you can or can't do.

So here it is. This is your invitation to join me for the HeadRightOut Podcast, launching at the end of the summer 2021, it will be available on all the major platforms. If you hop over to headrightout.com you can subscribe to be the first to hear when episodes land, and when I'll be publishing my new book.

Okay, I'll look forward to seeing you there. And in the meantime, please, please share your own HeadRightOut moments with me. You'll find me on socials as, wait for it, 'HeadRightOut' on all platforms. Of course, what else would it be?

I am Zoe Langley-Wathen. And this IS a HeadRightOut Moment, encouraging you to head out of your comfort zone into the outdoors, keeping your head right and healthy. See you there!

Next Episode

Why so many women are scared to adventure and recognising our female role models with Tough Girl Founder 003: Sarah Williams

A powerful conversation with Tough Girl Challenges founder and Tough Girl Podcast host, Sarah Williams. As friends, we easily cover multiple topics across our conversations. These include how to meet fear head-on and deal with it; why Sarah is inspired by two specific female role models/mentors and the moments in her life that nearly broke her. Interestingly, she elaborates on how those darkest times taught her the most and benefitted her in ways she could never have imagined. There are references to many long-distance trails, in the UK and overseas, with the Appalachian Trail being lauded by Sarah as the most life-changing for her, personally. A female adventure epic.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 00:09

Well, hello, and welcome back to the HeadRightOut Podcast. My name is Zoe Langley-Wathen and I am your host. This is a relatively new show, and I hope if you're here for the first time that you will consider hitting that follow button in your podcast app, because we need to get as many subscribers and followers as we possibly can to grow the show.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 00:34

I'm really excited today, because we're going to be talking to Sarah Williams, who is the founder of Tough Girl Challenges, and the host of the amazing Tough Girl Podcast. It's a really powerful episode, and although we're two friends, and we giggle a lot, and we have a little bit of a chatter here and there, we do go into some deeper stuff. Sarah gives some really strong messages of how to look at fear and how to reframe it. We discuss why so many women seem to be hesitant to adventure and where that fear might actually come from. Sarah talks about her passion for wanting to set up Tough Girl Challenges, and the podcast way back six, seven years ago now. I asked her about who her role models are and that was a really fascinating part of the conversation. So I hope you'll stick with us to listen.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 01:29

Today, here is a beautiful, beautiful day. It's September. It's the seventh of September, and we have just got the hottest weather at the moment and the tops of the trees are changing. There's hardly a breeze out there and the canal is still. We've had some dog barking issues. So I will say, you might hear birds tweeting and that probably isn't a problem. But if you get some interruptions partway through the recording, I apologise because there was a bit of a dog pack issue out on the towpath partway through the recording. So yes, without further ado, I'm going to head off into the introduction.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 02:16

Okay, well welcome everybody to another episode of the HeadRightOut Podcast. I am so excited today. I can't begin to tell you I have got a very good friend of mine, an inspirational lady and all round adventurer, challenge inspirer. She is an author. She's an award winner. I'm going to go through her bio in a minute but we have got Sarah Williams, the host of the Tough Girl Podcast and founder of Tough Girl Challenges here. So good morning, Sarah.

Sarah Williams 02:47

Good morning. How you doing?

Zoe Langley-Wathen 02:48

I'm very well thank you. So I am going to introduce you, because I just felt all of the things that you have achieved over the last six or seven years just needs to be acknowledged and I don't want to miss anything out for certain.

Sarah Williams 03:02

I'm getting ready to be embarrassed and ready to cringe. It's a very British thing like oh my god, okay. I'm ready for it.

Zoe Langley-Wathen 03:08

You've got to soak this up and enjoy. So Tough Girl Challenges was started in 2014 as a way of motivating and inspiring women and girls. My mission is to increase the amount of female role models in the media with a focus on women who do adventures and undertake big physical challenges. I am the host of the two times award winning Tough Girl Podcast where I interview inspirational female explorers, adventurers, athletes and everyday women who have overcome great challenges. The podcast is listened to in 174 countries around the world and has passed 1.8 million downloads. Based on monthly downloads. The Tough Girl Podcast is in the top 15% of podcasts globally. I completed the Marathon des Sables in April 2016. That's six marathons in six days across the Sahara Desert. In 2017, I through hiked the Appalachian Trail solo and unsupported. That's 2190 miles in 100 days, which I also daily vlogged. In 2018 I cycled over 4000 kilometers from Vancouver, Canada via the Pacific Coast Highway ...