How a World War 2 Tour Inspired Sarah to Redefine Her Story and History

Have you ever signed up for a trip - maybe on a bit of a whim - only to find out how significant it would be in helping you redefine your life going forward?  Sarah Blake is with me today, sharing how she was inspired by Harry Connick Jr, H Company and a friend to take her first solo trip and historical tour in Europe to check out WW2 sites.  The stories she shares about her experiences, the Veterans she met, and the really fun Supper Club are really touching and what I love is that Sarah also recounts how much she learned about herself and how this trip changed her trajectory.  How one unforgettable comment from someone she met along the trip changed her perspective forever and helped kickstart her tackling her Live It NOW list.

Sarah Blake is CEO and founder of Sarah Blake Consulting focusing on Emotional Intelligence & Leadership coaching.  She works with individuals and companies utilizing coaching, trainings/facilitation, and consulting strategies to reinforce growth.  Connect with Sarah at https://www.sarahblakeconsulting.com

I hope you’ll also check out additional info on this historical tour on my DestinationU website plus bonus of some wonderful photos of the trip on the site or in the video version of our interview that will be also shared on YouTube.

Transcript

One of the things I learned was in Holland. So after the war, I mean, obviously there is lot, a lot of, a lot of the American soldiers are buried out in the Normandy cemetery. Didn't realize that there's a big cemetery and Holland. And after the war that the, the government decided that they were going to donate some of their best farming land to be the cemetery for the American soldiers that had died.

And on top of that, Like high respect, Yes. Like shouldn't, they, yes, they deserve to be in the best soil because they gave their lives for our freedom. But that also is the thing that made me go like, in the back of my mind, this was that five days until the end of the trip. But it was always kind of in the back of my mind of 17 I'm 31, man. Like those, I almost lived twice the lifetime of them. And what am I doing with my life, except for I, I trying to hold a marriage together that didn't hold together, trying to find a career so I can survive on my own and treat myself to a once in a lifetime trip. Right. And it's like, but what am I really doing with my life?

Yup. You are listening to the life reimagined podcast where we are redefining and re-imagining, what's possible. We're prioritizing and really going after our limit now list not a bucket list, but instead committing to living our lives. Now with more curiosity, more intention, and a way more fun over 40 I'm your host, Wendy, and you joining me today represents my own unexpected and fantastic chapter.

And it took a little risk, a little courage, but it's been such a wonderful journey and adventure, our guests share and inspire with their story about either how they decided to take a big step forward or go on that epic adventure. Now what the experience was like, what they learned from it and how it's shaped much more than them going forward. I'm really happy you're here.

And I hope our stories inspire and empower you to go after something on your live it now, list and take some action today. So let's hop in Sarah Blake is with me today and she and I connected in our local women's organization on entrepreneurial ship. And we immediately connected. Sarah shared her story about her World War II adventure. 

So if you've ever seen Band of Brothers or even like saving private Ryan, you get more curious about what really it was like to be in the middle of World War II, you know, as a kid, you know, you heard certain stories and yes, I had my history class, but unfortunately I did not appreciate history until after my grandparents had passed. So I didn't get to ask them more questions about what they knew of that time.

But I have traveled in Europe quite a bit. And every time I'm in Germany and in the areas where World War II battles were fought, it always raises more of my curiosity. So when I learned about Sarah's really amazing trip to go see the World War II sites with a veteran and learn much more in depth about what the day to day life was like for easy company and others.

I thought it was fantastic. And it's something that I thought would I would share and something I thought would be wonderful for our community to hear let's dive in and hear from Sarah about what made her trip and experience so incredible. And then all the other learnings she took away from it that have shaped her path going forward. Okay. You took the store.

How did this even get started in your head? Oh yeah. Yep, Absolutely started with Memphis Belle - gotta love Harry Connick Jr. We did the mini series Band of Brothers, it was like a 10 part mini series. And I was like, this is fascinating. Ended up getting divorced. After that, I was like, I want to do what I want to do an international trip.

And the whole notion of doing something alone was a little scary to me, but I was like, okay, I'm not going to let that be an excuse. So what could I do if I wanted to go across Europe? And I was like, oh, I like Band of Brothers and found the Steven Ambrose Tour Company. He's guy who wrote the book.

And they actually have a Band of Brothers trip that starts in Camp Taccoa, Georgia, where they trained. And then we went over to England and then hit all the major spots. And the best part about this was there was going to be a World War II veteran from H Company that was going to be on the trip too. So you got like the real life living history experience.

I kept trying to find people to go with me and nobody was interested. Nobody would go. And I can remember a colleague had just told me his story, how he was up in the mountains, Rocky Mountains, and fell off his bike, busted himself all up. And I panicked for him like, oh my gosh, what have you broke a leg? What have you got bit by a rattlesnake? And you were there all alone. And just looks me dead in the eyes and goes, “see Sarah, that's why you'll never do anything alone and on your own.” And I was like, I'll show him. And I printed out the paperwork and signed and faxed my deposit.

That was February and the trip was in September. And I said, dang, it I'm going with or without anybody. I'm going to do this trip. Yep. Several of the people I've interviewed to date and in my Life Reimagined community all love the solo trip. So this was going to be your first solo trip. And it's different than a single trip.

Yes. The solo. It's not a singles trip where they're trying to hook you up with other people like a dating trip, but it was with the tour company. And that's why I decided to do it because it felt safer. It was very like the very first night when we did our welcome dinner, I think that there is maybe three of us that were solos and everybody else were together – there was a lot of husbands and wives.

And the wives didn't realize like how much of a history trip. There were fathers and sons. And there was one 17 year old girl who convinced her grandmother to take her on this trip, which was fabulous. You know, you see somebody, I think besides her, I was the youngest person on this trip. And definitely the only single female.

Actually, that's not true. There was a 60 year old lady from Utah. He came on the trip too. So yeah, it was always a, your first time going, slow it with a group you don't know at all. I knew nobody. Absolutely nobody. So after, you know, after you got, after the gauntlet is down, you got told, you'll never go alone. You sign the check, you get going. 

Okay. So now you're getting closer to the date. Where are you getting more nervous? Or were you getting more relaxed with the idea I? It was excitement. And sometimes that can be the nervous excitement. And sometimes it's the, oh my gosh, I'm actually doing this.

I don't know, a hundred percent what I'm in for, but I know I'm not going to be left alone. I think that was the biggest thing is, and so it was that, that excitement and also people being very surprised. I, I liked the fact that people were so surprised that I was like screwed. I'm doing it.

Okay. So then you connect with everybody, you show up. All right. Was it at all? What you expected when you first showed up? I'm not sure I really went in with too many expectations. I did expect to be probably one of the younger people there, probably when I was the only solo females there and really being a female on this trip alone was a little different. 

And I was within, I'd say the first four or five days I met up with, there was a gay gentleman from Boston who was actually very nervous being on this military trip, being a gay man in his early forties. At the time, a Mormon woman from Utah. And then two other gentlemen from Nashville, Tennessee, which I did not understand wealth until I met them and they have to hang. They met because they had two hangers next to each other because they have private planes. And one of them has a P 51 Mustang, which is a World War II era plane.

And the other one has a bunch of RAF Royal Air Force like, oh, you little museum set up in his hangar. And the five of us became friends and we called ourselves a Supper Club and we ended up not doing dinners with the rest of the tour group. And that actually triggered the notion of, I always have to budget in extra money for the cuisine of the countries I'm going to, and to not worry about, oh my gosh, I don't have enough money for it for this dinner, because that was like half of the experience. And if it wasn't for those folks basically adopting me and covering half of my meals for me. I wouldn't have experienced the trip the same way I did in the countries and the conversations and the way I did with those four other individuals. 

Yeah. That cultural immersion I think is so critical. And I think unfortunately, some people miss that they go overseas or they go to another, you know, they go to New York city or they go to Paris, but it's those, those several hour-long dinners where you're just talking with somebody with a very different perspective and learning what their life is like, that is so valuable and so memorable. And that's, I think what if people don't have that already worked into their planning of trips, hopefully this will encourage them to think a little bit differently, a little more broadly. If that's the one thing you take away from this exp experience, the culinary culture of wherever you end up going. 

And I have to tell you that, I mean, this cultural immersion is a whole other side topic because I'm not a, I'm not a big foodie. I have the craziest taste buds, but on a trip I will still try anything including really bad, you know, fishy thing. I've tried Hakarl in Iceland and it's awful, but Hey, I've done it. 

Okay. So, so now you're on this trip, you found your group and you guys are having these dinners. So tell, talk a little bit more about what the experience was like, you know, did, were you on an, off a bus all the time? Were you walking into like different fields? Was it, you know, what was it like to actually go to any of this? 

It was all of that. So it was, they did have a video, like a VCR thing on, on the bus. So before we would hit certain sites such as like a big field, like a farmers field, we’d learn we were at one of the very first encounters that Easy Company had and Band of Brothers and one of the military tactics that Captain at the time he wasn't Captain, but Captain Winners came up with was actually still taught at West Point today because of some tactics that he came up. And so that he came up with in the moment.

We'd see that on the bus and then get out and we could see, oh, you could actually see like the real distance of, you know, imagine a firefight going on and how somebody could come up with these tactics. 

There were some museums that we would visit and, I think most of your listeners will, but at least the term, the Battle of the Bulge will say, oh, I know something about that. Right. And so that was the one place the Veteran did not get off. The bus was in the Ardennes forest, right outside of the town of foil. And he sat there and I went on this trip to be, to get to know the Veteran. And so I would wait then he had his cane and sometimes the wheelchair and I'm like, are you sure you don't want to come out? And he's like, “I was here. I think it was 64 years ago. And my legs have not been the same sense. I've been there. I've done that. I don't ever need to see that again.”

And so that was like, oh, I mean, some of those moments, like it really hits you. And he tried to put on a brave face, he was there to help educate, to help the people that were paying for this trip, but he was like, “Nope, not gonna do it.” And so it was like, oh wow. Like, yeah, just, it just, it just kind of hits you of what they go through and that they, they really don't talk about it. And then to physically be back at a spot and to say, Nope, don't need to do that. 

So was it a combination of, you know, physical and emotional for him at that time? Or was it strictly emotional? That he's it's okay. He's been there too many times and it's hard. I, it's more emotional there for sure. You know, I became really good friends with him and actually got to go visit him and his family where he's from in Michigan afterwards. But they, they made accommodations have a wheelchair as long as somebody, one of us was, was pushing or somebody, you know, helping him with his cane and walk. 

But that was really more emotional at that one. For sure. It was one of those been there, done that. And if you've seen any of the videos or even the re-enactments of what happened out there, I'm not surprised. I'm not surprised at all that he was like “Nope. Thank you. Y'all y'all go do your thing. I'll be waiting here when you get that.” 

So then you had seen, you had seen enough, you know, enough to get you to start and take this trip. Did you learn more than you expected or did it feel different than you expected? I learned things that I never thought I would have learned. Right. And so one of them was, I didn't know, tons going into it besides I didn't even read the book. I saw the movie that the mini series and I was like, this is cool. And I get to see all, I get to see seven different European countries and learn a little bit more about history. 

One of them was one of the things I learned was in Holland. So after the War, I mean, obviously there is lot, a lot of, a lot of the American soldiers are buried out in the Normandy Cemetery.

Didn't realize that there's a big cemetery and Holland. And after the War, the, the, the government decided that they were going to donate some of their best farming land to be the cemetery for the American soldiers that had died. And on top of that, Like high respect, Yes. Like they deserve to be in the best soil because they gave their lives for our freedom.

And I found it fascinating. The only way I can really figure out how to the analogy of like, if you're from, if you're from a big like football city and you have season tickets, like for us, for Denver, Denver Bronco tickets, season tickets typically get passed down generation to generation, to generation. Well, that's similar to what happens there.

The soldiers burial sites, a family will adopt a fallen soldier and they care for that site. And they also learn everything about that soldier in their history, where they grew up, how when they first enlisted and they also know where they died. And so when family members come out, American family members come out, they can get connected with the family who has adopted the grave site.

And that family will take them on tours to say, you know, this is where, and that is actually one of the, one of the things that really hit me was it was not scheduled part of the tour. But a family member that had adopted a young gentlemen and site took us out, took the entire bus out to, and it was somebody that Fred knew and took us out to this.

Fred is the Veteran.  That is the H Company Veteran that was on the trip. I mean, everybody should just know who Fred is. When I say Fred and World War II. He's like, he was a ladies, man. I can tell you that much. So, so we were looking at this little gully, it just, just a little bit of a gully. And it was there when Fred found out this is where the 17 year old kid he knew was killed. And Fred was carrying the guilt. Fred didn't know where the kid actually ended up dying, but he knew that he sent this kid out on a mission to deliver a message and the message never got delivered because the kid was killed.

And there was so much survivor's guilt. Like, like for the most part, he would put on a good front and he would try and find the humor and the fun memories of the places where we were in this one. It was just emotion, but he could not control of guilt of, of feeling like he sent somebody to their death in there.

It was, there was always more than just one person that, but that, that's what the, that's what the people of Holland will do is that they will, they know the stories, they know where the, where the, where fallen soldiers were and to be able to bring that to life and give people closure. 

Yeah. That, that was, that was a beautiful experience to, to see that. But that also is the thing that made me go like, in the back of my mind, that's what like five days until the end of the trip, but it was always kind of in the back of my mind of 17…..I'm 31, man. Like those, I almost lived twice the lifetime of them and what am I doing with my life?

Except for I trying to hold a marriage together that didn't hold together, trying to find a career so I can survive on my own and treat myself to a once in a lifetime trip. Right. And it's like, but what am I really doing with my life? 

Okay, so you go on this trip, you know, that it's already a risk and you're stepping out by taking a solo trip and this is going to be cool, but you start to learn and grow way more than you probably ever expected because all the experiences, then all of a sudden, now your perspective is shifted. Right. 

So then you, you go again either in the future, either with Fred or so, how did you get back then? Because I know you connected again, one of the drivers.  So you, you go through this experience, it's incredible. You learned things – yep things I would never know. Right. Who knew, right. Who knew?

And so you leave with this really blessed experience. So then how, how did that change you going forward? So the blessed part of this experience for me, there was all the people and just all, all of the knowledge, but the last night we were taking a little mini bus up to the Eagle's Nest, which was Hitler's summer retreat.

And we had a private dinner up there and on the way up there, like, I don't journal as much as I would like to, but I was journaling that trip because I knew I, everything was, you know, blurring together, but I'm journaling away. And I can remember his two sons and a dad, but they're looking at me like,

I'm crazy. And they're like, what are you doing over there? And I'm like, I'm writing down my bucket list. And they're like, what? And I'm like, I'm right on my bucket list because that 17 year old story just hit me. And I was like, I wanna, I want to do things. 

And they're like, Sarah, you're too young.  You're way too young to do that. And I'm like, but I'm not. I want to learn how to kick box and do mixed martial arts. I want to jump out of an airplane. I want to be comfortable around firearms. I start calling up my lower Croft list. Yeah. I want to learn how to drive motorcycle motorcycles. I want to live in a foreign country.

Right. And so, you know, pulling that all together and it made me look at my life and say, what am I not doing for whatever reason? And there are so many reasons. And, and a lot of those reasons had no truth behind them, but starting that list. And so a year later was the 65th anniversary of D-Day and the tour company knew how much I connected with the veteran,

Fred, that they invited me to come out to be his family member for the 65th anniversary of D-Day, which, oh my gosh. It was, it was amazing. I, I only did part of the trip because my younger sister was getting married. So I had to fly out of Paris and he didn't do the rest of the trip, but I'm lucky enough that the same bus driver from a year ago was the best driver for this trip.  His name is Haya. 

And I, I was catching up with him and telling him, yo, Hey, I, I started my bucket list and I started doing some other things on the bucket list. And he just grabs me by the shoulders. You know, here's this Dutch man just grabs me by the shoulders. And he's like, “Sarah, it's not that life is too short.  It's that you have, but one life.” 

And that was like one of those. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Like I, people can say life and the life is too short. Thing was because of the 17 year old aspect. But this whole other shift now of eight doesn't matter how short or how long my life is. It's that I only have this one life.  What am I doing with it? 

Absolutely. Yeah. So this was a Dutch bus driver. And here you are with Fred. And again, even that experience going back with Fred as his family member, you said President Obama spoke and yeah. Huge ceremony. I mean, again, that you would never have been a part of, if you hadn't taken that jump and joined this group as a solo member, right?

Yep. Okay. So you're right. So for me, I think, you know, I also had a shift. I had certain things happen in my life post divorce for me to a very close friend with a very scary cancer diagnosis. And at the time career was great, flying everywhere. I was busy, busy. Life's good. I'm building my world. And, and then I went, oh, oh no, what if I can't do that tomorrow? Or what if I never get to do X or see this place? Yeah. So like you, it just changed my whole perspective. 

And so I love the fact that, again, this is a kinship in that when you and I started talking, we're both subscribers to the belief that it's not a traditional bucket list but instead it’s a Live It Now list, like do not wait until you're 75 and go on some bucket list because it's important to go now, when you can jump out of an airplane or you can physically walk across that field and see what it feels like and smell the grass and, and really empathize with what it was like to be on, you know, in that battle. 

So then how do you, how have, how have you progressed on your bucket list or your live it now list? And then you said you did take your skydiving trip. I did. I was a tandem. I did, yes, I did that. That was another, that was the birthday gift to myself.

So yes. And did that got comfortable around firearms? Still? Not extremely comfortable, but I'm not as, as scared, like before it was like, I don't even, so I'm trying to think of things shifted though for me also, is that, like you said, A little bit more so perspective because it is, it's all of a sudden and some people don't get it or haven't experienced it.

I think COVID has woken some more people up in this way, especially around our age group, but, but it is a shift. So my list, it's funny that for a while there, I was very intent on doing things on my list. Like I, even one of them was to live in a foreign country, learn a foreign language, live in a downtown urban area where I didn't need a vehicle. So I started applying for a bunch of jobs with NATO. At the time I, I had the qualifications that would allow me to be applying for those jobs and not necessarily things have shifted to the point that a lot of the things on my list aren't necessarily things about who I am today.

One thing on my list that has not changed at all is traveling and being okay, traveling solo again, not single but solo. And did that doing Ireland ended up doing St. Patrick's day in Dublin, which was amazing. I could convince somebody to go on that trip with me, but I signed up solo and said, if you want to, you know, this is open to anybody who wants to join. Great. If not, I'm going, I did have somebody do that. And come on that trip with me. And then for my 40th, I wanted to see the Northern lights, which they say, don't schedule a trip. I go out to see the Northern lights, because more than likely not gonna happen, unless you do a three week trip. And when I went to Iceland, had a friend say, yes, I will do that. I just, I apparently got to pick the right places for people to want to go with me. 

And, and I've learned that with a bunch of the side trips, it was, I'm going to do my site trips. Obviously you're welcome to do the site excursions also, but we're not doing these trips lock step, right? Like we don't, we don't have to, which was very different mindset from how I grew up from how I thought my marriage should be to how I saw other people's relationships being and going.

I can tell you the one thing that really did come out of that trip from the Band of Brothers trip was it would not have been the same experience I would not have. It would not have been that, that holistic my experience if I went with somebody else like that, that, that was, that was the big aha moment, which led them into these other trips of me saying, you do, you, I'm going to do me. And if they happen to be the same things, great, if not that's okay. Because that's when I got so much more, I wouldn't have met half the people I met on those trips. You would have been talking with your friend and your friend, and you would have been talking about this site or that museum or something.

You wouldn't have those amazing in-depth conversations with Fred or with your supper club. Right. And you wouldn't get to know these people in the same way. And, and it is scary for somebody if they're listening and they haven't taken a solo trip, it can be very intimidating or scary. And we have, like you said, you got this narrative, like you're going to be sitting in the corner and the spotlight will be on you.

And everyone's gonna be like, oh my gosh, she's got no friends. No, no, no, no, no, no. It's a totally different experience. And I also love the fact that even when you at, from this point on, and you're traveling, you say, you know what, I'm going, I'm doing a, B, C, and D. If you don't want to do those things, great, just I'll meet you up for dinner, or I'll meet you at the hotel, because that is a gift I also got from my family growing up, that it's okay to have different interests. And, you know, if we go on places, we just always meet up for dinner.

That's kind of our thing. But, you know, will you go on that excursion? You go this way, but it takes a lot of confidence. And I do you feel like with each time that you're doing it, that you're getting more comfortable and more confident about it? Yes. And I'm learning a lot more about myself, each one of these trips.

I mean, that's been a, really an, a learning how I come across to my friends. Like the people that eventually end up going on trips with me though, the person that I did Ireland with at, towards the end, like I was beyond frustrated with this person was like, I did all, I felt like I did all the planning and all of the work for this trip.

And I don't know if you've read the Tao of Pooh, like how there's a book called the Tao of Pooh. Okay. Okay. So my friend is a poo where things just happen and they work out great for them. Right. And, and I was at such it, we're walking out to a Fort, you're such a poo and you can be a poo because all of the people around you take care of stuff for you.

And he's like, but I, and he just kind of stops and looks at me and he's like, but I thought you liked planning. And I was like, oh, no, no. Like, I, I don't like, I I'm good at it. And I don't mind doing it, but I don't like it to the point that I want to plan the entire trip.

It's exhausting. No. And, and that was a big like, oh, I come across as wanting to be like fat in control and that in it. And so learning that about myself and how I come across to be able to have those more open conversations, whether it's dealing with another potential solo trip and someone says, yeah, I want to go along.

Or just almost anything like that. That was one of the big gifts that, that I got out of some of these travels As learning more about yourself. And, you know, and this is the other part I think you and I also have talked with is that our 25 year old or a 35 year old self would not have understood that even if, if today you could go back and tell your younger version, your younger version would be like, that's great. I'm working right. Or that's great. I'm raising the kids or I'm working on my marriage. Right. It's Right. And so I love the fact that at this stage we learn and discover so much more because it's just a different perspective.

It's a different perspective. And I think for a lot of, a lot of us, especially our generations, it's a matter of not just different perspectives, but redefining things like for me, one of the big things was redefining success and success does not have to mean a marriage and kids and a house, and so much put away in retirement. And you, by this age, you should be making six figures and blah, blah, blah. 

It's really redefining what your story is. And not the stories that we've been told, whether it's family stories or societal stories, Right. That we feel like we either have to live, live out, or we have to live up to your right. And it wasn't with any mal intention. Right. It was with love that it was shared. These stories were shared with, with us with love, right? Yeah. Love and protection, but it made us, you know, that people, I think it's the terminology's overplayed but I don't know how else to describe it, except for you to play small. You know, they put us in boxes, they kept putting us in these boxes and they put us in the boxes because they thought they were protecting us. And they thought it was out of love because they wanted to protect us and not see us get hurt. But at that same time, it's made us not dream and made us not dream big and, and, and feel like, oh my gosh, I can have a Live It Now list. And it's not a bucket list. And it's okay that I want to experience something instead of taking care of everybody else, because that's what we were taught. Yup. Yup. Put everything else first. Yep. Okay. So Sarah let's then transitioned and share then how this has informed where you are career and per you know, professionally and personally. So you deal with emotional intelligence and a lot of really cool work. That again, did you ever, you know, if you were, would you ask your 25 year old self, would this be the type of work you'd be doing? 

I never had dreams. Like, like I, I actually wrote a post, you know, I was a child of the eighties and everything was the sitcom era where you had the problem and that, you know, things were okay. And then the rising conflict and then, yeah. And then the resolution, and then, you know, Disney story happily ever after. But I was, you know, it's all within 30 minutes and I wasn't taught how to dream. I was taught, you know, to be, you know, get educated enough that you can get a good job. So you can be a functioning member of society and maybe, or maybe not, you get married and you procreate. Right. Like, and, but, but like what that job was or career it never, I never, I never really had that. I did not, ever think I'd really be an entrepreneur or a solopreneur – I had a great career. A defense contractor for 15 years that turned into a total burnout. That's a whole other story about what stress can do to you and needing to, I call it my three years to detox from corporate life, because it really did take that long to get those stories out of my head. And 25 year old me would have just said, push through it, push through it, you know, it's okay. And if my body did not shut down on me the way it did, I think I'd still be there or at another night at the company working hard, putting my head down, just, just, you know, and that's not my story. My story is to now shift and say, what, what did I learn from that experience? Because I don't want anybody else going through what I went through and I, or my nieces, like you think about my nieces. And I think we're still so far away from real true cultural change.  Cultural change and societal cultural change. 

So I focus on values. I focus on values, your story and not the story that you were told to live and your surroundings and how those all three need to come together to create alignment. And if one of those are off, you're gonna that alignment's not going to be there that flow's not going to be there, but that takes a lot of work to figure out who you are. And twenty-five year old me thought she knew everything. And it took like, yeah, this huge shift in going, oh my gosh, who am I? I thought my identity was so tied to a career that so, and, and I didn't have the language. I didn't have the language around values 2S to look at somebody and say, my values are misaligned with yours. So I'm not okay. Whether it's with this behavior or this, whatever. I didn't have the language behind values. I didn't do any values work, I mean, I don't think we're really ever taught that until we go off into this entrepreneurial world. And it's encouraged the stories that the stories I do, you work with the emotional intelligence work and use Carl Young’s archetype will work through culture talk and really understanding who you are versus the stories you were told, who you should be, and then the surroundings. And you know, whether that's your family surroundings, whether that's your, your company's surroundings, your friends’ surroundings, and it's taken a lot of work, but it's, I'm, I'm real excited to be working and coaching people. 

Sometimes we'll go in and do work with a company culture work to and leadership type of work, but you got to yourself and that's where that emotional intelligence comes in. Great. And so, okay. So somebody hopefully been listening and says, oh my gosh, I could really use some help aligning my values and my stories and what I'm doing next. So how do they find you? How do they get in touch with you? And if you're listening,

Of course, we'll be posting this information also in the show notes so that you can find Sarah, but all right, Sarah. So how, what, how did they find you? It's www.SarahBlakeconsulting.com.

Very good. All right. Well, thank you so much for sharing your story with us today.

It's, you know, like I said, I was never a history buff growing up, but I loved the Band of Brothers. I love Saving Private Ryan. I love anything that has to do with World War II as it was in the forties. And my biggest regret is that I didn't ask my grandparents more questions about this before they left. And so I think it's really cool that you took that leap.

And again, what an, a nice, what a nice new path that opened up and all these different experiences. So thank you so much for sharing with us today, Sarah. And hopefully those listening are going to be encouraged to not only, you know, that not that life is too short, but that you get one time. This is one shot at it.

And that hopefully there'll be encouraged to take their solo trip, and hopefully they'll be encouraged to make sure that they're proceeding and going forward in alignment with their values. Yes. So Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you so much for joining Sarah and me today. And Sarah, I hope to see you soon. And for those that will catch me next time.

Thanks so much for joining. So what do you love about history? Where would you go? Would you go to the Civil War battle fields in the U S there's so much amazing history and Virginia and the Carolinas. Would you go somewhere out west? Would you go to Europe, World War I, or World War II? Would you go check out Pearl Harbor in Hawaii?  I've seen that, and that's amazing. 

So there are so many ways you can build a trip or an adventure around something historical. So what, what floats your boat and what peaks your curiosity? 

Our podcast is brought to you by Inspiring Your Next community of bold and amazing women who have all embraced this perspective. We only have one life and we're committed to making this one count, so get more info on my website, or connect with me your own personal adventure concierge. And let's set it up. 

Thanks for joining us again today. I hope you have a chance to lean in further with some of the free resources in my destination, your website, and maybe connect with Sarah and see how she can help you live more aligned with your values and your story.