Podlipodcast player Webplayer

Joy First®

Joy First®

I'd Never Had a Gap Year. So I Took One at 35

Joy First® · Sep 2, 2026 · 30:26

0:0030:26

Listen in the Podli app 🎧

Follow your favourite podcasts, listen offline and in the car with CarPlay and Android Auto, and always pick up where you left off. Free to try.

I lost my dog. I rented out the house. I tackled a mountain of adulting to finally live the freedom I'd built. And it all started with one small tweak to my calendar.


I will never forget standing in a tiny grocery store in Lake Como, Italy... holding a lemon almost as big as my hand with the leaves still on, and realizing this wasn't a holiday. It was my actual life.


I would I have posted those lemons on instagram, but what you wouldn't fave seen there, is what it actually took to finally be standing there.


I'd built a business I could run from anywhere (a six-figure online membership and consulting business, run entirely over Zoom). I had been running it from my tiny terrace house in London. I could be anywhere, but instead I sat at my kitchen table, day after day... sometimes splashing out to the coffee shop down the road.


What was the point of having autonomy if I was too scared to use it?


In this episode (Joy First Decision #6) I tell the whole story of how my husband and I came to live in Lake Como, Italy, Morzine, France, and Mallorca, Spain after losing my heart dog Olivia, becoming reluctant landlords; moving into a spare room in someone else's house, and then actually hitting the road for the digital nomad life. All while running the business, working with clients, writing a book, and getting paid to speak on stages.


In this episode:

• Why you can build total freedom and still never use it

• That the biggest joy so often sits on the far side of the discomfort you're avoiding

• How the whole thing started with one small choice: a single change to my calendar


If this resonated, follow the show and leave a review. I will see you next time for Joy First Decision #7.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episodes: Joy First®

PodliGet the free Podli app
↓ App