#111 The Order of Things: Chasing Joy with Sarah Gormley

May 22, 2025

Hi! New here? Welcome to the Uplifters! I'm Aransas Savas. I've spent the last 20 years at the intersection of behavior change research and coaching. On The Uplifters Podcast, we share diverse stories of women who have found something beautiful on the other side of the hard stuff. Despite self-doubt and fear (and honestly, who doesn't have those?), they've done big, brave things anyway, and show us how we can too!

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Today’s Featured Uplifter:
Sarah Gormley

"This man saw me crying at the gas station. And he was like, 'Ma'am, ma'am, are you okay?' And I'm like, 'Yes, I'm just so happy. I can’t believe this is my life.’"

For decades,

Sarah Gormley

had been checking all the boxes – impressive marketing titles at companies like IMAX, Martha Stewart, Girl Scouts of the USA, and Adobe, beautiful apartments, climbing salary figures. On paper, her life looked perfect. But underneath that polished exterior was a thick layer of hurt and emptiness that no promotion could fill. "I'm smart, I'm skinny, I'm successful. I have done what you fucking people ask me to do," she remembers thinking. "Where's the good stuff? Where is the joy?"

It’s not just that Sarah traded her high-powered career for an art gallery in Columbus, Ohio (a place she never thought she'd live). It's that she discovered the courage to question whether these external markers of success were ever what she wanted in the first place. Sometimes the bravest thing we can do is admit we've been chasing the wrong dream.

Her Courage Practice: Taking Time to Look Things Over

Sarah describes her practice as "taking out the issues and looking them over." When negative thoughts about herself arise — what she calls her "Scott Kennedy voice" after a childhood bully — she acknowledges them, examines them briefly, and then consciously decides whether they deserve her energy.

"Some days are better than others," she admits. "If you've got stuff, take it out and look at it. Look over your issues and decide what matters and what doesn't." This simple practice creates space for joy that was previously filled with self-criticism.

Sarah doesn't pretend negative thoughts don't exist or that joy comes easily. Instead, she's developed the ability to sort through mental clutter quickly, keeping what serves her and releasing what doesn't. It's not about being perfect; it's about reclaiming the energy we waste on perfectionism.