You can’t control what happens to you, but you can choose how you respond to the circumstances and that’s where the power lies.
Our guest today is the shining example of this quote. Sarah Susak completely turned her life around (literally) after being diagnosed with a rare head and neck cancer, which she survived. In this episode we dive deeper into that journey and what she did to transform both her physical, mental and spiritual state.
Sarah Susak has a 20+ year career as a corporate lawyer starting in her early years in private practice before moving to Colgate Palmolive Pty Ltd as their Corporate Counsel on a secondment. That secondment turned into an almost 10 year stint with Colgate eventually as their General Counsel moving to Geneva, Paris and New York for various international roles and specialising in marketing and innovation.
As a lifelong charitable volunteer and devoted philanthropist she then took an unexpected but unregrettable return to Australia to work for a charity she is passionate about requiring an almost three year sabbatical from law all together. She worked for Wayside as their Partnerships Manager in a non legal role filling one of her great passions which is community.
Her legal career was reignited when she took the role as general counsel at Coca-Cola where she had great fun for almost another ten years before moving to her current role as GC in an iconic Australian food manufacturing company called Kinrise who makes famous brands like Cobs popcorn and Greens baking products.
She has also just launched her new business, a side hustle for something she is exceptionally passionate about given its huge impact on her own health and wellbeing after a very frightening battle with cancer (which she has survived!) and that business is called Medi Steady Go where on weekends she teaches Vedic Meditation, an ancient and effortless meditation technique she credits with transforming her life.
She also has a book in the oven that is almost finished baking which she plans to release this year! She is a mother of a gorgeous 7 year old girl called Stella and is married now for over 10 years to her Croatian husband Halan.
In this episode:
We talk about this and so much more.
I know how much value you’re going to receive from this episode, Sarah is one in a million and provides so much wisdom in a practical way you can start implementing in your life right now.
Tune in today!
Connect with our Guest:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-susak-2795b3a5/
Instagram: @sarah_susak
Website: https://www.sarahsusak.com/home
Connect with the host:
Website: https://marijaduka.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marija-duka/
Instagram: @marija.duka
Join The Unbound Lawyer Program HERE.
You can’t control what happens to you, but you can choose how you respond to the circumstances and that’s where the power lies.
Our guest today is the shining example of this quote. Sarah Susak completely turned her life around (literally) after being diagnosed with a rare head and neck cancer, which she survived. In this episode we dive deeper into that journey and what she did to transform both her physical, mental and spiritual state.
Sarah Susak has a 20+ year career as a corporate lawyer starting in her early years in private practice before moving to Colgate Palmolive Pty Ltd as their Corporate Counsel on a secondment. That secondment turned into an almost 10 year stint with Colgate eventually as their General Counsel moving to Geneva, Paris and New York for various international roles and specialising in marketing and innovation.
As a lifelong charitable volunteer and devoted philanthropist she then took an unexpected but unregrettable return to Australia to work for a charity she is passionate about requiring an almost three year sabbatical from law all together. She worked for Wayside as their Partnerships Manager in a non legal role filling one of her great passions which is community.
Her legal career was reignited when she took the role as general counsel at Coca-Cola where she had great fun for almost another ten years before moving to her current role as GC in an iconic Australian food manufacturing company called Kinrise who makes famous brands like Cobs popcorn and Greens baking products.
She has also just launched her new business, a side hustle for something she is exceptionally passionate about given its huge impact on her own health and wellbeing after a very frightening battle with cancer (which she has survived!) and that business is called Medi Steady Go where on weekends she teaches Vedic Meditation, an ancient and effortless meditation technique she credits with transforming her life.
She also has a book in the oven that is almost finished baking which she plans to release this year! She is a mother of a gorgeous 7 year old girl called Stella and is married now for over 10 years to her Croatian husband Halan.
In this episode:
We talk about this and so much more.
I know how much value you’re going to receive from this episode, Sarah is one in a million and provides so much wisdom in a practical way you can start implementing in your life right now.
Tune in today!
Connect with our Guest:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-susak-2795b3a5/
Instagram: @sarah_susak
Website: https://www.sarahsusak.com/home
Connect with the host:
Website: https://marijaduka.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marija-duka/
Instagram: @marija.duka
Join The Unbound Lawyer Program HERE.
Welcome to the Career Confidence Podcast, the podcast for driven lawyers wanting to step out of the traditional path and build fulfilling and purposeful careers. I'm your host, maria Ducar, legal counsel and career coach, helping you navigate your career with intention and confidence. In this podcast, we don't show away from having real conversations about topics that matter to us. Driven AF go-getters From manifesting your dream career, negotiating the salary you deserve, creating your personal brand, knowing when it's time to pivot. We cover these topics and so much more. You ready, let's dive into today's episode. You can't control what happens to you, but you can choose how you respond to the circumstances that you're dealt with, and that's where the power lies. You may have heard this quote and it is a very common quote, but today's episode really, if I had to sum it up, is literally about this Taking personal responsibility and being able to control your life. Our guest today is the shining example of this quote. Sarah Suzak completely turned her life around, quite literally, after being diagnosed with a rare head and neck cancer, which she has survived. In this episode, we dive deeper into that journey and what she did to transform both her physical, mental and spiritual state.
Speaker 1:Sarah has a 20-plus year career as a corporate lawyer, starting in her early years in private practice before moving to Colgate Palm Olive as the corporate counsel on a secondment. That secondment turned into an almost 10-year stint with Colgate, eventually as their general counsel, moving to Geneva, paris and New York for various international roles and specializing in marketing and innovation. As a lifelong charitable volunteer and devoted philanthropist, she then took an unexpected but unregretable return to Australia to work for a charity she's passionate about requiring an almost three-year sabbatical from law. All together, I mean, that just goes to show that you don't have to have a linear legal career in order for it to be thriving and fulfilling. She worked for Wayside as their partnership manager in a non-legal role, filling one of her great passions, which is community. Her legal career was then reignited when she took the role as general counsel at Coca-Cola, where she had great fun for almost another 10 years before moving to her current role as general counsel in an iconic Australian food manufacturing company called Kinrise, who makes famous brands like Cobbs, popcorn and Greens Baking Products. She has also just launched her new business Aside Hustle for something she is exceptionally passionate about, given its huge impact on her own health and well-being, after a very frightening battle with cancer which, as I said before, she has thankfully survived, and the business she created is called Medistedy Go, where on weekends she teaches Vedic meditation and ancient and effortless meditation techniques she credits with transforming her life. She also has a book in the oven that is almost finished baking, which she plans to release this year. She is a mother of a gorgeous 7-year-old girl called Stella and is married now for over 10 years to her Croatian husband, helen.
Speaker 1:In this episode, sarah shares her career journey and how following her heart always led her to the next exciting opportunity that felt fulfilling and purposeful. She talks about how she took charge of her life after being diagnosed with cancer and how Vedic meditation completely transformed how she shows up in life today. Sarah also answers the million dollar question, which is can you have a successful career and also a thriving life? We talk about this and so much more. This is such a beautiful and powerful conversation that I gratefully had with Sarah and I know that you are going to receive so much value from this episode.
Speaker 1:It transcends beyond your career. We talk about so many deep topics and how really you can transform and take charge of your life to live a beautiful and joyous life that you love and create a career that feels fulfilling to you by defining your own version of success. Sarah truly is one in a million and provides so much wisdom and shares with such authenticity and transparency in a practical way where you can start implementing a lot of her tips in your life right away. Now, without further ado, let's meet Sarah Suzak. Hi, sarah, welcome to the career confidence podcast. I'm so excited to be sitting here with you today and share your story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I'm happy to be here as well. We were saying it's a be-along homecoming, so I'm glad we got together in the end.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. We're always messaging on Instagram and LinkedIn mainly Instagram, yeah, loving each other, best years, yeah, and trying to make this happen. And we're here now, so I'm really, really grateful for your time. Now, sarah, you've had a non-linear career path, which we love here at the Career Confidence podcast. We love sharing these stories. Can you take us through your career journey and what led you to where you are?
Speaker 2:today? Yeah, no sure. I think I have had a really non-linear career path and I'm super supportive of non-linear career paths. I started out and I was studying psychology and law, which sort of tells you a little bit about who I am. Like there's this real fascination in people and mind and wellness and helping others, but also this fascination with the more academic, intelligent and ambitious side. So it's like I've always lived my life with kind of a split personality and it was hard because it meant like choosing law was a little bit like choosing one half. But then there was this other dominant side of me and so I've had to really find a way through my career path to satisfy both sides. So I started in private practice. It was very, very quick and obvious for everyone there, including myself, to realize that was not the place for me, not because it's not a great environment for lawyers, but it just wasn't the right one for me. I mean, I'm not a very analytical person. I like to do everything really quickly and efficiently. I'm really autonomous. So I didn't like the structure of partners and all of that stuff. I wanted to be closer to the decision-making. So that led me in-house. So I had some great.
Speaker 2:I had a great career with Colgate Palmole, who's their general counsel, which saw me travel the world. I lived in Geneva and Paris and New York with Colgate, which was awesome. And then, when I was there, I got a call from a charity that I've been involved in all my life called the Wayside Chapel, and they were about to be closed down. It was quite grim and they needed somebody in the corporate sector to come and help them build a corporate network and raise millions of dollars to stay open. I was living in Paris at the time and I just made the decision. That interviewed me from Paris and I decided to take it and that was kind of.
Speaker 2:A lot of people were like what are you doing? You're going to ruin your legal career, you'll never get back in, you're high flying, what are you doing? But I had to do it. It was like a calling and it's sort of like what I was saying that other side of me that I just had to explore. So I flew home and I worked with them for about three years raising money as their partnerships manager and fundraising manager. Loved it Best three years of my life.
Speaker 2:But then I got a call from Coca-Cola and it was like, oh, that was on my vision board when I was little. I've got to try that. So I went there and now, of course you know, I'm at Kinrise, which you know Coca-Cola was amazing. I was there for 10 years. But Kinrise offers me that local, australian made, australian owned, real familial kind of environment which suits me, based on the stage that I'm in. So, you know, and as you know, I've also started now a meditation business. So I tend to just go where my heart is and I go with how I feel and I'm not afraid of doing that. So that's kind of why my career has been a little bit wonky to some, but fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. It does sound really fun and I love that you follow your heart and your passions. And some people they can really limit themselves because they feel like, just just because I'm a lawyer, I can only stay within this box and you know I can't possibly move into like a partnership management type of role or like a completely different role. But that's your own limitations, that you're setting on yourself. So I love that you just took the opportunity and gave it a good go and you loved it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a little bit like, you know, when people were giving me a hard time about, because it was like from Colgate in Paris to Wastehead Chapel on King's Cross, you know, for one one hundredth of the salary, and it was like you're crazy, but I would have regretted it's that old saying, I don't know who said it, but it was better to regret what you've done than what you didn't do. So I was like I can't, it's like a calling, I have to go. So, yeah, you've just got to be a little bit fearless, I think, at times when it comes to your career.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and that's great advice for my audience to hear.
Speaker 2:I think you've given them, yeah, that courage that they need to step outside that, yeah, limitation the limitations that they might be setting for them, but I think also, like you know, if you can't step out of your because it's not always realistic to say that you've got time and all the ability to go and do something else we financially. So what I used to do is, when I couldn't do the wayside thing or something as extreme as that, I would just find purpose within the organization I was in. So, for example, at Coke I worked on the board of the Coca Cola Australia Foundation and that was a non legal part to my role and I asked them. I just proactively said I'm passionate about community, can I be on the board of that? And that was a year in and I did that for several years and got so much joy out of it. There might be opportunities within your organization to do something non legal as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's really good to just seek out those opportunities, just ask the question and get involved and fill that purpose. Yeah, because I guess a job also doesn't happen and it doesn't always fulfill every single aspect of your passions and purpose. That's why you have other things outside of work and hobbies or whatever it may be that does fulfill you. Now, sarah, you've survived a rare head and neck cancer, which I mean it's incredible. Your story is incredible and a testament to your resilience and strength. However, I can imagine that this journey would not have been an easy one. As you were going through it, you also had a one and a half year old at the time. Yeah, had your career to. Obviously, you know you're working and you also have to take care of yourself. How did you get through this period trying to manage all of these things? Yeah, how did all of that play out for you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, no thanks, and I'm super happy to share it. Obviously, you know, a lot of people ask me when they see me what happened, and I prefer people just asking me what happened, because then it's not like the elephant in the room, so I'm super happy talking about it. But essentially I got diagnosed, as you said, with a very rare head and neck cancer. It was a tumor inside my face but attached to nerves leading to my brain. So it was very, very urgent. It was very, very unexpected and, as you said, my daughter had just been born. We'd gone through seven rounds of IVF to get her and, yeah, so it was a pretty, we were on top of the world and then this happened. So it was a huge sort of fall from up here to down here that you had to really quickly work out how to manage it. So I think one of the ways that I would say was probably the key way that I got through that the whole thing, from the diagnosis and the fear that comes with that to the treatment, you know, a year off work. I had a year off work. I think it was nine months to a year, but it was community Like. I think there's probably two things actually that I would say got me through. One would be community. You know, I learned through my job at the wayside chapel that we're nothing without each other, that community is the savior. And a lot of people used to ask me when I worked at wayside, what's the difference between people that end up on the street and people that don't? And I used to always say community. It's like we're relational human beings. We need each other, that support network. So Coca-Cola wayside people, my family, my friends, everybody rallied around and without that I would have fallen apart, there is no doubt. So I don't credit just me with getting through it, I credit the community. But if I had to sort of say what I did personally, I would say so much of what got me through it was mindset.
Speaker 2:So when I was young I remember I used to be really big believer in the secret. You know visualization, you know that whole thing. But that was kind of like a more sort of funny way, like OK, what you think is what you become, what you can visualize in your head. So yeah, when I was young I had already doubled in that keep your mindset strong. What you want to come out, you know, keep it in your mind. So I did a lot of visualization, but then I kind of started to study that deeper, more deeply, and I saw a real progression in the way that I use mindset that I wouldn't mind just talking about. Yeah, plain yeah.
Speaker 2:It was kind of like going from visualization to studying some of the more scientific ways of power of the mind. And there was this wonderful spiritual scientist. There was a couple of them actually, like Bruce Lipton and Joe Dispenza or a couple of the authors that I read about, and they talked a lot about the placebo effect, like how do people heal without medication? And there's something in that, like because it had been proven in multiple scientific studies that people could heal themselves just with the power of their thought. And I got really excited by that because I thought, oh my gosh, I cannot control what is happening around me. I've got this horrible diagnosis, but what I can change and what I can control is the prognosis like how long I live, how well I survive, and so I went really deep into building my mindset.
Speaker 2:And then, you know, I discovered and can talk about this later but then I went deeper into the spiritual path and found meditation and then I realized it's not just about imagining yourself well or training your mind. It's about having a technique that enables you to go into a you know, allows your body and mind to go into such a deep state of rest that healing can actually physically happen. And it was real and it was scientific. So it was that journey from imaginary ask-believe, receive funny kind of stuff to, oh my God, there's actually a technique out there that can allow me to heal. So I kind of went through all of that. I did a lot of reading, a lot of study, a lot of research and yeah, I feel like my mindset was a big part of how I got through that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow, that's, that's incredible, and I love that you went deeper and found the scientific side of it, which is also practical, which allowed you to really make those changes and here, yes and I can't wait to, later in our conversation, go more in depth about Vedic meditation, which is you're passionate about, so it will definitely be chatting more about that. But even that, just in itself, I feel like my audience will really get a lot out of that, and how much you actually can take control over your own life, because there is so much we can't. Well, I feel like everything else external to us we can't control, but control yourself. It's the only thing that you can in a shitty situation, right?
Speaker 2:It's empowering. I mean, people ask me like after that. I moved pretty quickly after the diagnosis to a place of acceptance because I thought if there's no acceptance, there's going to be suffering. It is what it is what it is. I cannot change what just happened, but what I can control is my reaction to it and what I'm going to do about it, and so I think that was part of what got me through. 100%, no doubt.
Speaker 1:And if you're like, if you're not accepting it, you're just fighting against yourself and that's it's a losing battle, because it's like that is the situation. You can't change that right now.
Speaker 2:You're placing your energy in the wrong place. Right, You've got to place your energy where you have the capability and the ability to influence the outcome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and now that we are talking about personal responsibility, essentially, I really love one of your videos on Instagram, a reel that you created, and this one really just hit me, like it's like, you know, when you're scrolling and you're just like it, just it really made me stop, and I do feel like you really do have a gift for just delivering the message that cuts through. There's no fluff there, it's just straight to the point, but I love that. I do love that, though, and I just give context to the listeners in terms of this video. So it was a video where you were talking about how, after your diagnosis, you attended a lecture, and a wellness lecture, and you had asked the spiritual guru if the universe is the author of all desires, why did it desire for me to get cancer, which is, yeah, that's?
Speaker 2:it.
Speaker 1:Angry pains at that, that's. I mean. You got to go through all of those ages, absolutely. And then he responded to you with a confronting question at the time Did everything the way you lived your life before your cancer diagnosis change? You then continue to talk about taking personal responsibility, taking control of your life all of the things that we've just been discussing, which is a really powerful mindset to be in. Let's just dive a little bit deeper into personal responsibility. How has taking the personal responsibility of your life changed the way that you show up day to day? Especially, though, in if I take you back during that difficult time, because now, like, you've done the work and you've healed, so it's probably a habit for you to take responsibility. Is it automatic?
Speaker 1:Yeah, at the time, like when you were literally going through the thick of this, like how did you start to take personal responsibility and how did it start changing? You're being angry and frustrated to now being on the other side of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's such a good question. Honestly, it was like a lot of things in my life. I have a really high level of adaptive capabilities, so if, like, if I'm in a state and somebody gives me an aha moment, I can switch pretty easily. I don't stay stuck in the mud for very long. And so, yeah, I was looking for answers. When I asked that question. I was like, oh yeah, buddy, like so spiritual.
Speaker 2:You know, I think he was talking about the universe being the author of our desires and you know that whole life is the dance of. You are the dance type concept and I was like, well, why would the universe want me to have cancer? You know, I was really fascinated with the answer. But when it gave the answer, a lot of people that I was with there with, oh my God, that was so mean. But I thought it was really empowering and it was a full on light bulb aha moment. Because he just looked at me and he said has everything about the way you lived, your life, changed since cancer? And I was like, oh my God, it really hurts. Like we're talking everything about what I ate, what I put on my body, how I manage work, stress, how I parented out what things I valued in my life versus, you know, priorities all shifted and I was like, oh my God, everything changed. My relationship with alcohol, for example, all changed If I did not genuinely believe somewhere on a deep subconscious level that those things had contributed in some way. Potentially, you'll never know to what I, what I went through. Well, that's awesome because that means I actually get to change them and influence the outcome, which was that fear of cancer coming back which always sits with people that have had cancer. So it was a real aha moment and it kind of came back to that belief that I had established early on in my life that if you live your life thinking that everything bad is happening to you and that you have no control over your life, you're going to live your life in a state of fear. You're going to live your life in a state of reliance on everyone outside of you.
Speaker 2:You know, in terms of how that sort of changed, how I show up in life, I guess, like I can give you a few examples of like the shifts that I made and I think you know, when I was really young and sort of trying to evolve as a human being, I was very needy and I really needed the validation of others for my own sense of self worth. So having this manifesto of personal responsibility developed my own sense of self sufficiency, if that makes sense. One, it was empowering, because it meant I could control the outcome. Two, it made me less dependent on everybody else the doctors and everybody has an opinion when you get cancer about what you should do. But this kind of personal responsibility mindset led me to greater self sufficiency, like just that feeling that I have more power than everybody else is telling me, and that felt good. When you're feeling like you're spiraling out of control, that felt really good.
Speaker 2:And then the other sort of shift that I had in myself when I discovered this idea of personal responsibility is that I was a bit angry. I could tend to have a bit of a victim mindset, and so I shifted, when personal responsibility came into my life, around less blame oh, that's something bad happening to me, or, you know, even things like when you're in relationships at work or in your life oh, that's somebody else's fault. It's because somebody else did that to me that I am experiencing this. Like we said, you know you shouldn't focus your energy on trying to change others or things that are happening outside you. You need to go within and ask yourself what is it that I'm doing that's contributing to this situation, because that's the only thing that you can control. So it was like I don't have the time to waste anymore on all this other stuff that's depleting my energy. I need to go within and work out what my role in all of this is. So, yeah, I just found it empowering that's the best way I can describe it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it really is, because, like, no one else can control you, you can only control you. So it's like, well, no matter what's going on, I'm not going to let it affect me or I'm going to react differently. And yeah, a lot of us can get into this victim mentality in different periods of our life and also, like you know, you got to give yourself grace, like getting cancer, for example. Like you are so allowed to be in that victim mentality too.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think you also, like you need to be, in order to then move through right, because you are. There are so many different feelings and emotions that come up, but it's about what you do with that then, like what's the next step you're going to take? So it's okay to feel like a victim for a moment, for a month, even a year, whatever, but do something then to make that change.
Speaker 2:You have to move out of that phase If you want to progress. Some people are really comfortable in the victim state. You know, we all know a lot of people that are just comfortable because it feels safe, they don't have to do anything, they don't have to confront anything or face anything Like what I've talked about. It was scary, Like I lived in fear, Like don't get me wrong, it's not like I was just you know Anthony Robbins walking on you know fire or anything. It was definitely not like that. But yeah, I had to find my way out. I had a one and a half year old daughter and a reason to live, and so I just had to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely yeah. I mean that strength is so evident and I mean that mindset clearly helped you recover and, you know, be the person you know, because can you imagine if you didn't? You know, do all of those steps and you just stayed in that anger and it was just festered. Your life would look a lot different today than what it does now.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 100%. So yeah, no, I'm glad I did the work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, now you recently started your business, medi-steady Go Congratulations. Can you share more about your business and the work that you do and who it serves?
Speaker 2:the most. Yeah, no, yeah, this is very exciting. So you know, when I got the diagnosis, one of the first things I did was reach out to a total stranger on Instagram and his name was Gary Gorrow and he's a Vedic meditator. And I just said I've just received this fucking diagnosis. I don't know why. I must have just been following him and thought he looked calm. I was like I would take that right now, absolutely. And so I reached out to him and that was started the journey for me.
Speaker 2:But he ended up teaching me Vedic meditation when I was really unwell and when I was in this really fearful, anxious state. And the more I learned about it, you know, I learned the technique, but then I went deep into studying everything. I didn't want to just know the technique, I wanted to know where it came from. I wanted to know what was the science and the wisdom. You know, that was underlying this technique. It wasn't just a technique, it came from a body of ancient scriptures called the Vedas. The Vedas, in Sanskrit, just means knowledge, and so there was this whole body of knowledge that underpinned the technique that I had to find out about. So I went deep into that and I've done three or four years of study and multiple, multiple, multiple courses.
Speaker 1:That's like another degree, by the way.
Speaker 2:Well, it truly is. I mean, it was deep intellectual knowledge, but I got absorbed by it. But in doing that, there was this beautiful quote that I learned. I think it was in.
Speaker 2:One of the great masters of meditation is called Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. People might know him because he taught the Beatles how to meditate the Vedic meditation technique. But he said in his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, which is a beautiful, epic tale, but he said I'm a busy, full-time working mum. I'm never going to be a reclusive monk that sits in a cave with my beads and meditates. So what this quote meant to me was wow, you can establish yourself in that really calm, unstressed state of being your mind and your body. Then what do you do? And that's what meditation. It always scared me. I thought I don't want to just sit down and do nothing and meditate. I thought, well, I'm going to do meditation. What do you do? And that's what meditation? It always scared me. I thought I don't want to just sit down and do nothing and be quiet and still.
Speaker 2:And when I learned Vedic meditation, I got taught that's the complete opposite of what we teach. We don't want you to just be calm for 40 minutes of the day. We want you to get your body and mind into a state of being, a state of pure awareness, a state of bliss, and then we want you to get back up and go out into the world and take action and live your life in a more joyful way and ping just like that. Just like that I mean all through my notes in this course. I started writing MediSteadyGo because I just thought it's the perfect description Meditate, steady yourself and then go back out. And so that's why I started it. I started it so that I could teach other people that are in a constant state of doing, like me. I've still got a full-time job as a general counsel at Kinrise. I've got still got my daughter starting this other business. How do you do all of that in a calm way? That's why I started it.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's been awesome the response I really love that and I love the name as well, and it's so practical, like you make it so accessible to everyone and that's how it should be right. It's not like you know, sitting in a cave somewhere meditating, because that's not realistic for people, not realistic.
Speaker 2:I want anybody that wants to be calm to come and learn meditation with me, but I'm noticing that I seem to be attracting people that have been in health crisis. So, without a doubt, I've had a few people reach out to me in health crisis, but also a lot of corporate busy working executives and working moms. That's who I've noticed has reached out. I'm not surprised, and what they say to me is I'm so glad you're here because I feel like you're going to teach. You know, I'm going to be taught by somebody who genuinely understands what my life is like, and he's not going to make suggestions to me about how to live my life. That isn't realistic. So, yeah, that's why I'm doing it.
Speaker 1:Well, you're walking the talk right, like you're literally in a urine corporate, you're a busy mom, you're like you're doing it all, so you understand that what's realistic and what's not realistic, so you're actually going to provide advice that is going to stick and is relatable. And I think, managing your, regulating your nervous system it's something that I'm really interested in, actually, because a lot of us don't know how to regulate our nervous system and we don't even know that it's a thing until she hits the fan and we're freaking out and it's like what's happening within my body. But I think it's so important. Actually, I've got an episode coming up about.
Speaker 1:As a leader, like the top qualities are well, one of them, I believe, is to be able to regulate your nervous system. And in the episode, by the way, I do make mention of you and your cause because I came to mind as I was talking about it. But I think it's so incredibly important because we've all seen people have been the person that has absolutely lost our shit, that has maybe yelled at someone or right, and it's my child. We're not perfect, no one's perfect right and they're like she, like I'm really like. I really lost the just then, like I really like felt like the emotions just took over me. So it really is important in day to day life to regulate, you know, the system, to do meditation, to implement these principles that you're talking about, because it's practical, it's going to help you in your day to day life.
Speaker 2:Exactly. A lot of people say you know, because to meditate costs a little bit of money. It's not much, but you know people don't like to pay for it. And I think what I'm going to say you pay for a $10,000 holiday so that you can relax, and you do relax. A holiday is a great thing to do, you relax, but the minute you step back into your life after that holiday, all the stresses of the outside world come back and boom, you're out of that relaxed state instantly. We've all experienced it, coming back to work, the big shot.
Speaker 2:Whereas meditation gives you that technique that you can use every day for the rest of your life. That will do exactly what you say, which is regulate your nervous system. And you're right that it's so important because you know, like we've talked about, you cannot change the stresses from the outside world. The world is not going to get less stressful, but what you need to be able to do and again going back to personal responsibility is work out how are you going to manage your stress response? So it's not about the stressful situation, that's not stress, that's just the situation. What you need to manage is your stress response, and you do that when you learn meditation. It's quite profound.
Speaker 1:I love that you just said that, because a lot of people do focus on reducing stress Like as an external thing, like I'm going to do less of this because that's making me stress all the time, but no, it's like how you actually respond to the stress. Why are you responding?
Speaker 2:That is what you need to be working on, yeah stress is actually an activation in your body, it's a response in your body and, yeah, we have these like moments that you just talked about where you have these outbursts and they are stress responses. Right, that you need to learn to regulate. But we're also most people like, if you think about all the stress in the world, like looking at social technology, you know financial cost of living, health, you know things going on in other people's lives, there's lots of stressors in your life. But it's being able to manage that activation in your body, and that you do through meditation, which is all about de-exciting your nervous system, so not living in that constant survival mode or fight or flight response, but deactivating that and getting into that part of your nervous system that is there to help heal and to help calm and restore balance in your body and your mind. And that's what meditation does. But it doesn't just do it for the 40 minutes.
Speaker 2:The benefits that you get, you see, when you take that stake back out into your life, it's quite awesome. But that's you've got to experience it. You know, I find meditation is a really tough one to, you know, do a sales pitch for like to convince people. I think people have to experience it. And that's why, when I teach the course, I start with the practical and I get people into the experience so that they can feel what it feels like. And when they feel that even just an inkling of that bliss, they're like, oh, and then they want to know more. And then I go into the theory and the science and the wisdom after that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. And tell us a bit more about your course actually, and now that you've touched on it, I'm sure my audience would like to learn more about it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, sure, no. Essentially I teach this technique called Vedic Meditation. It's a really well-studied technique. A lot of people know it as transcendental meditation. They're both actually the same thing, but the difference between Vedic Meditation and other techniques is a lot of the techniques are things like that require concentration. So, for example, focus on your breath or focus on a candle or focus on your body part or a lot of sound, healing type meditations guided, where there's words in your ear or there's sounds that you're hearing.
Speaker 2:But what Vedic Meditation does and I guess with those ones, what that requires you to do is it requires a lot of effort and it requires you to focus and concentrate, or it has a sound or a word or something happening that is keeping your mind at that surface level where you're activating your mind and your body. You're in activation state, whereas with Vedic Meditation you get given a sound, a personal sound that has absolutely no meaning, that helps you transcend out of that surface level state and down deeper into a state of pure awareness, a state of no thing, a state of bliss. That is really effortless, and every time you come back into your mind you just repeat the mantra and you keep repeating it until eventually your mind finds the feeling that you're feeling within a lot more charming and you naturally transcend your thoughts. But there's no effort required, there's no concentration required, and that's why it's so effective. If you tell somebody with a busy, active mind to focus on something for 20 minutes, they won't do it. And when you look at the science there's a lot of science in this is that they find that concentration methods can sometimes actually make anxious people more anxious than before, because they start thinking and they start focusing on what it is that they're looking at, and then they berate themselves because they can't do it. And it's actually one of the reasons why people give up meditation. You know, when you're being guided, you're hearing all these beautiful, relaxing words, but you're not transcending your mind because you've got association with the words. You've got hearing sounds, you've got associations with sound. Or if you're smelling things, you've got associations with those. So your mind gets active. So for Vedic meditation, your mind becomes completely still and you transcend all your thoughts effortlessly and you go into a state of pure awareness and pure bliss and state of nothing. And that's the difference between a lot of the other techniques of meditation.
Speaker 2:So yeah, my course starts with you know what is Vedic meditation, your own mantra based on your date of birth. We meditate together. I talk you through how to meditate effectively, what are the tips and the guidelines for how to do it properly and how to do it effectively. And then the next day we go more deep, we go into the Vedic wisdom. So we start talking about what a stressed body and mind look like and what are the mechanics of what's actually happening in your mind and body when you meditate, which is quite illuminating.
Speaker 2:And then I also take my students through what life might be like, you know, kicking the can down the road to. What does life look like for a long-term meditator? So, once you've achieved that state of bliss, what are the other states of consciousness that you can actually aspire to access? And there are seven states of consciousness according to the Vedic worldview. And so just to be able to know that you've transcended your thoughts. But there's more that you can do. You take my students through all of that and people love it. So, yeah, it's a super easy, relaxing, deep, spiritual, but also scientific and, yeah, a lot of wisdom in the course. But it's fun, I like it. It changed my life, so hopefully it changes others.
Speaker 1:I have no doubt it will change people's lives and you said before that it's like hard to do a sales pitch on meditation, but I feel like you really sold us all there because it's a wonderful way to explain it in a way that is so practical and understandable for everyone, and I can really say your passion as well about it, because you are living proof that that has worked. It's worked on you, it's changed your life and you see on your face like you're glowing, you're calm, you're happy, you're joyful from within.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, it definitely has been a game changer and I people laugh at me when I say that I credit it with having saved my life, but I genuinely do. It was like I said, I went through all that mindset stuff, but that's a lot of hard work and it's a lot of determination and doing lots of retreats with like go to Joe Dispenza and they are a lot, Whereas meditation was like, oh my God, is this just me on a map by myself? And it's more powerful than anything that I've tried before. So, yeah, I'm not lying when I say it can be completely transformative if you are genuinely wanting that in your life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's beautiful, sarah. That's beautiful, and I'm really sharing that with people and allowing other people that space to heal themselves as well. Something that I get a lot from my clients in terms of a concern is and I love to get your perspective on it being a leader, being someone that's been in the industry for a very long time as well, and being someone that's very successful too, is they get this concern around that, you know, can you actually be successful and have a high paying career and be thriving in your life? You know from within, is this possible? The billion dollar question.
Speaker 2:I think the golden ticket question, like yeah, I don't know if we get this one right, but look, I mean I guess my short answer is I think so. I have had a corporate career my whole life. That's been extremely fulfilling, but I'm also very choosy about it, like I would rather be poor and have no job than have a job that I dislike immensely, and so I've always been very selective. I think if you're selective and you're you know you get that clarity, and I think you need to develop self-awareness first to be able to have that sort of clear space in your mind to work out what is it that makes me really happy. But I think once you've got that and you know, you can definitely fit aside passionaries, like you said. I'm living proof of that. It doesn't have to be stressful. I think people live in this kind of narrative, which is so false that you have to be busy to be effective, and I've always, don't you think?
Speaker 1:Yes, it annoys me, actually, like really annoys me because it's like.
Speaker 2:No, it's not true, no it's just not true.
Speaker 2:But I think it's really normal, based on the society we live in, that people think that what they do and how much they achieve truly determines or defines how much value they have in the world. And I don't believe that for one second. So I do think that you can have it all, but I do think there's some caveats around that in terms of you've got to be enjoying what you do, otherwise you're just going to be miserable, there'll be no thriving whatsoever. And then you've also just got to not be apologetic for who it is that you are Like. I've been so blessed to have employers that do understand that there are two sides to me and that if I'm not fulfilling that other side, which is non strict, legal, I'm not going to be an engaged and happy employee. So it's about being able to express that to people in a way that reassures them that you're there and you're committed, but there's this other side of you, and that they can actually extract value from that if their mind is open enough to see that. So I do think that you can have both, but I do think also we've got to define what success is for ourselves, like is it just money and high pay, like I've been there.
Speaker 2:I struggled when I left Colgate, you know, on the big bickies to go down to the low, not-for-profit bickies. But that was when I got to ask myself the question well, what is success to me Like? Is it money, or is it being happy and fulfilled and purpose, you know? So I think there's that question in that as well. What is success for you? If it's money, great, go for it and work yourself to the point. That wasn't for me. So, yeah, I do think you can, but you've just got to do it in a safe way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. I think that's a really good answer and very like a nuanced answer. There's no black and white to that. There's no one answer for all either, and I think everyone, as you said, needs to define what their version of success looks like. And once you do that, though, there is this sense of peace you get and no matter what's happening in terms of because we can all kind of compare ourselves to other people other people getting promotions or whatever and that suddenly affecting you. But once you do define your version of success and you're at peace with that happy for other people and what they're doing, but you're content within yourself and your own journey, and it's a good place and liberating place to be in. It's my great, totally. Now, sarah, something I ask all of my guests on the Career Confidence Podcast is what does career confidence mean to you and what's my practical tip you can offer my audience to build their confidence in?
Speaker 2:Well, this morning it was quite funny because I just remembered that to get into the vibe of career confidence this morning I had Demi Lovato confidence on repeat. Really, guy for you dancing around the rules. That's not my tip, don't worry, I did try to get it back.
Speaker 1:That is a good tip but I listened to empowering music. That makes you feel good, isn't it?
Speaker 2:Just dancing around the house will put me in a confident state. But I would say that it touches a little bit on what we just said before. But it's about finding the right environment for you. So a lot of people when I was in private practice, some people in that firm told me I was a bad lawyer. Some people did Fine, because I was a really bad private practice lawyer. I admit it. Even I was like, oh my God, I'd rather clean toilets. I was struggling with it and I knew that I didn't know what I wanted to do. But if I'd listened to all those people that had said you're a really bad lawyer, I wouldn't have had this great career. So it was about finding what the right environment was for me.
Speaker 2:I have often felt like a bit of a fish out of water in the very traditional legal environments just because of my personality, not because the environment's bad. And it doesn't mean you have to shit on the environment that you leave either. It's just what's the right environment for you and don't stop until you find it, because otherwise you will be miserable and you will never develop that kind of confidence that you need to be happy in your career. But then the other tip that I would have, which is something that I've discovered through my studies in the Vedic world, has been around this beautiful concept in the Vedas called dharma, and it just is essentially a word that is meant to explain or ask what is it? That is your personal role in the evolution of things, and the beautiful part about learning about dharma was that dharma doesn't.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of people have the fixed mindset that your purpose and your career can only ever be one thing for the rest of your life and that's all you do, and I think that's a mindset we kind of inherited, maybe from previous generations. But I think the tides are changing, like it doesn't mean that anymore, and whatever the need of the time is whether it's in your own life or what you're seeing out in the world around you, respond to that and react to that and understand that your purpose can change as the need of the particular time changes or as things around you change. You don't have to be stuck all for what in one thing. So just do it in the moment and enjoy it what you're doing.
Speaker 2:But if you get a sort of intuition or an inkling that it needs to change or you need to pivot. Do that too. It doesn't need to just be one thing. So I think that removes a lot of the fear and drama that goes around with oh my God, what is my purpose? You know like it can change. It can change every day. If I found that a really helpful sort of concept within which to think about careers, that's really pivoted from my earlier days, or it was like just be a lawyer or a doctor or an accountant and stay that way for 35 years. I've really shifted from that mindset. So, yeah, that would probably be my couple of tips on that.
Speaker 1:I love that. I think that's yeah, so that's so accurate. Like that's something that I've like learned throughout my career. Starting out, yeah, I was all like, oh yeah, this is the one path and oh my God, if I don't achieve like this type of career in the Lord and I'm not successful. And it was such a high-dome state to live in and very stressful. And, yeah, like I found that as you go through different seasons of your life, you are interested in different things and your life also looks different. You need, like, different things in your life too, and that's okay. So I really love that adaptable change sorry, adapting to the change in your life, rather than having that fixed mindset of what.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or even what's looking out into the world and what's happening. It's like the decision to go to wayside. They needed me. Okay, I'm sort of got no children, not married, I'm free, I can do it. So, yeah, just, that was a big oh wasn't expecting that to be on the table. So you've just got to be able to, yeah, be okay with that, be okay with that. And it doesn't mean that you've failed at what you were doing before. It just means you're meeting a new need that's arisen. But, yeah, I find that quite a relaxing way to manage your career.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that. That's really great advice. Now, before we wrap up, where can my audience find you to connect with you and get to know you and your work?
Speaker 2:I have a website. I've built a personal website, so sarahsusaccom I don't know if you have notes or anything that you can pop in Put in the show notes, yeah, yeah, but also on Instagram. Much to my dismay, I had to go back on there when I started the business, but I'm enjoying it now. So, sarah, underscore, susak and LinkedIn, but also I've got a blog that I'd love people to subscribe to. It's called the Hort Couture and it's a collection of quotes that inspire me to write pieces about modern life and issues and the things. So, yeah, I call it wisdom you can wear. So if you want to subscribe to that, but then also I would love to teach anybody who wants to learn meditation. So please register for a free introductory talk. That's on my website as well and, yeah, that's where you can find me. I'd love to hear from anyone.
Speaker 1:Amazing and to the audience. I highly recommend subscribing to Sarah's newsletter. I am a subscriber and I love it. She's a very gifted writer and it's always just like it hits home every single time and it's always relevant in my life. The things you're talking about. Like I just yeah, it's very beautiful, but I'll put all of that in the show notes as well, so everyone can get access to that, so they can go onto your website and sign up for the free talk, so they can then get access to your course as well. So, thank you for all of that information Pleasure. Sarah, thank you so much for sharing openly, vulnerably, from also a place of joy as well. Like, it's just been so fun chatting to you about like really difficult topics as well, but you've made it so powerful. So, yeah, just thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Oh, it's my pleasure. Thanks for having me. Thank you, you're welcome.
Speaker 1:Thanks for tuning into the Career Confidence podcast Like what you learned today. Why not share this episode with your work, bestie, and leave us a five star review on? Wherever you listen to your podcast on, we'd absolutely love to get into more years and help more women, just like you, build fulfilling and thriving careers. Until next time,