Neurodiversity, ADHD, burnout & creative chaos with Sarah Wayte's hilarious insights - Episode 47

In Episode 47 of the Transcending Humanity Podcast, hosts Vanessa Joy and guest Sarah Wayte delve into their personal experiences with late diagnosis of neurodiversity and the challenges they face in balancing this with high-intensity careers. Both Vanessa and Sarah share how understanding and accepting their neurodivergent identities have influenced their creative endeavors and personal growth. The conversation takes a deep dive into their career transitions from emergency services to creative fields. Sarah, who started as a dispatcher before becoming a paramedic, recounts the intense burnout and emotional toll of the job, leading her to pursue copywriting and brand photography. Vanessa also shares her journey from emergency services to real estate and wedding photography, highlighting the specific challenges faced by neurodiverse individuals in these high-stress professions.

The episode isn't short on humor, as Sarah recounts a particularly memorable childbirth experience in an elevator—proof that babies have terrible timing! Vanessa and Sarah discuss their reasons for moving to Canada, driven by political shifts in their home countries. They emphasize the importance of recognizing and managing burnout, especially in creative and high-pressure environments. The episode also touches on the unique experiences of working with neurodiverse clients, the benefits of having others write business copy, and the validation that comes from self-diagnosis and online testing.

The conversation wraps up with actionable insights on coping strategies for ADHD, the importance of community support, and the power of creative pursuits in personal and professional growth. Through a blend of empathy, dark humor, and practical advice, Vanessa and Sarah offer a candid look at the intersection of neurodiversity and career.

For more about Sarah

Website: https://sarahwayte.com
IG: https://instagram.com/sarahwaytecreative
LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahwaytecreative/
Medium: https://medium.com/@sarahwayte

Transcript

Vanessa: 0:01

Welcome, everybody, to Episode 4047, I think yeah, because last week was 46 That would make this 47 of transcending humanity. My name is Vanessa Joy, aka even Australia. And I am joined today by the amazing Sarah Wayte, and we will get into Sarah in a second here. First, I want to remind everybody, that whole Patreon thing where you send me money and it helps me make this show. Be awesome if more people did that, and you know, thanks to the people that are already and more people, the merrier. Because podcasting surprisingly expensive. And also, don't forget we have the merch store just received in one of our new items. A little mug that says conservative tears, which is very fitting for the show. Especially since a certain someone got missed by an inch a couple days ago. Yeah. So anyways, welcome back to the show. My guest today is Sarah, wait. Sarah, what are your pronouns that she had? She heard Okay, let's see it on your thing. But I like to just push that forward. So, me, I'm currently live streaming this episode just to see how it works. Because I am hoping to do episode 50 as a live stream, and I'm looking at the Instagram feed. If anyone is watching this on Instagram, it probably looks really bad. So yeah. It even says adios. Oh, holy crap. Yeah. You're back. So I'm sorry. I don't know why it's doing that. So how did I disappear for a second? Okay. And then YouTube is also live streaming in Absolutely. No one's watching it. So. Sarah? Yes. Funny. So tell us a little bit about

Sarah Wayte: 2:19

you. Oh, my gosh, big the unending question. And I am Sarah and I, as you can hear, I am an English woman who now lives in Canada. I, gosh, what to say I always struggle with these things. I am a copywriter and a brand photographer. These are the things that I do for my work. And I am a very creative person. I'm writing a novel I also co host a podcast I recently well recently, I say two years now it's been discovered that I have ADHD. I was diagnosed at the age of 42, which was quite a shock. And I come off the back back of having a 20 year career as a paramedic in the UK before I moved to Canada and decided I wasn't doing that anymore and and seeking a creative life instead. So yes, that's me. Well,

Vanessa: 3:12

that's fine. It's kind of funny. Episode 44 was a brand photographer, Episode 45 was a copywriter. And so now we have a brand photographer slash copywriter. I too was recently diagnosed as neurodivergent. And that's kind of what we're gonna be talking about this episode is the choice of being neurodivergent and being late diagnosed. I was also actually I was 42 when I was diagnosed, I was diagnosed with art as Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, see PTSD at the laundry Licious continues to go as it does. And I don't know about you, but once I was finally diagnosed, it really answered a whole lot of questions, and I had a whole lot of things from the past make sense?

Sarah Wayte: 4:03

Yep. 100% Definitely. There was a lot of moments after after I was diagnosed and started to do some reading up and learning and speaking to some of my friends who'd also been late diagnosed. And yeah, there was definitely a hole. Okay, it's not it's not me. I'm not a terrible human being and my brains not broken. And yeah, it was certainly a big reveal.

Vanessa: 4:29

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Yeah, it's like it. Like I in my case, I had started following like some autistic and neurodiverse kind of influencers on Facebook and Instagram and things like that. And it started like, Whoa, this is all making a whole lot of sense and explaining a lot of things. And I did the self tests and the self tests are like, holy shit, you're autistic. And yeah, you just kind of go from there. So Um, but you being a paramedic for 20 years in the UK while being ADHD that's that's why we have you here today to talk stories because I want to hear all about your experiences and that madness and the your work trying to balance, neurodiversity and such an intense, intense position. How did you get into paramedics in the first place?

Sarah Wayte: 5:38

Well, this is the this is the funny and interesting thing I became a paramedic by accident is what I always tell people, it was never in my plan at all. My husband is also a paramedic. And for him, it was a lifelong vocation. He, you know, at the age of four decided he was going to be a paramedic, that's what he wanted to do. I had no such aspirations whatsoever. I was 19, I had just moved back to England from the tiny island of Malta, where my mum was from, and we'd lived there for my teenage years. And all I knew was I did not want to go back to Malta, it was a very diverse to smaller place, I wanted to be back in living in England and being independent. And I needed a job. So I saw a an advert in the paper, I think it was for tech, it was for taking emergency calls, actually. So I started off on the phone lines. And it was just that I saw this ad in the paper, I thought, oh, that sounds interesting. I can do that until I figure out what I want to do when I grow up. So I joined the ambulance service and got trained to take the calls. I did that for about six months. And then very quickly progressed up to dispatching ambulances, which I actually ended up doing for the next like six or seven years, really sort of high stress environment being in a very busy control center with but like, if you can kind of like picture. I don't know whether you're into Star Trek, but with all the screens around it was kind of like that there was screens everywhere, and you're busy managing ambulances driving all over the place and you know, going to calls and stuff. So there was that kind of environment for like seven years, I think it was. And I reached a point where I now looking back, I realize it was burnout. I was I was done. I've been in there for so long. And I said to myself, at that point I was with my not not quite then husband, it was my boyfriend back then. And he was he was training to be a paramedic already. And he said why don't you Why don't you try being a paramedic? And I thought well, it's either that or I go and work in a grocery store one or the other. So I might as well just apply and see what happens. And yeah, they accepted me they took me in and the next thing I knew I was training to be a paramedic. So it was kind of Yeah, I always say it was an accident. Really. It was never replaced.

Vanessa: 7:56

You just fell into it.

Transcending Humanity: 7:59

Yeah. Which I think is like I can't even imagine.

Vanessa: 8:03

Yeah, pretty much it's we just kind of just do things like, like my background. I ran a manufacturing company for years. And I left that and pivoted now I'm a real estate photographer, because it makes total sense if you're ADHD. So

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Vanessa: 9:15

So for people that are neurotypical, though, I imagine most of our listeners to this show are neurodiverse. But when you have narrow divergence, there's I would say kind of common theme with it is being having stimuli thrown at you. And you have no idea what to do with them sometimes. How did you cope with the absolute madness of being in dispatch? You said that you are that you got burned out and I can't believe you lasted that long. I would have 60 seconds About six or seven years, what did you do to try to just keep yourself sane throughout that? Yeah.

Sarah Wayte: 10:06

Oh, that's a really good question. Actually, I think a lot of it, I mean, in a word, I managed it terribly. It's probably the it's the, it's the best way to explain it. But I say to people, once I became a paramedic, yeah, once I became a paramedic, and was out on the road, I say to people that working in the control room, I was just a very angry person for for eight years, and I'm not I've never I'm not an angry person. But that place made me very, very angry all the time. It was I was carrying a lot of emotional weight and like struggling in in there just because of the environment that it was by also really, what what this is the thing I discovered, after leaving the ambulance service that actually people with ADHD, manage emergency situations really well, and obviously, you know, can multitask really well, which, which probably explains how I managed to stay there for so long. And I also loved what I did, I loved that I could help people. I loved the team of people that I was working with. I also really liked the shift work, not having to do Monday to Friday, nine to five was a was a big bonus for me. And you know, having having a week off every four weeks because of the way our shifts worked and stuff like that just it suited me at the time I was very much a night owl and it just kind of worked really nicely. So it did the elements to it that kept me there because they obviously appealed to what I now realize the ADHD part of myself. But yes, it was it was hard. Definitely I don't once I got out and started training as a paramedic once I was out in just being outside and actually managing myself a bit more and not being in this environment because it was a very stressful environment to be in. It had the way I kind of described it was being in the dispatch center was mentally exhausting. Being out on the road as a paramedic at the time was physically exhausting. Actually, it turns out that mental exhaustion came later, it just took a lot longer to to kick in. But initially it was it was like a breath of fresh air going out and working on an ambulance instead of being in the control room all the time.

Vanessa: 12:14

I can imagine because it allows you you can actually focus on something, be it whatever you're dealing with out having the constant everything going on around you. Like if you're just driving or if you're picking up patients and stuff like that you can at least laser focus in on what you're doing. How many people on a team did usually work with, at on

Sarah Wayte: 12:38

on the ambulance or in the control room and the ambulance on the ambulance, that would be me and one other person usually. But I also did quite a few, quite a long part of my career as a paramedic was working by myself just working on a on a response car. So you were your own boss basically all day. So

Vanessa: 12:58

I can imagine that had to be pretty intense. So had its moments. I can't even imagine. Yeah, there was

Sarah Wayte: 13:07

that there were a lot of highs and lows, I would say there were there were days when I would I would come home and say that was amazing. We saved a life today, you know, it was a really good feeling. The dopamine kick, you know, when you got it was really intense because it would be very high stress situations. And then there would be times when you wouldn't save a life for a very, very long time you just be dealing with the run of the mill stuff, you know, picking up people off the floor and brushing them down and just dealing with very sort of basic needs for people we did we did a lot of social aspect work because that's just the way the emergency services are in the UK. They're very, they're very sort of pushed to to have to deal with everything, lots of mental health and lots of mutual issues and things so seemingly, yeah, definitely that element to it and break then there were the days when I cry and not want to go back to work the next day. So

Vanessa: 14:03

that's a way can attract us later. So yeah, that live streaming thing does not work. So I'm just gonna turn that off. Anyways, okay, so sorry about that.

Sarah Wayte: 14:22

Okay. Did you get all of that and

Vanessa: 14:26

it was good to test it out. Yeah. Okay. Go away window. There we are. Okay, so, back to it. So you went from dispatch to paramedic to copywriting and brand photography. Yes.

Transcending Humanity: 14:49

So in your progression, right.

Vanessa: 14:52

Yeah. How did that pivot work? Yeah.

Sarah Wayte: 14:56

Okay, so a bit of backstory. I always say to people, I was always a writer before I ever became a paramedic before I joined the ambulance service. When I left home at 19, I had aspirations of being a screenwriter and a novelist, and you know, all of these wonderful things. But I was living on my own in a country where I didn't have any family. And it was you need to pay some bills was was the the kind of the general consensus. So I did a few I did some temping work first before I found the ambulance service. But once I joined the ambulance service, it basically knocked any ability out of me to write and I always say to people that I, I basically had a 10 year writer's block from that point. And I think it was just like dealing with the emotional capacity to do that job. But it was like, it was probably a good few years in, I realized, I still, I knew inherently that I was creative. And I needed some sort of creative outlet. And if I couldn't write, I needed to find something else. And along the way, I found photography. There's a whole meandering pathway of how I came to photography. But basically, I came to photography, and training as a paramedic. We had some people on my paramedic course who were getting married, and they said, Would you photograph our wedding and I was like, Hell, no, I'm not going to do that. But they twisted my arm and persuaded me to do it. And I went and shot their wedding and fell in love with wedding photography immediately. So promptly set up a wedding and portrait photography business, while still training as a paramedic. And it was that the running the photography business brought me back round to writing because I had to write my website, I had to write blog posts, and this is pre social media. But you know, later on social media stuff came in as well. So the writing kind of found me again, it came came back, and I started doing the writing again. And just to kind of throw things into the mix a little bit, I was feeling pretty miserable with the whole paramedic thing. At this point. We're talking a few years later. And my friend said to me, what would you do? You know, if if money and time and everything was wasn't a wasn't, you know, in your way, what would you do? And I said, I really want to get a degree and she went, Okay, why don't you have a look at that. So I found an online degree in creative writing, which I signed up for, and started a week later, because you know, why, why, why prepare yourself for these things, just kind of throw yourself into them. So I was doing a creative writing degree, I was working as a paramedic, I was running a wedding and portrait photography business. And then my husband said, why don't we move actually, I said, Why don't we move to Canada. And so that started happening as well. So I had all of this stuff going on all at the same time. And how I don't didn't fall over? I don't know. But yeah, that's kind of like, how I came round to the writing and the photography. Basically, when I, when we moved to Canada, I knew I didn't want to do the ambulance service anymore. I was in a really bad place with the ambulance service mentally at that point. I knew I was ready to leave it behind. I felt like I'd done my time. So we came to Canada, and I said, I'm going to try and work for myself, I'm going to try and see how I go with setting up a business writing. Well, actually, mainly, I was going to be a photographer with doing just been people have just started to some photographer friends that just started asking me to like write some blogs for them. So I thought, Okay, I'll be a photographer, and I'll do a little bit of blogging for people. And in the first year that I was here, it very quickly became apparent. Actually, no, I was going to be a writer and just do a little bit of photography. But and then of course, you know, 2020 happened, which I don't think I need to go into in too much depth, because I think we can all remember that massive trauma. And so yes, it was definitely a thing. And yeah, that was a good opportunity for me to say goodbye to weddings, and I liked I still wanted to photograph people because I liked having people in front of my camera. So I felt like the brand photography really fit in with with the copywriting really so yeah, very long cord convoluted story. There are no short stories.

Vanessa: 19:10

There's no short stories with anybody that's neurodiverse which, because we're, we talked about something and then something else pops up that other people like, where did that come from? And we're like, Isn't that how everybody thinks and they're like now? And we're like, well, that's not very fun for you. So wedding photography terrifies me, like I've had some people ask me, but with different photography, there's different skill sets behind different kinds of photography. And like, my specialty right now is real estate photography, because that's what I've been doing for a while. And a portrait photographer isn't necessarily going to be a good real estate photographer, because it takes a whole different set of them. gills lately and so I'm trying to expand my skill set. But events terrified me. i The fact that you dove into that, like, headfirst girl, that's shit. Getting heart palpitations just everything

Sarah Wayte: 20:19

I do everything in life is just to throw myself in there and see what happens. But I've always said I might fly by the seat of my pants basically, this is what I've done my entire life. So

Vanessa: 20:32

do you legend, legend? So why Canada? I mean, I would like to live in Canada. But what made you decide to pop over there? Cross the pond?

Sarah Wayte: 20:49

Oh my goodness, I can. So this sounds very specific. But we had I don't know if you knew in the UK in 2016, we had a referendum to decide whether we were going to stay or leave Europe, the Brexit referendum as it became. That's the one yes. And the day was 24th of June 2016, which doesn't. This has nothing to do with my memory because as someone with ADHD, I have a terrible memory. But it was my husband's birthday. And that's the only reason I remember this date. So very, very clearly, we got the results that the UK had decided to leave Europe and I probably cried because for me, it was really important to still be part of Europe because my family all lived in Europe. And I wanted to be able to have ease of movement to be able to go and see them that we've always had. So I was really upset by it. I cried and excuse my my potty mouth. But I turned around to my husband and went Fuck it. Let's move to Canada. To which he responded, okay, then. We've never visited Canada before.

Vanessa: 21:54

The recording just went out your audio went out. So can you repeat the after some after refuse my party I heard refused my party, excuse my potty mouth. And then after that, hopefully it recorded on your end, but I didn't hear it. So I

Sarah Wayte: 22:12

shall repeat. So I said excuse my potty mouth. Fuck it. Let's move to Canada. That's what I said it, my husband said okay, then, because he goes, he goes along with my crazy ideas, bless him. Somehow, he seems to just just run with these things. And actually, if it hadn't been for him, we wouldn't have got visas to move to Canada. So I'm very grateful that he did that. But it was weird. Neither one of us had ever visited Canada, we'd never been here before. We just kind of knew that it was a place that didn't really appear in the news that often. And for us that felt like a good thing that felt like, if it's not being talked about all the time, then it must be okay. And you know, I know it has its problems like any other country, but it just felt like it felt like peace and quiet. And we knew it was big. And we knew we could probably get a nice distance away and maybe have some beautiful views and which is why we looked at BC because mountains and they're spectacular. Yeah, so it was a case of we were just like, shall we just book a trip to Vancouver and see what we think for like two weeks. So we came and visited fell in love on day one, with the place and as soon as we got back to the UK, we started applying for visas. And we were here just over a year later. So

Vanessa: 23:29

I love Canada, especially where you are. The Pacific Northwest is where I know I belong. I want to wind up out there some time. Depending on what happens with the US it might have to be in Canada, which I'd be opposed to. But I also know, Canada's also teetering and falling conservative as well. So bad for me being trans. Yeah,

Sarah Wayte: 23:55

yeah, that's actually why we're my husband and I have made the decision to actually start applying for citizenship now because that's important to us that we get the opportunity to at least try and vote and yeah, that is a slight worry. That is something we are worried about here too, actually. Yeah.

Vanessa: 24:11

Yeah, cuz, you know, we all need someplace to go and you're in a beautiful place with nice enough people and wonderful surroundings, so and it's probably a lot less chaotic in the UK as well. So

Sarah Wayte: 24:26

much less definitely. Yeah, the space to breathe is just unbelievable. I love I mean, we traveled to Nova Scotia last year, which is right over on the opposite coast. And I I was absolutely astounded at the fact that we took two planes it took all day to travel. We never even left the country that was amazing to me for someone who's been living on islands her entire life and just have to drive a few a little while and she leaves she finds the sea kind of thing. It was that was a big shock to me how big this country is.

Vanessa: 24:58

North America is a very well I'd continents. So for those unfamiliar with geography, she's in BC British Columbia, which look at Washington State and look north. There you go. Nova Scotia is a far east coast is even further east than Maine. I believe. There's still a little further here in Greenland. Yes, so yeah, that was a big trip. But Canada, like, there's so many different places, and there's so much variety of scenery. Why don't I live there? Prime Minister Trudeau if you're if you're listening to this, could you give your girls some free citizenship so I can get the fuck out of America? That'd be nice. Thank you. Bye.

Sarah Wayte: 25:51

So funny how I've got friends in the US the same thing in the last week, they've all been like, if it really goes bad, can I just drive north and you'll you'll come and find me. I might, yeah, that's fine. Come over here and just stay with us.

Vanessa: 26:07

I, I am terrified for what's gonna happen in November. My hopes are bolstered by what just happened in the UK and what happened in France. I know in France, it only the Conservatives only really last because a bunch of together like save tons of parties and bunch of the other ones dropped out in order to cause less competition. But here, there's just, it's rough. And I'm not confident that Biden has the chops to beat Trump this round. Which is hard. So especially now that Trump has been kind of murdered due to getting his ear clipped. So yeah, that's a whole other story. But Canada sounds very appealing. I would love to move to Iceland, but they don't allow Americans to become to live there. Unless they're independently wealthy, which makes sense. I wouldn't want Americans living in my country either. So like, Norway, maybe? I could do Norway. I've never been there. But so sweet. It's

Sarah Wayte: 27:28

very sweet. It's beautiful.

Vanessa: 27:33

So your clientele, what kind of people do you work with, with copywriting and branding and stuff.

Sarah Wayte: 27:40

So I kind of fell into again, my niche as they, as they call it, of working with creative businesses, because that's what I knew. I came from this background of running a photography business. So I already had a huge network of photographers. And I was doing a lot of initially it was doing a lot of blogging for them. So it just felt like the right space to be in. And from there, I kind of went into working with, like coaches and course creators. And from that as well, I realized, actually, the people that I love to work with other people who have a really strong personal brand, that they're the ones that they want to sound like them in their copy, they want to look like themselves in their photographs, you know, they want their personality to come through because that's their, that's their main selling point in their business. That's this is I get so nerdy on this as it's a it's a whole big thing that I love talking about. But actually, and I guess by definition of working with those kinds of people, it turns out, I've kind of learned that a lot of the people I work with are neurodiverse, which makes things great for me and probably actually really helpful for them too. I find a lot of the clients that I work with who've never, they're just kind of exploring their neurodiversity at the moment maybe or they're, they're, you know, just wondering that they're stuck, or they've just been diagnosed something along those lines. And they've never really worked with someone like myself, who has been there and gets it and, you know, gives them all of the different options for us to stay in contact. Because not everyone can manage to write answers into a form. Some people prefer to talk to me. So I have ways of collecting, like verbal information from them. And just being able to respond to that in a really flexible way as I've had people come back to me saying you just you saw me and that was really helpful to me to be able to get this job done and not have to try and fit into someone's awkward box of how they run their business. You were really open and flexible. And we're like, Okay, fine. If this isn't working, let's try something else, you know, so. Yeah, so I kind of, I think I probably do end up working with a lot more neurodiverse people than I'd ever planned to because I feel like well, I feel like neurodiverse people we can And we, we connect to each other very quickly and easily. I think we see each other I don't read very, very easily.

Vanessa: 30:07

I think we attract each other like, like bugs to a light really so because most everybody I'm friends with is neurodiverse one way or another so and being in the trans community, it's very common in the trans community. It's just all sorts of fun there.

Sarah Wayte: 30:28

Yeah.

Vanessa: 30:30

So let's, let's bounce back to the, to your experiences in the UK. What is the absolute batshit Craziest thing that ever happened to you as a paramedic?

Sarah Wayte: 30:46

I'm trying to decide which one to tell you. There are plenty of examples, I think. Okay, I think my favorite example, because it's also a happy story. And I don't want to depress anybody with all the the other kinds of stories, but I want well, actually, there are two very similar, I once delivered a baby in the front seat of a car in a McDonald's carpark. And the other one was I delivered the first of twins in an elevator as we were going up to the maternity unit, but we didn't quite make it unfortunately. So this I tell the stories, yes. This is someone as well, who does not have children of her own has never wants children of her own. And the delivering babies was like one of the most terrifying things that could possibly happen to a paramedic as far as I was concerned. So yes, these were these were fun experiences. I mean, babies basically deliver themselves anyway. And it's going to happen whether you whether you want it to happen or not. But they are coming. So Oh, absolutely. They're coming that the baby in the elevator definitely taught me that the mum was I think she was like two months premature. She was waiting for a C section. And she went into labor and she's she lived she lives quite a long way from the hospital as well. So we had quite a long way to, to journey in and I remember saying to her look, do not push whatever happens. Do not push which you know, it's impossible to tell a woman not to try to have a baby apparently, I have no idea. I've got no frame of reference. But yeah. We arrived at the hospital justice. She said to me, I think the head is out. And I was like, no, no, it can't be it's not not happening just yet. So we we ran inside with her and got her into the elevator. And as the doors closed, I thought I better take a look. And I lifted the blanket up. And yes, there was a baby crowning, ready to come out. I had just enough time to put my hands out and catch the baby as it flew out between mums legs, and we finished up with me holding baby and the elevator doors pinging open at the maternity unit with his elderly couple stood there looking absolutely horrified at the scene in front of them. Yeah, that was a movie was kind of like that. Definitely if I you know, if I if I don't think you can make stuff up like that that happens. It was just one of those crazy moments. And it was I mean, luckily, baby was absolutely fine. We rushed them in second baby was born like three minutes later, and all was good. Everyone was happy. So that's why I like to tell that story. But that's probably one of my craziest ones. That

Vanessa: 33:32

had to be pretty intense. I can't even imagine like, I'm a mother. I didn't give birth. Because trans obviously. But the whole, just the whole birthing process is just kind of absolutely wild. And here in the US, it's stupidly expensive to buy. It's both close and amazing at the same time. And yeah, I mean, these things come out. They're like these little purple aliens. And I don't know how people do it. So I really don't I'm anyone in the medical field. I don't know how they do it.

Sarah Wayte: 34:20

Oh, gosh, yeah. Let's say childbirth was definitely not a paramedics favorite thing, because of all the things that could potentially go wrong. When most most births do just kind of happen by themselves. And those ones were great. We all had happy stories that we could share about those. But there were also the very many that did go wrong, you know, and those were the ones that we were most most terrified about because there wasn't really anything we could do and we weren't we weren't midwives we know how to handle those situations. And we weren't really trained for those situations. So yeah, you just kind of have prayed that it would never happen to you basically.

Vanessa: 34:59

Yeah, there's not the turn. meaning you don't have the equipment. You know? If you're actually on the road, like, What the fuck do you do? I've been in the back of an ambulance. And they are pretty rowdy. They there's, you're just sitting there bouncing all over the place. It's and I can't even imagine. I mean, I imagine it would shake a baby out half the time.

Sarah Wayte: 35:22

Probably.

Vanessa: 35:26

What about under dispatch level? She'd ever have anything like, why would happen there?

Sarah Wayte: 35:39

I mean, there were lots of stories, but we from from the a lot of it was being a dispatcher, we were probably more distance to because we had the we were we were talking with the ambulance crews as opposed to the patients. But we would hear their stories through them and kind of almost like live vicariously through them. I think there was, I've remember a paramedic calling us and saying this baby is stuck. This is another baby story. Why are they why am I telling all the baby stories, but this is what it was. This baby is in trouble. Yeah. And we need help. Where's the midwife and the midwife was a long, long way away from them. So we had to speak to them over the phone and say, right you need to perform, the midwife wants you to perform in a Peasy autonomy, which is where they cut the woman. And the two male paramedics were horrified at the prospect of having to do this to a poor woman who actually probably was probably like, just like, just do it because it's gonna, you know, help, but they did it. And they delivered the baby safely. And the midwife arrived. And they said, everyone goes to the hospital, and they took the baby to the hospital. And I remember afterwards calling the crew and saying Are you okay, because neither. I think neither one of them were parents. At that point. I think one of them had a baby on the way. And that was that was it. They just hadn't ever dealt with that situation before. And my my guy I spoke to sounded very shell shocked. He was like, Yeah, I think we're okay, but my crew mate is currently throwing up in the flower bushes across the ways. It was it was a situation where you just wanted to like hold, you know, give him a big cuddle and everything, because it must have been horrific for them. But they got through it and somehow carried on doing their jobs for the next however many years. So, yes, there's a lot of things I think happened in the ambulance service that you kind of just you put it into a place and then you try not to think about it ever again. It definitely it has a real impact. One of the things that I started talking about a lot before I left was how, you know, so many paramedics I knew were struggling with like post traumatic stress and, you know, mental health issues, and but you couldn't ever really talk about it because you were a paramedic, and people look to you to care for everybody else, you know, if the if the carer is struggling, then what you know, how is anyone else going to manage kind of thing, but it was something we saw an awful lot. And it was one of the reasons I knew I had to get out as well.

Vanessa: 38:05

And I don't blame you at all, I would have absolutely just lost my mind if I would have shut down. And under dispatch or the paramedic level. So I have tons of respect for people that can do that. Because I'm just not built that way. So when it comes to copy and photography, what's your bread and butter? What's your favorite thing to do for people?

Sarah Wayte: 38:34

Websites, I love writing people's websites for them, it's usually because when by the time they come around to thinking about hiring a copywriter, they've got a DIY website, usually that they've done themselves. And I sort of come in and go, Okay, we're gonna fix all of this. Now this this doesn't need to be on this page. And we need to put this over here and, you know, kind of read just reimagining even like the path through their website for them, which they didn't really take into consideration before. And I love being able to do that and show them that, you know, the, the just that how different it can be when they start to talk when they start talking about themselves all the time and actually talk about their the kind of clients that they want to work with and what they do and how they help people. That's that's all of that when by the time we get to the end of it. It's usually a really fun experience of like, oh, that's that's what a website should look like.

Vanessa: 39:25

Yeah, like a lot of people are like what anyone can do make a website. That's not necessarily true. Like even me being pretty, pretty creative person. I use a crutch in that I do my websites, the podcast and my photography through Squarespace. Because sometimes it's nice to just build a drag and drop ship on there. But coming in with like actual copy, talking about yourself. It's much better to hire someone to do it for you because, like in your case, like you said how people can communicate to you in different ways, like some can fill out a form, or some have to do it verbally. And so you actually learn about them and learn how they tick. And you can see their business from an outsider's perspective. And it's easy to get lost in the little details of things, when you're when you're in the business and lose interest of anybody that is perusing your page. So

Sarah Wayte: 40:30

yeah, it's a it's a, I mean, even from the perspective of trying to write my own website I've done it is still very hard. It's so much harder to write about yourself and to sell yourself to other people, I think. But yeah, there's a I mean, what was I gonna say? There we go. ADHD is just kicked in after the thought that was in my brain has flown away completely. Oh, wait. Oh, what were we talking about? We were talking about websites. That's

Vanessa: 41:02

just Yeah, websites and your own copy? Yes.

Sarah Wayte: 41:05

writing your own copy is yeah, it's even from the perspective of being a copywriter writing your own copies? super difficult. I struggle with it, too. I think it's just something very much about the idea of, it's even like, when you know, something in your business, it's so much easier to hear somebody else say it to you. I think that's one why we get coaches why coaches do so? Well, because we need, you know, when I've worked with other people, I've worked with a coach, for example, and they've told me something that I've I've known all along. But for some reason, when someone else says it to you from outside, it just lands differently than it does with yourself. Yeah. And I think that's the same with with copy. Basically, it's, I mean, I always sort of say to people, when there's no, there's no magic to what I do. I talk to my clients, I ask them a ton of questions. I do things like this, where I record what they're saying. And then I go away, and I take their words, and I put them in their in their copy. And then they go and read the stuff. And they're like, Oh, this is really great. Where did you get this from? And I'm like you said it, this is what you said, I'm just giving you your words back to you. And it comes across as being this very magical thing. But it's really not at all it's just, it's fun to be able to show them they already know their stuff, they just need someone to kind of refine your message for them.

Vanessa: 42:27

To trust the insights of others, especially someone who is is a creative like Sarah, or previous episodes, Gianna, and Emily, the copywriter I had on a couple episodes ago, like she was saying the same thing that, you know, writing copy for about yourself is fucking hard. So if you're struggling, don't do it alone. Reach out in touch a copywriter or

Sarah Wayte: 43:00

give me some of our coffee magic.

Vanessa: 43:02

So trying to get in close to the end here. Is there anything else you wanted to talk about? While we're on the air or on the recording, or whatever it is? I

Sarah Wayte: 43:13

goodness, I don't know if we've kind of meandered a little bit around like my my world real release. If you made sense of any well done is what I will say if

Vanessa: 43:24

you made sense of our conversation, you're neurodiverse because we bounced on the workplace. It was not linear.

Sarah Wayte: 43:30

Most probably Yeah, definitely. And also Yeah, I guess maybe the only thing I would I would really like to add is that, you know, I when I first came to the idea that I might be neurodiverse neuro spicy ADHD or you know, whatever you want to call the things. There was definitely a sense of, oh, well, there was there were lots of feelings. There was abject horror, I think, grief, shock, surprise, you know, and then finally, acceptance, acceptance did come eventually. But I think if you're if you're in that position where you're think where you think you might be. It's, I think it's nice to know, I found it really nice to know when I was in that stage that actually, it's not the end of the world. It's, you know, you will figure this out. And it might take a little while until you find your way. And you're definitely not alone. In fact, there are way more of us now than they ever realized there was before, so

Vanessa: 44:30

don't consider it a weakness either. neurodiversity in all its myriad forms. It's a superpower. But remember, all superheroes have a weakness. So you have to be able to adapt with that like being autistic. I see the world differently from other people. It also means I struggle a lot with a lot of things. So you have to you know, adapt as you go. And don't be afraid to reach out and if you feel this certain way, if you pop on Reddit type in how you feel like what's going on your brain, like Does anyone else randomly think of video game soundtracks every time they get in the shower happens to me. I guarantee you someone else does. And you can start connecting the dots, you can build a community that way, you can have some fun conversations, and just learn a lot about yourself. Most of our listeners are in the US. So actually finding therapy, and mental health professionals and stuff like that is out of reach for a lot of people, unfortunately, which is fucking stupid. But if you have any sort of insurance, dive into it to see what you can get covered, and just talk to people even go to support groups, find some support groups in your area, Google, Facebook, whatever, I'm sure some things will pop up. And you're not alone. You know, Sarah, and I, you know, we come from, quite literally, like half a world apart. And we have a lot of commonalities. The human brain is an absolutely wonderful and horrible thing all at the same time. So yeah, that's definitely a good advice. You know, you're never too, you're never too old to get diagnosed, just like you're never too old to come out as any thing. And it can provide a lot of answers. But also remember, self diagnosis is valid. There are many ways to test yourself online. There's a lot of studies that have tests for all sorts of neurodiversity online. And if that helps you just get some answers to explain some things. And do it. Trust me, it's worth it to to get that load off your chest. And to know that you are not know that you're not alone. So well, Sarah, I am so jealous of where you are right now. I wish I could press a transporter and just come and go have a coffee with you rather than sit here and red, Ohio. But thank you so much for being on the show. Where can people find you?

Sarah Wayte: 47:35

Oh, okay. Yes. So the easiest place is my website is sarahwayte.com. And you can find me on I'm mostly on Instagram, as ceraweek creative. So that's probably the easiest place to find me. And my my VA makes me do reels and things like that. But I mostly I like the stories. That's mostly where you'll find me. So

Vanessa: 47:59

Instagrams probably my favorite of the platforms. So I use Facebook the most because that's where I get my clients. But I do wish Instagram moved back towards the photography side of it over the video side, because it's a whole different monster trying to create reels and reels and Tiktok. You know, there's a lot of carryover between the two and trying to come up with the hook and all that stuff so badly. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, check out Sarah. And do you work with people from anywhere or just locally? Like if someone if a listener wants to hire you to make them a site?

Sarah Wayte: 48:41

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I've got clients all over the world. I'm working with someone in Australia at the moment and someone in UK and Europe, but as long as it's English speaking, that is the only language I can do. But yes, pretty much anywhere. Well,

Vanessa: 48:54

that's perfect that because, yeah, especially if you are neurodiverse and you're looking for someone who kind of gets you understands how your brain works, because just some neurotypical creatives might not understand it. So look up, Sarah. And please, Sara, we'll get some business out of this. And hopefully we'll get some patrons out of this. So don't forget, like, comment, subscribe, but rate us five stars on Apple and Spotify, whatever, we really need to get that algorithm to keep pushing us up. I am hoping to have the show by Iran at least breaking even. Which would be very nice because especially come winter shake. It's expensive for me. So Sarah, thank you so much for joining us are joining me on the show. And next week, I don't know what's going to be happening. I have it scheduled. But I guess I can look it up here so people know what's going to happen next week. Oh, Nikki Smith. The death doula. I was on her Cast comes out on July 17, which is actually gonna be before this airs. So and this is also a good test for the whole live streaming thing. I don't think it's going to work. So, unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to do a live stream episode 50 Unless I can find a better way. So. All right. Thank you everyone for joining us. Sara, thank you for your thank you for being here. And see you next week.