Sarah Foley: Letting Go of How Life is “Supposed to Look”
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What happens when you’re at the top of your game, then everything crashes down (literally)? One morning in 2012, Sarah Foley was standing on a mountain in Utah, staring at rock formations and reflecting on how perfect her life was. She was newly in love and running a spa at a ski resort—a job she worked really hard to get. There was nothing about her life she would change.
Later that day she was thrown from an ATV, leaving her paralyzed.
In this episode, Sarah shares her journey of resilience and recovery, both physically and emotionally. After a long struggle to accept what happened, she realized the story of how her life was supposed to look is what kept her from moving forward.
This, she says, is where a lot of people get stuck.
We tend to focus on:
How losing a job is supposed to look.
How a pandemic is supposed to look.
How living with a disability is supposed to look.
Before she could even begin her emotional healing, she had to let go of the vision she had for her life, and accept reality in a wheelchair.
“Does acceptance mean that you give up hope for the situation to change? Absolutely not,” Sarah says. “But if we’re spending so much time resisting this thing that has already happened, how can we have any energy left to do the work?”
Today Sarah has a lot of energy. Through her company Vertical Blonde (a nod to her goal of walking again one day), she created a fitness app for wheelchair users, inviting them to become their own #DisabilityIcon. She also speaks at events, hosts a podcast, and coaches clients on empowerment through seemingly disabling circumstances.
Sarah’s life is anything but perfect… but she loves the woman rolling around in a wheelchair.
About Sarah Foley
Sarah is a mother, motivational speaker, podcast host, and elevation role model, believing the only way to create change is to transform the way we view ourselves and our circumstances. She is on a mission to redefine what disability looks like, to herself and others.
Sarah hosts a podcast called Vertical Blonde, and was recently featured in a book called “Your Second Act: Inspiring Stories of Reinvention.” It’s a collection of stories about resilience from author and actor Patricia Heaton.
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