# Understanding young Sarah

- **Episode:** [195](https://agents.truthliesandwork.com/episodes/195.md) (2025-05-08)
- **Type:** interview
- **Tags:** personal-story, youth, reflection
- **Time:** 40:01–42:29 (start 2401s)
- **Listen:** [https://truthliesandwork.com/195?t=2401](https://truthliesandwork.com/195?t=2401)

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[40:01] Sarah Hughes: Well, young Sarah, oh, that's such a lovely question. I wrote a piece actually for Jonny Benjamin. He wrote a book, 2 books he's written, and the second one was basically, what would you say to your younger self? And I remember that basically what I would say is, This too shall pass. And it sounds like a really naff thing, right? But when I was young, I just, you know, there was so much going on. You know, I had periods of mental illness, you know, going off to university. I met my partner, my life partner when I was 18. We're still together 30 years later. You know, so young Sarah was just very ambitious, believed the world could be changed. Because I wanted it to. Old Sarah is still a bit like that. So I've definitely brought that into my life. I believe that I can make a difference, and I believe the work— people I work with can make a difference. The people that I care about can make a difference. But young Sarah, she was very bolshy, and I don't know that she entirely knew what she was walking into. But, um, I'm glad she did
[41:19] Leanne Elliott: Was she sometimes difficult? No, sorry, sometimes annoying
[41:21] Sarah Hughes: Oh, she was a bloody nightmare. Oh my God. I was, I was a very passive child apparently, because I, I also have ADHD and one of the symptoms that I have is dissociation. So when I was a child, I did a lot of that. Um, but when I was about 17, I suddenly came back into the room and that was a bit of a shock. It's everybody's system. I, you know, I'm nearly 50 now and I've spent 35 years working in mental health and, uh, I'm just incredibly proud of all of that time. And I started at the, you know, coalface and I'm just very proud that I've been able to see things at lots of different levels
[42:04] Leanne Elliott: I want to ask you, I was talking to a colleague not long ago who was saying that Some of the young people she's working with are experiencing a lot of anxiety around the state of the world, whether it be politics or climate or mental health. And I imagine a lot of them are feeling that because they do want to drive change. They are, you know, expressing the similar things that young Sarah did. Is there any advice that you'd give to anybody who is feeling anxious about, about the state of things at the minute?