ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED:
https://www.spartachicks.com/094-lucy-barnard-year-2/
“We’re living in a really precious moment out of generations and generations because there is so much opportunity…..to do the things we want to do. And yet we’re still beholden to being worried about what other people think.”
This week Sparta Chicks Radio celebrates its 2nd birthday (or anniversary).
And there is no-one I’d rather share that celebration with than this week’s return guest, Lucy Barnard!
Lucy is attempting to become the 1st woman to walk the length of the world.
She set off in February 2017 from Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego in Argentina to walk all the way to Barrow, Alaska; a journey of 30,000km /20,000mi across 15 countries that will take her about 5 years.
Yes, years.
Lucy was first on the podcast back in March, 2018 (you can find that episode here).
And in preparing to speak to Lucy for that episode, I realised we share a unique connection; we both started our respective journeys – Lucy started walking and I published the first podcast – on the very same day in 2017.
That conversation turned into our first anniversary / birthday celebration and we agreed to catch up for an update episode every year!
So in this conversation, we cover everything that has happened during the 2nd year of Lucy’s expedition, including:
– the distance she covered during the 2nd year of her expedition,
– the generosity of random strangers who have helped her along the way,
– her experience of crossing the Atacama Desert (the hottest, driest, oldest desert in the world that stretches 1,000km through Northern Chile),
– the challenges she has around telling the story of her experience,
– whether isolation and self-talk are still the biggest challenges and whether she’s learnt to manage them any better,
– the online criticism she’s received and how she manages it,
– Wombat, the Australian cattle dog, that has come into Lucy’s life and joined her on this expedition, the extensive preparation and research she put into the decision to get a dog and the criticism she has received for it,
– the surprising highlight of her experience so far (and how we can incorporate it into our daily lives),
– the fear of failure and whether she still thinks it’s ok not to finish what you start,
– how long she thinks it will take her to finish the (24,000km) journey,
– her plan for the 3rd year of the expedition including the route she’s planning to take and why she’s going to set herself smaller goals this year,
– how she’s planning to manage herself throughout the next year to prevent burnout (mentally and physically),
– what she wishes she’d known 12 months ago, and
– where she would like to be by the time we catch up again in 12 months on our 3rd anniversary.
Click here to listen on iTunes.
Notes and resources:
To find out more about Lucy or to say hello, you can find her on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter or via her website.