Interview with Sam, TDS Founder & Wellness Editor

Tell us a little about yourself

I’m a 32 year old, outdoor and adventure junkie from Liverpool, with a taste for red wine. I’m at my happiest when I’m up in the mountains and above the clouds. I love hiking, swimming and paddle boarding. Obsessed with food. I’m a newly transitioned Vegan (about 8 months), but I do make an exception for cheese every now and then, because PIZZA IS LIFE. I love to paint and I have a 10 year old cat called Daphne (or D-Dawg), who’s my little side kick.

How long have you been part of TDS?

Jen and I founded TDS back in 2015 whilst working at a marketing agency together. We worked with bloggers a lot through our job and decided to team up and create The Daily Struggle. Our aim was to write articles that put a spotlight on important topics for Women and share our experiences. 6 years on and TDS has grown into a collaborative space, giving a voice to 30+ writers, creating content for an audience of 30k monthly visitors!! I never thought of blogging as something I’d enjoy, but I can’t imagine my life without TDS now.

What do you love about being part of TDS?

I love the creative side of things and getting to review new products that I would never normally try. I’ve learnt so much about building and running a website too. When we started TDS, I had zero knowledge of website development or how to optimise it for SEO; through trial and error, we created something that I’m pretty damn proud of!

What is your day job?

I work as part of the brand team at The Very Group, running the SEO content strategy. I love working for such a big brand and planning campaigns where I get to work with bloggers and create aspirational content for Very and attend amazing events.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Since lockdown, my life and daily routine has changed dramatically. I used to be very regimented in my schedule and lifestyle, but now I’m so laid back! I work from home through the week and it’s very much a flexible working model, so I tend to go with the flow most days.

Weekdays usually go like this…

Wake up: I don’t set an alarm and just allow myself to wake up naturally, which is usually between 7am and 8am.

Morning coffee: First thing I do is make coffee and spend the first hour of my day reading blogs, listening to podcasts and writing my to do list for the day.

Breakfast & log on for work: Once I’ve fully woke up, I usually make a bowl of porridge or protein smoothie, log on to my laptop in my home office and work until around 11am.

Gym or walk: around 11am I either go for a walk or go to them gym (although, the past few weeks I’ve had ZERO motivation for either, so I tend to go have a lay down for an hour instead).

Dinner: I make food whenever I feel hungry, usually around 12pm. Dinner will consist of either; tofu salad / veggies, protein smoothie or beans on toast – depending on what mood I’m in. Tuesday’s I go to M&S for dinner as I’m in the office and always forgot to prepare food!

Afternoon graft: After dinner is when I feel most motivated; I log back on and work until around 4pm and then I do 1-2 hours of blog stuff (emails, writing, editing, social etc).

Tea time: I usually have my tea around 7pm, clean and tidy the house and then either do more blog stuff or watch TV until bedtime at around 11.30pm. I have been threatening to get myself into a proper bed-time routine for years, but I’m a night owl!

How do you spend your weekends?

Usually up a mountain! Always outdoors. I struggle with anxiety and OCD, and juggling my day job and running 2 websites (TDS and Mountains & Macros). My weekdays are quite full-on and I find it impossible to switch off sometimes. Getting outdoors on the weekend is a must for me, it completly frees my mind – it’s like therapy.

I usually go to Snowdonia National Park, either hiking and wild camping in the mountains, or paddle boarding in the lakes. My favourite part of being in this area is that there is limited phone reception, I love the feeling of being cut off from technology and people. Being ‘present’ in those moments.

Where did your love of the outdoors come from?

I’ve always loved being outdoors, even though most of my family are the complete oppostite! From a young age my cousin and I would go off into the woods exploring, build treehouses and log swings. Basically anything that resulted in us going home covered in mud haha! I got into hiking and scrambling a few years ago, since reaching the top of my first ever mountain in 2018, it’s become and addiction.

Lockdown changed my outlook on life so much, I’m a lot more protective of my time and who I spend it with – it’s done me the world of good to be honest. I care less about what people think, I’ve learned to say no to things that don’t add value to my life and cut out negative people.

What is one thing you absolutely could not live without?

Proper random, but my eye mask! I suffer with migraines and I use this most days to block out light and give my eyes a rest, sometimes I pop it in the microwave and that feeling of warmth over my eyes is the best.

What is one thing you always take on a hike?

Hat and gloves for sure. I hate being cold! Also my water purifyer, I drink around 2.5 litres of water per day and around 1.5 litres on a hike – which can be heavy to carry without a filter bottle.

What makes your day better?

Snuggles with Daphne. Also, coffee.

What is your greatest achievement?

Probably Tryfan North face. I had a traumatic experience on Helvellyn Striding Edge last year (I nearly fell off the exposed ridge, 800 metres high in 60 mph winds) and I’ve had a mental block since, meaning routes such as Tryfan North have been off limits to me mentally.

This year I overcome my fears and completed a route that I’ve wanted to do for years! The route itself is considered technical, but at a low grade – so although this might seem easy to some experienced hikers, it was mentally tough for me and I’m proud of myself for doing it!

And now for some fun quiz style questions…

Favourite food?

Pizza.

What is your all time favourite film?

Hmmm. Harry Potter, Shrek, Moana, Stand by Me, The Goonies, Hook, Ace Ventura and basically anything Jim Carrey. Sorry I couldn’t pick one!

Okay if I had to pick, probably Shrek.

Cats or Dogs?

Cats! Our family pets have always been dogs, but since getting Daphne, I’ve been converted for sure. I love both, but cats are definitely the superior species. They’re introverts and they make you work for their affection, my spirit animal. Just look at that face…

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

The ability to speak to animals!

Would you take it if you had the opportunity to be immortal?

Hmmm. Probably not, I hate the feeling of being the last one left out of my loved ones. Although, it would be amazing to live for longer to see how things change in the future!

If you won 1 million £, how would you spend it?

I would buy a big plot of land in Snowdonia and spend my days rescuing animals, climbing mountains and travelling around the world in between.

What is the most stupid thing you’ve done in your entire life?

I wish I had something more exciting to say here. I’d have to say, wasted too much time on the wrong people.

What’s your favourite time of year?

Spring! I love that feeling of new beginnings; seeing all the new baby animals when I’m out hiking, new flowers blooming, green leaves and blossom trees. Also, brighter and warmer mornings. I just generally feel happier.

What are your pet peeves?

• Braggy people
• Unnecessary abbreviations
• When people chew with their mouth open
• When people drive slow in the right hand lane on the motorway, or drive slow in general
• There’s this one person on my Facebook who writes ‘loverly’ instead of ‘lovely’ and that offends me way more than it should
• Vape smoke

There are loads more, but I feel like that’s enough for today!

What comes to mind when you hear the words ‘bucket list’

On paper it’s adventures and travel. However, it’s more of a feeling for me.

For example, last weekend I went to see Aber Falls in North Wales, it’s 40 metre high waterfall in the middle of the forest. That feeling of standing at the foot of it; getting absolutely drenched, without a care in the world.

My bucklist list is chasing feelings like that.

And finally…

What are your ‘daily struggles’ and how do you overcome them?

I don’t handle stress well, which stems from my (self diagnosed) OCD. If something stresses me out, I will spend hours fixated on it. I have the type of OCD where checking and ordering is an obsession, I have spreadsheets for literally everything. So, as you can imagine, this is mentially draining and means that I rarely finish a to do list!

I’m still trying to overcome this, but one thing that I’ve noticed is that it gets worse if I’ve not been hiking on the weekend! I block out my weekends out for adventures now and make getting up in the mountains my priority! I’ve also found that CBD oil helps, I’ve been taking it for around 4 months now and I have noticed that I feel a lot less anxious.

Who inspires you?

I’m very lucky to say that I have some amazing people in my life who all inspire me in different ways. But I’d have to day my family! We’ve been through a lot the past 2 years and eaxh of them inspire me daily, in different ways, with their strength and positivity!

Also, people I’ve lost – through wanting to make the most of life and not waste any time on things that just don’t matter!

Where do you see yourself in 5 years? 

Living in North Wales, close to the mountains. Working on TDS full time is the dream!