Sarah Jane Adams
Interview by Madeleine Dore
Poet May Sarton once wrote, "People who have regular jobs can have no idea of just this problem of ordering a day that has no pattern imposed on it from without."
This week’s guest has never had a problem with ordering her own day, in fact, the fashion icon has long resisted the structures often imposed from without.
Sarah Jane Adams is a self-made antique jewellery dealer, designer and became an international model in her sixties, responsible for the #mywrinklesaremystripes social media movement celebrating the beauty in ageing.
Her new book, Life In A Box: An Unorthodox Memoir illustrates the deeply personal connection that we have with our belongings and our lives. But, as you’ll soon hear, Sarah Jane Adams lives her life very much outside the box.
We talk about how her daily life resembles a sliding tile puzzle toy, how there is no such thing as certainty, being a misfit, living with openness and joy, solitude, self-sabotage and pressing the reset button.
Sarah Jane Adams: antique jewellery dealer, designer and model
““The whole foundation of the way this world that we live in, is built to make us feel insecure and to feel that we have to tick all these boxes.’’ ”
Shownotes
00:19
Introduction and invitation to participate: Introduction to host Madeleine Dore, the podcast series Routines and Ruts and her Extraordinary Routines interview project. We are all going through vastly different experiences right now. Madeleine has put together an open survey to share your own experiences.
02:32
Ordering a day that has no pattern imposed on it from the outside: Madeleine introduces May Sarton’s book, ‘’Journal of Solitude’’ and discusses how Sarton created her own self imposed structure in the absence of a 9 - 5 job providing structure. It reminds Madeleine of Austin Kleon’s checkbox routine which he shared in a previous interview.
04:42
This week’s guest: Sarah Jane Adams has long resisted any externally imposed structures. An antique jewellery dealer, designer and model, Sarah Jane Adams started the hashtag #mywrinklesaremystripes on Instagram.
05:30
There’s no such thing as certainty: There is no such thing as certainty in these crazy times. Sarah talks about how we never know what to expect for tomorrow because there are so many things that influence how we feel.
06:45
Being a misfit: From a very young age, Sarah knew she would not be able to work a routine job. However, within her non-structured life, Sarah is incredibly disciplined and structured, acknowledging she has been quite tricky to work with as a creator and businesswoman.
09:30
Living with openness and joy: Ever the eternal optimist, Sarah is always open and joyful, finding joy in absurd, ridiculous and tragic moments. She highlights how you can hold contradictory emotions at the same time to propel you forward.
11:26
Acknowledging and moderating our own behaviour: Sarah discusses that we have to acknowledge the bad, even within us. She admits to having a lot of bad behaviours and talks about how she moderates this and achieves a higher level of consciousness. We have to acknowledge and accept that we are very responsible for a lot of negativity. It starts with us.
12:45
Listening to your heart and gut: Sarah talks about not being a deep thinker and listening to her heart and gut. When there are blips or external influences affecting one’s perfect ripple, emotion is generally the first response … and then she beings to work out how to deal with it.
16:18
Solitude: To remain focused and clear, Sarah lives in total solitude. Her family lives elsewhere, including her husband who she is still very close too. She describes her living situation and explains how as someone who juggles a lot of balls, that solitude allows her to do that.
20:39
The absence of normal structure: Sarah’s life has none of that normal structure. She discusses her early work life in London, how it started, and how she learned her life has to be structured in a different way. Until we are working to support ourselves in some way, we don’t realise how important structure in the life can be, and should be.
23:47
Finding what works: Madeleine shares a quote from the poet, May Sarton about ordering a day that has no pattern imposed on it from without. Sarah has completely embraced this concept and discusses how she started to find what works for her.
26:05
Her own moral compass: Sarah’s moral compass is her own and a lot of it is now so ingrained, that it’s a gut reaction. She discusses why so few people take the leap to risk and the negative effects of the media in this modern world.
32:02
Experiencing joy among suffering: Sarah talks about how she still experiences joy in her daily like and how she is happy that her new book, ‘’Life in a Box’’ will be out in the world without all the bells and whistles (due to COVID-19). Now ‘’she will sink or swim, she will fly or not on her own merit.’’ She points out that the whole foundation of the western world, in particular, is built to make us feel insecure.
37:33
Pressing the reset button: We have needed this reset. The coronavirus is making us look at our lives and despite the terrible suffering, the planet has needed this reset. Sarah questions how we should live our lives and talks about the ‘’Instagram hoohaa’’ that turned Saramai Jewels into Pulp Fiction status. Sarah plans to ‘’press the default’’ on Saramai Jewels.
41:33
Self-sabotage: Sarah refers to reaching for the default button as self-sabotage, or ‘’clearing all the shit’’. She discusses the positives of this and how she pulled the plug on a successful business she had with her husband in this process, having the courage to say, ‘’I don’t want to play that game anymore thank you very much. See you later alligator.’’
46:55
Sliding Puzzle Toy: When discussing her life pre- and post-corona, Sarah describes her day as one of those sliding puzzle toy games where you’ve got 12 or 16 squares that you’ve got to move. She spends her day shuffling things and readjusting which takes priority but begins the day with ‘’me’’ taking priority.
51:08
Parting words and Winnie the Pooh: Sarah shares her parting words for someone finding it difficult to navigate this rut that we’re all in together, quoting one of her favourite expressions from Winnie the Pooh, A.A.Milne.
52:39
A collective, forced break: Madeleine notes how crucial it is to really listen to yourself, even if it means letting go. We are currently experiencing a collective forced break and a break can be what disorientates us, but also what sustains us. ‘’There’s beauty to be found in the break,’’ Sarah says, illustrating this with the poem, ‘’Things to do in the Belly of the Whale,’’ by Dan Albergotti.
Findings
Follow Sarah Jane Adams on Instagram
Saramai jewellery website
Read Life in a Box’ by Sarah Jane Adams
Journal of Solitude by May Sarton
Austin Kleon’s interview on Extraordinary Routines
Winnie the Pooh by A.A.Milne
Things to do in the Belly of the Whale poem by Dan Albergotti
““Life is made up of opposites and until we recognise and embrace those opposites and not be fearful, we have to be able to acknowledge the bad, even within us … within my own bad behaviour of which there is a lot.””