The Story Behind Breathe and Let Go

(Or: How I swapped my office job for a surfboard, ran from a broken heart, and accidentally wrote a book.)

There was a time when I wore 'workwear.'

You know, tailored pants, uncomfortable shoes, accessorised by a kind of quiet panic behind the eyes.

I was living in Perth, Western Australia, working a steady 9 to 5 job in the city.

From the outside, it looked fine. Good, even. The kind of life people describe as “sorted.” A reliable job, a regular routine, predictable commutes. On paper, it made sense.

But off paper? I felt like I was slowly disappearing.

There was a restlessness I couldn’t shake. A quiet ache for something real. Something wild and warm and wide open. I also had a heart that had been bruised more than once. Breakups, old wounds, and a messy divorce that left me questioning everything I thought I knew about love and myself.

So. I left.

Escape, or Something Like It

I booked a one-way flight to Indonesia. I sold everything. Packed light. I didn’t have a solid plan, just a very clear sense that I couldn’t keep doing what I was doing.

I was running from the routine, yes. But I was also running from a broken heart, old versions of myself, and the quiet fear that maybe I’d never feel truly alive in my own life.

I swapped traffic lights for sunsets. Email chains for wave forecasts. I ended up managing a surf lodge, teaching yoga, and living in bathers with salty hair and bare feet.

Slowly, gently, I started to feel human again.

I didn’t know it at the time, but this was the beginning of everything.

Finding Myself

With more space in my days and in my head, I started writing.

Not with a book deal in mind. Not even with the word author anywhere in the picture. Just little snippets. Journal entries. Conversations between characters who were braver and messier than I felt, but also oddly familiar.

I wrote from the floor. From hammocks. From dodgy cafés with intermittent Wi-Fi (and excellent mango smoothies). And in the quiet between it all, I began to find parts of myself I’d forgotten. The creative part. The romantic part. The part that still believed in second chances.

That writing, scribbled between yoga classes, surf lessons, and scooter trips to the local market, became the bones of my debut novel, Breathe and Let Go.

What It’s Really About

Yes, there’s a slow-burn romance. A dreamy setting. A few comedic misadventures and some questionable friends. But more than that, it’s a story about what happens when you let go of the life you thought you should be living.

It’s about heartbreak, and healing. About self-discovery, reinvention, and the courage it takes to leave, even when it means stepping into the unknown.

It’s about the mess before the magic.

The Unexpected Bit

Here’s the funny thing. I thought I was running away from my life.

But really, I was running toward it.

Writing became the way I stitched myself back together. Word by word. Scene by scene. And this book? It’s a love letter to anyone who’s ever stood at a crossroads and thought, There has to be more than this.

If that’s you, I see you. I was you. In many ways, I still am.

And I hope Breathe and Let Go reminds you that you’re allowed to change. You’re allowed to want more. You’re allowed to walk away from the safe thing to chase the real thing.

Even if you don’t know what it is yet. Especially then.

With love,

Sarah x

P.S. Breathe and Let Go is out in the world, doing its thing. If you feel like escaping into a story that’s full of heart, hope, heartbreak, and healing, you can find it here.

I wrote it for the dreamers.

The ones who’ve left. The ones who’ve lost. And the ones who are just starting to find their way back to themselves.

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