On the streets of Exeter, spontaneous conversations often remind us how deeply rewarding it is to dedicate our work to lifting others. In this feature, we connect with Emily to talk about teaching fitness, overcoming mental health hurdles, and what brings genuine vitality to her days.
For Emily, feeling alive is centred around service, connection, and watching people thrive:
"The main thing that I enjoy is to help people that I do in my job, and I teach fitness classes that I just love helping people and seeing them do the best they can. That's the main thing that I really enjoy for my life."
Opening up with remarkable honesty about the heavy hurdles she has faced, Emily shares how navigating mental health struggles shaped her path and taught her the power of a mindset shift:
"The reason that I do what I do in both my jobs today is that I've had so many issues with my own mental health. I just feel like the things that I've overcome have made it easier for me to help other people now. And also I went through this really difficult time where I just didn't really want to do much, like I didn't want to get out there and do things and one day I just thought, okay, I need to change something, so now I just try and say yes to everything, do as much new stuff as I can, try my best to be as positive as I can."
Closing our conversation, Emily shares a warm, grounding message for the world:
"Be kind to each other. A lot of things that we see day to day, I feel like could be not solved by being kinder, but just it's nice to feel that and be kind to each other going about your daily life, that's my main thing."
