Jessica Hepburn is the only woman in the world to have swam the English Channel, run the London Marathon, and climbed Mt. Everest - the so called 'Sea, Street, Summit Challenge.'
She also claims to be the only person to have listened to every available episode of the popular BBC Radio 4 show, Desert Island Discs (there's over 3,000!)
But that is just the adventure headlines.
And at the heart of Jessica's story is one of loss, heartbreak, trauma, and ultimately how she has been able to own the adversity in her life, and turn it into something that creates positive change for herself and others.
Jessica is an adventure activist, arts producer and author of three books, her latest, Save Me From The Waves is an adventure story with a difference.
Documenting her quest to climb the largest mountain in the world, coupled with her desire to listen to every episode of Desert Island Discs it is a beautifully written story of how the show's Castaway's and their music choices have inspired and helped Jessica make sense of her own life.
In this conversation we discuss Jessica's love of lists, how the comedian Jimmy Carr initially inspired her, how she's been part of a movement to change the stigma on infertility, why and how she swam the channel, her journey to summiting Everest, why everyone should tell there life story creatively, how her destination was not what she was expecting and how she was able to make meaning out of it through art.
Mentioned in the podcast
Buy Jessica’s New Book: Save Me From The Waves: https://geni.us/SaveMeFromTheWaves
Desert Island Discs: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Swimquest: https://swimquest.uk.com/
Serpentine Swim Club: https://serpentineswimmingclub.com/
Ramblers: https://www.ramblers.org.uk/go-walking/ramblers-groups
Get in contact:
IG: https://www.instagram.com/tombryanyeah/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/greatbritishadventurespodcast
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@greatbritishadventures
Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
01:30 Desert Island Discs Superfan
05:10 A Lover of Lists
07:51 Jimmy Carr and What do You Want?
11:40 Turning adversity into positive change
14:35 Writing her first book
19:17 Changing the stigma on infertility
23:12 A disease of the mind
28:39 Have another life alongside your fertility journey
30:36 Deciding to swim the Channel
35:29 Learn from those who have been before
42:07 Mental vs Physical Strength
51:31 Chomolungma
53:01 Deciding to take on Everest
56:19 Hanging out with celebrities
58:42 Training in Scotland for Everest
01:01:01 Technical Skills
01:02:49 Making training a way of life
01:04:54 Processing a delay
01:07:07 2nd attempt
01:11:17 Bad press about Everest
01:15:35 Jessica's work of art
01:19:04 3rd attempt
01:25:25 The descent story
01:32:39 Jessica's relationship with anger
01:34:55 Tell your life story creatively
01:38:53 Destinations and goals vs the journey
