Sarah Cols: The Dream Catalyst

Guest: Sarah Cols — Experience Designer & Dream Catalyst | La Casita de la Magia Creator

Based: Nomadic (Co-living spaces across Europe)

Sarah Cols spent six years as a career counselor in Brussels asking unemployed people about their dreams—questions most had never been asked. She was brilliant at helping others chase their dreams whilst feeling increasingly trapped in her own role. Then the perfect job offer landed: everything she wanted on paper. Her body said no.

She walked 900 kilometres across Spain on the Camino de Santiago with no preparation and an injured knee that had already required three surgeries. She went expecting solitude and physical healing. Instead, she discovered that transformation happens in community, not isolation. Strangers walking together for hours without even exchanging names had deeper conversations than she'd ever had back home.

In this conversation, Sarah shares why she turned down her dream job by improvising on a phone call, how the Camino taught her to be grounded in the present instead of planning the future, and why collective experiences spark more growth than solo inner work. We explore the golden cage of job security, the magic of spontaneous decisions, and how she's now creating La Casita de la Magia—a travelling sanctuary helping nomads reconnect with forgotten dreams.

This is a story about listening to your body when your mind says yes, trusting intuition over rational answers, and becoming a catalyst for others whilst building your own dream.

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction

00:28 Guest Intro

01:32 Career counsellor in Brussels

05:29 The breaking point

09:37 Career breaks and discovering workaway

12:55 Second breaking point

15:23 The spontaneous phone call

20:02 The Camino decision

22:39 Walking the Camino

25:56 From career counsellor to dream catalyst

28:12 Community over solitude

31:32 Current work and lifestyle

34:37 The journey is the dream

38:46 Closing

Full write-up and transcript: https://www.ibimalik.com/podcast/sarah-cols

Watch: https://youtu.be/GOa2BPv7_VU