Infinite Love with Kate
My self-healing journey, living with a facial difference and acknowledging I was drowning in my own darkness. Realizing everything I was doing in my past, wasn’t quite aligning with who I desired to be & feel, so I started changing the trajectory of my future by choosing to sit within & feel everything I was so scared to feel. I simply let go and surrendered to the process & trusted in myself & chose me!
Infinite Love with Kate
S5:Ep:72 "Giving Thanks"
After navigating a tumultuous year filled with both setbacks and victories, I invite you to join me on Infinite Love with Kate as we reflect on the transformative power of gratitude and self-growth. Imagine overcoming unexpected challenges like surgery and making profound lifestyle changes such as quitting smoking and drinking. This episode is about embracing those changes with open arms, living in the moment, and recognizing the importance of rest and self-compassion. It’s a heartfelt exploration of how reconnecting with people from the past can spark joy and highlight the progress we’ve made, all over a delicious sushi meal with former colleagues.
In this episode, we journey from victimhood to empowerment through the practices of self-love and forgiveness. It’s about taking responsibility for our own past choices and releasing anger towards others, realizing that while we can't control life’s external twists and turns, our emotions and reactions are ours to master. With the holiday season approaching, this is a celebration of the power of love and gratitude to light our path forward. As we express our sincerest thanks to our listeners, the message is clear: cherish your worth and let love guide you to inspire change within yourself and the world.
Hey, welcome back to another episode of Infinite Love with Kate. Today's topic is going to be nothing other than gratitude. Gratitude for everything, especially my health. This year has been a rollercoaster, but probably in the most beautiful way. I have no complaints, even though I ended up in the hospital with surgery that I didn't see coming. But I cleared the way. My body knew what it was doing, needed to do what it needed to do, and I am back healthier than ever. Well, at least I'm on that track, on the right track, back to my ambitions, my desires, life and living, and I'm going to get back out into working out and running. I got the all go to go ahead and work out. It's been a little over. Let's see two months, probably a little like maybe two and a half months since my surgery.
Speaker 1:I cannot believe how much has changed since, but honestly, it feels time is so crazy because to me it doesn't exist. It either is going really slow or really fast, but no matter what, it blends together. So I was just going over something in a journal. I was going back way back to when I began my healing journey, because it's good to reflect right, and to me it felt like yesterday. Honestly, even with all the highs and all the lows, as crazy as that sounds, it literally feels like yesterday, but it feels like so much has transpired within those several years. So many blessings, personal too. I mean I'm not even talking the physical blessings, I'm talking the personal, the spiritual, the soul, the mind, the body, the heart, everything. I have come a long way and I am grateful for this journey. I'm grateful I wasn't afraid to keep going. I'm grateful that I didn't let fear get in my way. I didn't let my own anxieties, my own wounds, my own trauma get in the way and stop me. I'm grateful that I made probably the most best decisions I could Quitting smoking.
Speaker 1:I am eight months smoke-free, drinking. I quit drinking. I mean I didn't really do a lot of that, but it wasn't helping when it was time to actually sit with my own feelings. It was avoiding Anytime I drank. It made me feel like I was going backwards in time and healing and space and energy. I didn't want that anymore.
Speaker 1:And someone had just asked me recently I was just out and they were like well, would you ever just have a drink or two? And I said I mean I could, it doesn't bother me. However, I don't want to. I don't think about it, not as much as I think about smoking. I'm going to be very honest and transparent. It is the hardest thing to quit. But told them, I was like if I had one drink, I'd want a cigarette to go with that. And then what's the point? What does that serve? You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:It's like when I say it takes you back, it takes you backwards, and I only want to keep moving forward in life, in love and happiness, in growth and healing. I just I want to live. I want to be present right here in the moment and be happy, mind and body and soul and spirit. I don't want to miss moments. I don't want to miss out on opportunities where coulda, shoulda, woulda. I don't want that anymore. I want to feel what I don't really want to feel. I want to learn all that I can learn with everything that I'm diving into New hobbies, new passions, spirituality, all of it. I love that. It motivates me to keep going and thriving and pushing myself to these limits I didn't even know existed. I'm grateful. I don't know what tomorrow brings, so why not act upon it today? And that also includes hear me out, sorry, I have allergies. That also includes I have allergies. That also includes resting Resting when you're supposed to.
Speaker 1:I found myself literally diving deep into healing, forgetting that you need a pause, you need a break, you need rest. You can't just submerge yourself into the oceans and not come up for air. You have to give yourself a break and you have to hold nothing but compassion for yourself. And sometimes on this healing journey it does feel overwhelming. I can't lie, I can't. There are times where I'm thinking what am I doing? I don't want to do this anymore. Let's go back to the old life. And then I realized what is that old life? I don't even know.
Speaker 1:And I can also tell you that healing this journey, it makes you feel lonely because you understand, forcing friendships, forcing connections, forcing even those connections you have with people now If they're not aligned with you or if they're not pushing you to grow, or you're not pushing them to grow. You're just forcing and it doesn't feel comfortable. I guess that's probably the best way to describe that. But also, when you make room, new comes in. And when I say new, I don't just mean brand new people that you've never met, I mean sometimes old comes in, but you're both at a different place in time in your life, within growth, within yourself. So new is anything that has allowed itself to change and transform.
Speaker 1:So I'm grateful. I'm grateful for opportunities like that. I'm grateful that you can get a second chance or a third. I'm grateful for new opportunities that you didn't even see coming. I'm grateful I'm doing this. I'm grateful I took that leap to videotape myself. I mean, I talk to myself enough. Why not look at myself as I'm recording?
Speaker 1:I'm grateful for days like today. I got to sit down with old co-workers, share a meal. Oh my God, it was an endless meal of sushi. It was a little gluttonous I must take accountability for, but it was amazing, catching up, sharing laughter and stories and reminiscing. I'm grateful. I'm grateful for the coworkers I have now. I'm grateful for a job that I love. I'm grateful for my passions that I'm even more in love with. I'm grateful for my family. I got to visit my parents today and check out their new remodeling and to see them so happy and excited. It's cute. It's cute to see your parents and have parents to witness and observe all the joy coming to them. I'm grateful that I got ambushed by my family's three dogs. Kind of gives me that East Ventura vibe when I walk in the room and all the animals, just you know, go in the uproar.
Speaker 1:I'm grateful for dad jokes because, let me tell you, I am stuck on TikTok, which I am loving, this FYP of this couple doing dad jokes. I think I'm more grateful listening to the woman, the wife, tell the jokes and she can barely get words out of her mouth. And when I say the addiction of laughter, that is what I love. I love when that consumes my heart and my soul. And then I'm belly laughing with her for no idea what? Because you can't even understand her jokes, because she can't even get past the laughter and the noises that come out of her. So I'm grateful I got to visit my cousin today because I had time and I thought, well, I said around my house, let's just get out while the sun is shining. And I did a surprise visit. So I got to meet her bearded dragon. That was something different, not on my bucket list, but definitely different, cutest thing ever. Now I can say I, you know, met a bearded dragon.
Speaker 1:I'm grateful that while cleaning out my house, purging, my dad had asked me you know, hey, try to clean up your unfinished basement so you could make space for new. He was right. So I cleaned up all my old files and I found my notebooks, my journals. One was a bucket list that I started back in 2015, and it has been added on over the years and I'm grateful that I'm able to check off some of those amazing bucket list choices, that I'm able to check off some of those amazing bucket list choices. I never thought I would do that, but I've had the opportunities to do it and I'm grateful that I even had the opportunities, especially traveling around the world.
Speaker 1:I'm grateful for love. I'm grateful for my past. Beyond grateful for my past, I'm grateful for all the people that have stepped into it and left their footprints upon my heart and my soul. I'm grateful for music, especially when you connect, especially when it speaks to you in ways you can't describe because it's through energy. I'm grateful for food. I'm grateful for my home. I'm grateful for shelter. I'm grateful for opportunities like this, especially on TikTok, when I'm able to reach an audience and then they respond back to me asking me questions about my journey and how they're taking a dive into theirs with therapy, and they want to know what it's like or how I felt through it and how long did it take? And I basically just said don't rush the process, don't worry about how long it takes, just take everything day by day. But I'm grateful that I even have a platform to share my story and put it out there for others who come across my page, come across my videos. They do it. They do it for themselves, because they know they're worthy of it. They may not feel worthy in the moment, but they know that they want to get to that place, just like I am, and I'm grateful that.
Speaker 1:I love when the world mirrors back to you who you are, and they say every day, the world is mirroring a part of you. So always pay attention. If it's chaotic around you, go within and ask yourself what is so chaotic that you don't have control over, or what is it you need to have control over that you don't. That's what I love about this journey is self-reflection, accountability and not pointing. I, for the longest time, pointed deflection, deflection, deflection. It's you, not me. No, it's me. I can't control what you are doing. That's yours, but I'm not going to sit here and worry about what you're doing.
Speaker 1:I'm going to tell you what I'm doing and whether you take that as a lesson for yourself and you take it back with you, or you just say huh told you, so she took all the accountability. You want to walk away taking none. That's where you go. Take it, walk with it, do whatever you got to do, but I'm still going to worry about me and work on me, because doing the work is different than just saying you're doing the work, than just pretending or mirroring that you're doing the work, because all that facade and that mirage will fall apart. Those masks will come off and people will see right through you. So don't be that person.
Speaker 1:Make it a new year, a new resolution. Make it a goal for yourself, not for others. For yourself. Do the work for you, because I'm over here grateful with gratitude about the work I've done and the work I'm doing and the work I'll continue to do, whether healing, spirituality, learning, transforming, growing myself into new desires. Do you think I just knew what to do when I decided to go live? No, I have to now reteach myself something brand new with this new platform I'm working with. Do I desire to have a team? Sure, that'll come when I'm ready, when the universe is ready. I'm not worried about that, though I'm not fixated on that. I'm going to stay focused on right here, right now, me and you, and this brand new world of learning, and I'm grateful.
Speaker 1:I am grateful. I'm grateful that I get to go to my brothers in Iowa for Thanksgiving. We're changing it up, so I get to drive with my sister and have three and a half hours of bonding with her. Now. I'm grateful that my sister and have three and a half hours of bonding with her. Now am I grateful that she's got two wild dogs in the back of the car. That'll probably just lick me the whole way Nope, nope, but it will provide laughter. So I'm grateful for that already. I'm grateful that we have not hit the winter, winter season yet. It tried to come the other day, but it didn't last long, thank God, I'm grateful. Do you see, I'm grateful.
Speaker 1:So find something you're grateful for, and I'm not saying that you might find a million things like I am. But I can tell you this I'm in a different place where gratitude is literally a majority of what I think about daily. In self reflection, I find in every moment whether it was the hardest moment of my life and I was on the ground crying. I still find gratitude because that release helped me to then move forward, to then move forward. And I can't sit here and say I know your story, I don't, and I'm sorry. I don't know your story and I'm sorry that you are going through those things. But there's still moments you can be grateful for. You can be grateful that you realize you're on a journey and that it's up to you to change it. You can be grateful for that one moment of warmth that you receive, that hello, that nodding. You can be grateful for that one day of sobriety you cut to, I don't know, but I know that with gratitude it allows space for more love to come within and for more changes to transpire.
Speaker 1:So try it, because all my life I played the victim and that did not work. One day I woke up and realized that storyline doesn't work. It doesn't change anything. Change anything. The only way I can change is if I choose to go within, take accountability for the choices I've made and or acknowledge and forgive myself for holding on to the things that made me so angry against the people that I never met or knew. But I have no control over. I do have control over how I feel and what I change and what I take with me.
Speaker 1:So allow yourself, forgive yourself, take accountability, feel gratitude, let love in, let love in Love. Love is everything. Love is everything. Love ignites your soul, sets you on fire, pushes you forward to then continue to spread love, because you are the love that the world needs to see. So this is my episode. I wish you all a wonderful, wonderful holiday of gratitude, and here I am saying thank you, thank you to all of you for all that you have done for me, for listening, for being my soundboard, for being a fan or for joining the journey with me. Thank you for choosing you. In this chaotic world, you found a moment in time where you said I'm worth it, I choose me, I love me, I am you, you are me. So thank you, thank you, thank you, and have an amazing day.