Resilience in Adversity with Kate Cline | Ep. 13 |

Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Growth Well podcast where we explore the art of balancing professional growth and personal well-being. I've got another exciting guest for you today. I know I always say that, but this is a person I just met a couple of weeks ago on a trade show floor. She works for Lumina Learning USA. She's the head of facilitation there, and Lumina has this amazing assessment that kinda helps you understand who you are both in your life and in your work, and I'm fascinated by those things. She's been there for fourteen years, and during that time, she's built a family and built a career there. She's a certified executive coach and a life coach. So I'm just really excited for you to meet Kate Klein today. Kate, thanks for being with us. Thanks for having me, Josh. I'm excited to to be on here with you. Absolutely. So for the audience, just tell us a little bit about you. What do you do, both professionally and personally? And, give us just a little brief overview of yourself. Okay. Absolutely. So as you mentioned, I work for Lumina Learning. I absolutely love this organization. I've been with them for fourteen years. And the work that we get to do is just in such alignment with who I am at my core and my passion and my purpose. So I have the the honor of getting to work alongside our clients to deliver our materials and do our facilitation of group sessions, but I also get to do one on one coaching for executive coaching and life coaching using our tools. And I absolutely love to see the difference that it makes. So I get to do that. I also support our practitioners. So I kind of get to wear that hat of of being that support from the outside. How can I help them grow? How they're using us in their organization? So I get to wear a lot of different hats at work, which is really, really fun and keeps it exciting. And then when you think about personal, I have four kids ranging from six years old, seven year old, ten year old, and eleven year old. So I'm re Full house. Yeah. Really busy at home. Yeah. Learning how to be a mom to all these different life stages they're going through and, you know, running them around everywhere and and all of that. And then I've I've also been married, for quite a while as well. So it's it's I feel like I wear a lot of different hats, get to do a lot of different things, and feel stretched in a lot of different areas, but I love everything that I do. That's that's amazing. Tell me a little bit more about that purpose and that why that you just mentioned. You know? You said this all centers around your purpose, and, I that's what this podcast is all about is understanding your purpose, and, you know, living in that to be your best self. So what is your purpose? Yeah. That's a big question. Right? You know, I Yeah. I have found that I'm really lucky because from a young age, my life was sort of shaped to help me find what really grounds me, what holds me solid. So when I was three years old, my father, was killed in a plane crash. And so immediately, you know, my mom became a single mom. She went from being a stay at home mom to a full time working mom, and my whole life changed. And at a that's a really young age to have you understand that everything changes. But because of that, I I continuously had this life of exploring who I am, what I am, who do I wanna be, how do I wanna be, what do I believe in, what's faith. And so I kind of grew up knowing that I had a purpose and knowing that there's more to life than right here, right now. And so my purpose now is truly built around empowering individuals, specifically women. I find that I really connect and I love to do work with women. I just I think I've had a lot of different life experiences that Yeah. Can be relatable to many different women in lots of parts of their life, but I also any individual I love to work with and just connect with them and empower them to be their best selves and to recognize where they're at right now and how to kind of see the future and and move to where they want to go in the future and being their best self. So that's that's really what my passion is, really empowering people. Yeah. I think that's why we must have connected so instantly, on that trade show floor. And I love what you said about women. I I look at, the roles in our society that that women play, and oftentimes, they have far too unreasonable expectations put on them, by kind of by society and expectations and, you know, if you're working and you've got kids and you're trying to do daycare and and, you know, you're trying to feed your family and and everything, it's it's really, incredible. My my wife likes to go out of town sometimes and leave me with all of it just to make sure I remember how tough it is to juggle everything Yeah. And how thankful I am for her. But, yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot. And so helping other people thrive in that is so important. So I think that's awesome. To do all that, most people, I mean, have to have rituals and routines and habits, things they do every day or every week to really kind of keep them in that flow because life is life, and it's gonna try to knock you down. You know, what rituals and routines and habits do you lean on in your life? That's a really great question. You know, I have found that it sort of changes depending on where I'm at in in life. I'm a very scheduled person, so I I like to have a consistent wake up and go to sleep schedule. I try to keep my kids on a schedule. I'm the kind of mom that lays everybody's clothes out the night before. You know, so day to day basic things, it's just preparing. It's preparing so that future Kate feels a little bit of relief. Kate, when she wakes up and the car's out of gas and the kit somebody's got strep throat, I can at least get all the other kids ready because I got everything prepped. Yes. So that's That's hard for me to do. I I know it's the right thing to do, but, man, is it hard. It's hard. And, you know, my husband doesn't do it that way either. But what's funny is recently, my last bit of travel, I was gone for basically three weeks home just for a weekend, which is not common for me. And Mhmm. He told me he goes, now I get it. I get why you do that because it's so much easier. But it it's, you know, it means you have to prep the night before. But I also find I have a spiritual coach, so I work with her monthly, and she works with me on meditation and breath work. And so I spend, you know, a couple minutes a day breathing and focusing on that or meditation and simple. I'm I I can't I haven't gotten to the point of, you know, a thirty minute long meditation practice. I'm talking. I set my intention every morning. I, you know, give thanks for for my day in the evening and when I'm like hustle bustle, I can sit there and I can kind of help recenter myself and so I can be present. And then I try to get some sort of physical activity in daily if possible, and that can range that has ranged from really intense workouts to just, hey. Let's go on a walk today. Whatever we need to do. So I try to kind of give myself a more holistic form of support, throughout the week. Some days don't work for me, some days to do, and I'm also a big goal setter. So every month I try to set some goals for myself personally and professionally and, and break them down by the week. So that's kind of how I prepare and set myself up. Yeah. I've it takes so much, effort at first, I found. But once you're in the groove, even of that intentionality of whether it's preparing, you know, to get your kids out the door the next morning or your own personal routine, it becomes a little bit of that flywheel effect where it gets easier. Something I've learned recently is is given myself grace, where maybe today I was supposed to do an intense workout and it time got squeezed or something, and it's like, you know what? I still was able to get in a a twenty minute run, or I was, you know, not feeling it, but I still showed up and give myself a pat on the back for that instead of, god, you really was stout on that one. You know? And, that's a that's kind of a new thing for me. So Yeah. You know, it's it's I think it's really healthy. Now have you always been that way? I mean, you mentioned with your your father's passing and and your mom being a single mom, you had a lot of this instilled in you very early on. But when did you start really putting, intention behind it? Yeah. So I've always been I've always had faith. I've always had faith in something bigger than myself, and I've always and I and, you know, I grew up with my mom is very much an inspiration driven, just kind of big idea, spontaneous individual. And her parents, my grandparents who helped step in and help, take care of us, they, you know, would would help with the structure piece of my grandfather, you know, was in the army and he just everything was very specific. And so I had the I I realized right away that I thrive on scheduling and that type of thing. Now in terms of the spiritual side of looking beyond looking beyond a specific religion and saying here's what they say, so I'm gonna follow this. Getting out of that and finding what it means to me and what spirituality means to me and what my higher power is. And all of those things grounding myself, that is new. And that's that's been truly you know, when when I found out I was pregnant with our third child, my husband was diagnosed with cancer, literally days between. Oh, wow. It was it was a whirlwind. And thankfully, it was something he was easily treatable. He, you know, got home right away. What a blessing. He's been in remission. But it was in that moment, I realized I need to be able to hold it together. We have two other kids. He's sick. And I just but I I had the the the ability to kinda move forward. But there were parts of that that were traumatizing, I think, subconsciously that I never dealt with. And so I I kind of went back and went through my own journey of healing and, you know, other things that have come up in our marriage or in our lives that I've had to go back and work through. And I've been really invested in that because the truth is I can only help people when I'm healthy and healing. And I Yeah. You know, be there for my kids when I've done that. So it's been it's been a great journey, but I would say in the last five years, I've really focused on what spirituality means to me, how I wanna grow in that way, you know, physical fitness, and and taking a more holistic view of my entire self and how can I support it? That's been more recent. That's recent for me as well. I've always kinda gone in and out of it, but really taking care of yourself is the only way to, take care of others. And if you're so purpose and mission driven to help others, if you're in a bad mood or bad health or, even something as small as didn't sleep well last night, it makes it really hard. And, I just I think about that help, you know, when the airline says the mask will will drop. And the first time I I really thought about it, I was like, no way. I'm putting it on my kid first. And my wife explained to me, no. If you pass out, you definitely can't put it on your kid first. Yeah. So you've gotta do you first. And I was like, wow. What a great metaphor. And, our listeners might be sick of hearing that because I do talk about it a lot, but it's still I think about it often. Yeah. So you have done a lot of incredible self work and self love, and I I love that about you. But I find at least for me, I also need other people or other kinds of structures around me that can help me identify that I'm knocked off balance a little bit long before I do because I'm stubborn. And I will say, dadgummit, I can do it, and I will push through unless someone says, hey. Something seems a little off. You okay? Or my wife will say, hey. You might need to go for a run. You know? Something like that. Do you have what do you have in your life that helps you recognize that in yourself? Yeah. You know, I am one of those people. I do not have a bajillion friends. I really keep people close to me that that I I just that I can invest in, and then they can invest in me. And so I have a handful of really close best friends who can look at me and say, Kate, what's up? What's going on? Are you okay today? You're really quiet. I haven't heard from you. I have one best friend who she lives across the street, and she will literally just come to my house and be like, we're going on a walk. We need to go on a walk. I haven't heard from you. Like, get out of here. A great friend. Hey, friend. If you're listening to this, you're awesome. Keep doing that for Kate. Yeah. She's she's great. And, you know, the safe people that you can vent to. My husband also is amazing, and he knows me. We've been married for so long. He knows me so well, and he'll do the same thing that you mentioned to your wife. He'll say, go on a run, go get your nails done, go be with your friends, do what you need to do to get a break because I can see that you're breaking down or, you know, sometimes you just cry or you just get mad. And instead of that ridicule, he'll just say, that's okay. You needed this. Okay. Yeah. Just let it be. So Help. I'm really, really lucky with that and and close family. My mom, I'm still incredibly close with. And so she's gone through so much in her life, and to be able to have her also share those pieces of knowledge and and kind of the pathway has really helped me too. We were going through that makes me think about the fact that we were going through my Lumina assessment, you know, that I got to do as a part of your work, and it identifies places of strength and, places and what I do when I get overextended. And I thought that was really interesting because I'm very inspiration driven, and I'm very big picture thinking and bring everybody together. But when I get overextended, I seek structure. Right? I and I think that's the root of, this podcast. Actually, it hit me because I wanna know what other people gravitate towards when life inevitably throws you a curveball. Like, what is your go to thing if you get overextended, and how do you bring your back yourself back to the healthy place you need to be? Yeah. So when I get overextended, I have learned that it's really better if I separate myself from the situation if I can. Mhmm. Can you do that? It depends. Are you good at it? Well, it depends in my professional or personal life. There are times my kids will know that and they're old they're old. You know, the youngest is six. So it they're in it they're safe, and they know how to, you know, be in our house safely. Right. I will go in my room and shut the door and just say I need a minute. Otherwise, I'm going to not be the mommy that you want right now or that I want to be. So I find that if I can take a minute and even if it's a few breaths, even if it's, you know, I'm in a meeting and I need to walk away for a second and grab a cup of water, but separating myself from the situation so that I can take a look back, like, with an arms length view and say okay what's really happening here? Somehow I got triggered and it's not about it's not about me. It's not about the trigger. I need to figure out what's going on. And so that helps me. But on a daily, you know, there are things in life that come at you and they're not a quick thing. It's going to take time to go through it and process it, and we just have to kinda go through that journey. And when I find myself in those situations, that's when spiritual coaching, executive life coaching can really help. Journaling can really help. Breathing can Yes. But it's it's about being comfortable in that uncomfortable zone sometimes, and that's that's just hard. It really is, but that's the same thing that athletes do. I mean, they push themselves to being uncomfortable so that they get better, and that's really where the growth happens. I realized just, this month, we're recording this in the month of June, and, I've started this five year journal where every day you write five lines of how you're feeling and your thoughts and that kind of thing. And on every page, it's got a space for five years. So I'm on my second year. And, at the beginning of this month, I was kinda feeling just unsettled and overextended. And what was interesting was how much my feelings at that time mirrored my feelings at the exact same time last year, which led me to kind of pull back the layers and go, oh Yeah. Well, look what happened. My kids just got out of school. It's summertime. Our schedules got interrupted, and I have not transitioned well. And so how can I, transition better, or how can I just recognize that this is a time of, unsettled, you know, routine and and be okay with it? And so it's interesting you mentioned journal. That's really helped me a bunch. And I when I went from, oh, oh, you've got a journal for five pages a day or ten or fifteen minutes, it's kinda like that meditation thing, right, where you're like, I'm not doing thirty minutes of meditation. Like the gurus, I might do twenty seconds. Right? And and just doing those little things, can really have a big impact. And so I'm learning that alongside you that you gotta kinda step away and figure out what the next right step is, but just the the first next right step. It doesn't have to be that you have to figure out everything and the solution. I I was tossing and turning last night thinking about, a work problem, and my wife was like, did you figure it out? And I was like, no. But I figured out what to do next, and that that is enough. Yeah. You know? Or it is for me at least. Absolutely. And, you know, the the thing about life is we never know. We can make all these plans, think we have a solid plan for our life path carved out and curveball. So we we Yeah. You know, we just I love that five year journal. I I'm gonna look into getting that. I will send you it's from a company called Levenger. Okay. I have a link, I think, in most of my YouTube descriptions, but I'll just send you a link. And I'm not affiliated with them, but it is something that I recommend to a lot of people. It might be interesting starting in the middle of the year, but I I could see how you could make that work. But just every page has the date at the top and five blanks for, that year. And I just started on that journey believing that it would be valuable, and it was kind of valuable year one. Year two, it's blown my mind because I remember little things too. Like, I know you grew up in equestrian, and the other day, I had a note that my littlest jumped her first cross rails that day. Yeah. And and I was like, how cool to remember that? I would never remember that otherwise. I know she, at some time, jumped cross rails for the first time, but I didn't have it, like, solidified. And and so it's just been really cool. So I will send you the link. And for our listeners, since, you're listening, I will make sure the link is in the show notes, at least on the YouTube channel, to make sure that that you can grab the that. Again, I'm not affiliated. I'm not selling it, but it's been pretty life changing for me. Awesome. Yeah. I I can't wait to get that and look at that. I think that'll be great. Yeah. Yeah. One morning, you can get it, like, you know, with your, initials embossed on it and stuff, and it takes a little while. It might take a month to come in or something like that. Or I ordered mine around Christmas, so maybe there was a backup. But, it does it does take a little while, but it is well worth it. So getting back to, you know, the topic at hand, as a a life coach and a business coach and also someone who is still experiencing your journey, I think one of the biggest misnomers is that, you know, we were supposed to grow up and become adults and know exactly who we are and what we wanna be in in all of that stuff, and I think we're all figuring it out through our whole lives. Right? So what advice would you give to listeners of this show? Because that's really what this show is all about is how do you balance growing professionally and personally and be an awesome mom and awesome at your job and be the best you can be? What what advice would you give to those listeners? You know, I think the biggest thing I would share to anyone always is to try to be kind to yourself. Be kind to what's happening in your life right now and what we know right now. Because oftentimes we try to shame ourselves for a choice or a situation in the past or that we don't know what's going to happen in the future, but actually let's just be kind to ourselves and celebrate where we're at and remembering that life is a journey and if we can be present and finding your your way of grounding yourself, whatever that is. Maybe it's walking or meditation or therapy or coaching or talking or whatever that is for you, but experiment with it. I spent one year one one year I spent exploring all these different limitations I put on myself. So I went and did, ropes course. I'm terrified of heights. I I just I just every little phobia or fear or limitation that I'd ever put on myself, I tried to get through it. And it was it there are so many moments. My husband looked back at me and he, how did you do that? And I would not I couldn't say no to anyone. If they asked me to do something, I would say yes. So that was, like, my year of yes. Wow. It was Have you seen that movie, by the way? No. Yes day? Yes. It's hilarity. You need to you need to I mean, it it takes that to the extreme, but, like, did you start out by making a list? Did you just make a bucket list of all the things you're afraid of and said, you know, that I'm gonna conquer that this year? Yes. And it wasn't just afraid. It was like things that I had said I'd never do. So Spartan race. I told myself that you can't do it. You're not ready to do it. Well, why not? I Why not? Why why couldn't I? So I my one of my really good friends, she's like, okay. Go with me. And then, you know, I did the Spartan race. That was terrifying, but it was really great, but I was so sore. We did it at the stadium. It took so many steps. I did, what was another one? Oh, some challenge that it was like the Murph challenge or something. What that morning, my friend just texted me and said, hey. I'm doing it. Come do it with me, and I couldn't say no. So I got up and just went and didn't prepare the night before. Maybe it had wine the night before. Who knows? And I still, like, step into it. So, you know, sometimes it's about exploring what works for you and what might not work for you. And I know that I'm afraid of heights doing the ropes challenge didn't make that fear go away. It just solidified that actually I'm afraid of heights. And I'm shaking until midnight that night. So, you know, I learned more about myself though because I pushed myself. And so my advice is don't limit yourself. If you hear those thoughts, those limiting thoughts, find your way of battling it. Mine was to say, absolutely not. I can do it. And my you know, and I explore different ways of grounding. So Yeah. Do that and and never give up. And and remember that we're always growing and changing. And, yeah, that would be my advice. Really get to know yourself at every stage of your life. Yeah. I think that is such good advice and something that as parents I know and professionals, we often push down in support of our work with others. But you really have to to know yourself, and I love that you were were brave enough to just not say no. I I think that's awesome. Listeners, if any of you take on that challenge, please let us know. I would love to have you on the show to talk about it. So, you know, what's next on your horizon for your growth journey, for your family? You know, it's summertime here. What's what are you excited about? You know, I'm excited to to just continue my journey of of being more present for my family. That's been really a a probably a harder one, which sounds so strange, but to actually be present for my family is harder than being present for my job or even for my friends. Isn't it that weird? It's strange. I think our listeners I don't I think it's strange, but our listeners would identify with it. I certainly do. But why? Why is that so hard? I don't know. Because I love them more than anything. Of course. And yet I really struggle with it. And there's so many you know, if I were to really dive into it, there's so many reasons. Right? Sometimes it's because our kids are us in many versions, and so we see so much and it's it can be triggering. Sometimes it's just because there's a lot there. We don't know what to do, and we want to be the best, and there's there's things. And I but I've been trying to just be intentional and also to to know I may not be the kind of mom that's gonna get on the ground and play Legos. I might be the kind of mom that's gonna snuggle and read with you. You know? That I I just need to know who I am. My husband's going to be the dad that will play video games with you and throw you in the pool. I'm not going to be that that one. So Right. We just make sure we're different. And then for for my professional career, I I don't know what's in store for me. I know that I love what I do. I would love to start, you know, being part of retreats for women. I would love to start doing more public speaking and write a book. There's lots of things out there I'd like to do. But right now, I'm very satisfied with where I'm at, and I'm really thankful for the work that I get to be a part of. That's awesome. That's all we can do, right, is be really happy where we are and look to the future, but almost hold those plans loosely. Right? Just do our best work, love and support others, be there for our family, and let the rest take care of itself. But like I said, it's so hard. Well, thank you so much, Kate, for joining us. If you wanna get in touch with Kate, her, info, her LinkedIn will be in the show notes so that you can reach out to her directly if that'd be okay with you, Kate. Absolutely. She is just amazing. Like I said, we, were forced into spending, a lot of time together at a trade show where we were set up right next to each other and and became friends. And next thing you know, she's jumping on GrowthWell with me and sharing her story with you. So thank you, Kate. I really, really appreciate it. Thank you, Josh. Really happy to be a part of it. Thank you so much. Absolutely. And that's a wrap. Thank you all for listening. As always, thank you to my partners at Market Scale for making this podcast happen. Please don't forget to subscribe and share with your friends. The feedback we are getting from this podcast is incredible. I hope it helps you. If it helped you, share it with somebody else. And go out there this week and pursue growth well. Until next time.