Embracing Life's Wake-Up Calls: Balancing Success, Health, and Happiness on Our Journey

When life unexpectedly reminded me of its fragility through my mother's health scare, I was forced to confront the delicate balance of health, happiness, and the daily grind. Today's episode is a candid exploration of that very struggle, as I recount the wake-up call that left me questioning if the pursuit of success is worth the cost of our well-being. We all have those moments where the universe seems to send us a signal; I share stories of individuals who faced the ultimate decision between career ambition and the dreams they've shelved - from a woman whose retirement was abruptly overtaken by illness, to a collegiate standing at the crossroads of a prosperous job and their true passion. This heartfelt narrative serves as a timely reminder to not just chase success, but to chase what makes us truly content.

As we wander through the intricate paths of our careers and life choices, the question of legacy becomes unavoidable. What will be the mark we leave behind? 

Join me on this personal and transformative odyssey, where embracing our true selves isn't just an ideal—it's our mission.

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Theme music by Emma Jo https://emmajo.rocks/

Transcript

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Importance of Prioritizing Health and Happiness

Dr. Katie 0:32

Good morning everyone . Welcome back to the Path to Leadership . I say good morning no matter when you're listening to this . I'm recording this on the morning that work because I have had to take some time off to take care of a sick family member , and you know what . That's okay .

Dr. Katie 1:05

And I started to stress about the podcast because I really enjoy hearing people share with me the times that the podcast has really spoken to them or the little antidotes that they learn from the podcast , and that's been really fun . And I had to , over the last couple of weeks , as I was in the hospital with my family member , be like you know what ? I just can't stress about it . So Emma and Jenna so beautifully stepped in to help me and I really enjoyed listening to their discussions that they had . I hope you enjoyed them as well . If you didn't get a chance to listen to them , I encourage you to go back and listen to those episodes that they did with me and for me . But I just was , as I was making my coffee this morning and I was getting ready to you know , get called back up and work I was like , okay , you know what , I'm going to just sit down real quick and record the podcast because there's just so much going on in my head right now that I wanted to share with everybody . And I've shared a bit of this on LinkedIn If you follow me on LinkedIn , you know .

Dr. Katie 2:20

But my mom was in the hospital and it was really scary . She was in the hospital with a now somewhat diagnosed blood disorder we're still waiting on final details but it was really scary At the beginning . It was is she going to make it out of ICU ? And then it turned into is it leukemia , is it cancer ? And then how are we going to handle that ? And then now it's turned into . Okay , we know we've narrowed it down to three blood disorders . They're all treatable and so what's the treatment going to be ? And we should have answers this week .

Dr. Katie 2:58

And I share that because we didn't know she was as sick as she was and she kept saying I just didn't want to burden anybody , I just didn't want to . You know I just I was so busy and I just didn't want to mess with it . Or you know I was going to go to the doctor and this happened , or this came up , or whatever . And I think , how many times in our life do we do that ? How many times in our busy careers with family and friends and plans are we juggling and we're like you know what I don't feel so good , or I'm overwhelmed . Or is this stress ? Is this burnout ? I mean , there were times early in my career , before we all wore Apple watches , where it was like I'm not sure where my heart is supposed to feel like this . Is this anxiety ? Is this stress ? What is it ? And I just blew through it and as we came off of you know , we're coming off of April and we're coming off my Women of Impact campaign for the American Heart Association . Thank you everyone who supported and donated and did everything around the American Heart Association and to my fellow Women of Impact nominees . It was just a really interesting journey .

Dr. Katie 4:15

And now , dealing with this , I was just sitting in the hospital , just pausing , thinking how often do we ignore these signs ? So we're sitting in our office and we know you know what ? I have this doctor's appointment . I've had it scheduled to get blood work done . Oh , but there's important meetings come up and so I'll just put it off and I'll just put it off and I'll put it off , and then you never do it or you get really sick and you end up in the hospital , and I'm afraid that happens way too much .

Dr. Katie 4:45

I also have a friend who was telling me a story about a coworker and the coworker retired once and the company called her back and said oh my gosh , will you come and do some consulting with us ? You're just so great and you know , you're just irreplaceable and we don't know how we're going to do it without you . And and the woman you know told her husband and the husband's like you know , we have these plans , we were going to travel and you know , you wanted to learn how to play golf and you want to do all these kinds of things . And she's like they promised me it's just going to be for six months . It's just going to be for six months . And seven years later , as she was retiring for a second time , she got sick and she got cancer and she eventually passed away . And so all of the plans that she wanted to do , she never got done because she kept getting pulled back into the grind , into the hamster wheel , into the chaos of everything . And it just makes me so sad to think about that , because if we think about , what are we living for ? What are we working for ?

Dr. Katie 5:58

And as we're going into graduation season and I talk to so many parents and I've talked to a bunch of , you know , young adults , seniors , that are graduating from college , and you know it's the anticipation and the excitement , it's the season of , you know , closing one chapter and beginning another . And what does that look like ? And I was talking to one young man . I went up to Benedictine College and was speaking to their senior class and afterwards he came up to me and he said you know , I'm really in a just internal battle right now because my parents want me to go this route and my dad tells me you know it will make me rich and you know I will be able to provide for my family . And you know this is the route that I have to go on , but I don't love it and I'm not excited about it . And I have this other opportunity that you know maybe I'm not going to get rich from , but I'm going to be able to pay my bills and I will have a very comfortable life if I follow this path . And I told him .

Dr. Katie 7:06

I said I would love to talk to you about this further , but before we talk , I need you to sit down and really think about what success is . What does success mean to you ? Is success a giant house , a giant boat , luxury vacations ? If it is , that's awesome . Good for you . Is success that you can pay your bills , that you can live comfortably , that you can go on vacations when you want to , that you can go on vacations when you want to , that you drive a nice car it may not be the nicest car what is success ? What does that look like ? And I think that helps us really put things back into perspective of you know , at the end of our lives I think we've all heard this before , but I think it's so important at the end of our lives , what's gonna be the most important things ? Is it going to be the balance in our bank account or is it going to be the impact in the relationships we have with people ? And so with that , I'm going to leave that here .

Reflections on Career Success and Leadership

Dr. Katie 8:11

I hope that you will do a little homework . I want you to reflect on what success looks like and truly what you want people to think about you at the end of your career , at the end of your life . And then , thirdly , are you living that way ? Are you reminding yourself constantly ? Are you encouraging other people around you to live that way ? Are you living these values ? So I hope you have a phenomenal day , phenomenal week , and I am going to get back and get caught up so I don't cause myself too much stress . I'm going to practice what I preach , I'm going to do the best I can and we're just all going to get where we're supposed to be . Have a great day and thanks for joining me on the Path to Leadership . Bye , everyone .