Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: We have Kate galley with us here today. Kate, very excited to have you.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: Jordan, I am excited to be here with you.
[00:00:09] Speaker A: Awesome. Would love to just sort of hear your story. Tell us who Kate is, where you've come from, where you've been.
[00:00:16] Speaker B: There's a big one. Where do I even start? I am based in Australia. I'm in the future, a day ahead of you. And I am a health coach, personal trainer, author, and fellow podcaster. Actually, you know, I was that typical little girl who grew up loving animals and eating animals. I know something that we might come to in the conversation today is how love is easier than hate and why I stopped being an angry vegan. And so that is a big part of my story. You know, this passionate, compassionate little girl, as so many of us were, that loved animals, that didn't eat them.
I became a debilitatingly shy teenager, I would say. And the reason I first got into the gym and into fitness specifically was to transform both my own body, but also my confidence. And that is one of the things I love most about the components of my career now that is still as a personal trainer is helping other people in the gym transform both their body and their confidence. So that's a huge part of what I do. I also spend a lot of time with the online side of the business as well. But I guess there's a very brief overview of who I am.
[00:01:39] Speaker A: Love it. There's a lot of things that I want to touch on there. I think the first thing that you said that was really interesting was going from being an angry vegan. So I'd love to hear about your journey and where you are now, what you've learned.
[00:01:52] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. So when I became vegan about nine years ago, that was after being vegetarian 23 years. So to backtrack, I became vegetarian as a 16 year old for the animals. I lived that lifestyle for over two decades, ten years of which I was a personal trainer, very much aligned with a high protein, low carbohydrate vegetarian life, you know, way of eating and sculpting the body that I was confident in. And, you know, so I've been vegetarian about 23 years, and I watched the documentary and I realized if I was vegetarian for the animals, I actually needed to be vegan for the animals. And that's where the anger came, because I felt like I had been lied to. I felt like I'd been making compassionate choices, and actually I hadn't. I was still contributing unknowingly to suffering and death, as so many people have been. And so I became vegan basically overnight. You know, I was an animal rights activist. I spent a lot of time with animal rights activists sharing the horrific videos and feeling anger, I'll admit it. Anger, maybe even hate. Definitely a lot of frustration and sadness towards the non vegans in my life who weren't making the choices that I was making. And again, lots of learnings here. It's not the mindset that I'm in now. However, as I said, maybe about five years ago, my dear mum rang me at Christmas time and she said, Katie, I am really worried about what to do at Christmas. You're this vegan animal rights activist, your father's the anti vegan. Christmas is all about the delicious food. I don't know what to do. You know, as a bit of a reference, mum is absolutely like an amazing cook. Shows love with food, as so many people do. And the family food at Christmas is a really big time, right? So I was like, amazing mum. She said, I don't know what to do unless you mastermind a vegan feast and sell the family on it. Amazing. Well, up for masterminding the vegan feast, right? Not so up for selling the family on it. However, fast forward we had the family Christmas. I cooked about six new dishes. They were delicious. Everyone was really grateful. The day before I was leaving the state that my family live in to fly back home to Sydney, where I now live, where I lived back then. My mum said, Katie, will you watch what the health with me now? Jordan, a bit of backstory here. I had been emotionally blackmailing my parents to watch what the health for years without success. Right? Because emotional blackmailing is not very effective, as I now learned. After the Christmas, mom wanted to watch it with me. She was super impacted by it, especially as a nurse. For over three decades, she really connected with our broken sick care system as opposed to a more preventative healthcare system. She said, I'm going to try this plant based thing for two years. But for two weeks, it turned out to be more than two years. Mum became plant based. She almost became vegan.
We strengthened our relationship immeasurably. It was super impactful for both of us. And here's where the stopping being an angry vegan component comes in. And it's really brutal. But almost three years ago, I'd had a fabulous Sunday, a very normal Sunday. I'd spoken to my dear mum in the morning at about 07:00 a.m. like I always did every single Sunday morning. And I got the phone call from my father that I always expected to be getting from my mother. I always thought I'd get that phone call from Mumdha that said, Katie, it's your dad. But I got the phone call that said, Katie, it's your mother. And mum was in intensive care and there wasn't much hope. In fact there was no hope and my mum had died. I'd spoken to her that morning, she had died that afternoon. It was as shocking as you can possibly imagine. And that was that. When amongst the shock and the sadness, I was so overwhelmed with those emotions I literally had no more energy in me to deal with being angry and frustrated, hateful towards the non vegans in my life, primary of which was actually my dad. You know, I thought what if that had been my father that had died so suddenly? I absolutely would have had regrets. No regrets with mum. We had an amazing relationship. She knew how much I loved and respected her and vice.
However, I would have had regrets if it was dad. And part of the reason I share this is, yes, I'm vegan. However, I think a lot of people listening can relate to whatever it is in your life that you are super passionate about. Perhaps it's religion or politics or it is something that is super important to you and aligns with your values and beliefs in your heart. And there are other people in your life that don't share those values and beliefs and it can cause such conflicts and that's just not a happy way to live. That's the lesson that I learned the very hard way.
[00:07:42] Speaker A: Wow. So you were able to actually end up connecting with your mom over her sort of plant based diethyde and were hit very suddenly. Said, you know, no regrets. You built out this amazing relationship with your mom but you realized that this anger, this hatred that you had been caring for non vegans could lead you to a lot of regrets. For example, with your dad.
[00:08:09] Speaker B: 100%. And to be clear, my mum and I had had an amazing relationship for a lot of years.
You know, she was the most warm, generous, loving, like bright spark of happy in my life and in many people's lives. You know, she was my person. And then also the fact that she had the courage to adopt a plant based lifestyle, living with an anti vegan, which dad absolutely is, and it wasn't easy on their relationship. For our relationship, my father and I, I just had so much additional respect for the courage and the alignment and the compassion that that took. And so we would bond over, you know, the struggles of being vegan in a non vegan world. And again, this could be being of a political leaning in a. In a state that doesn't align with that political meaning. You know, it doesn't have to be about the vegan lifestyle. But, yeah, as you said, I realized if that had been dad, I would have absolutely had regrets. And also I thought, how does life look twelve months, 24 months, three years down the track, if I keep carrying around this anger and hostility because what we put out there is reflected back at us. Right. Our energy is matched. And if I'm carrying around this anger and judgment, that is absolutely what I am getting reflected back at me. And it's not effective and 100% it's not fun.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: Yeah. And so how did your relationship with your dad change going forward at that point?
[00:09:53] Speaker B: Slowly. You know, initially, I guess we bonded to a small degree over the worst thing in the world happening to both of us. You know, mum was my person, mum was his person, you know, so we bonded a little bit over that. However, equally, I probably held it in my heart a little bit that I was left with the. This is awful. I was left with the person that wasn't as compassionate or generous and I think he knew that as well. You know, mum did so much for so many people and she went so suddenly and maybe we were both a bit bitter over that. However, about a year after mum died, I said to dad, you know, let's go back to New Zealand, where we all spent 20 odd years in New Zealand and visit all the family friends that weren't able to get over for the life celebration when mum died. Because this all happened back in Covid. To add another level of surreal horror to it, it happened in Covid. The state that I was in, New South Wales was due to come out of lockdown the day after mum died. So she died on a Sunday. We were about to come out of twelve weeks lockdown on the Monday. So you can imagine how happy everyone was to be getting back to life. And I just lost the most important person in my life. And the state that mum was in, Queensland had shut its borders to New South Wales. So obviously I had to get the compassionate leave to be able to enter the states, to be able to enter the hospital.
They kept her alive on life support so that I could say goodbye. She was gone, but so that she could donate organs and I could say goodbye. So the COVID you know, scenario, it meant hotel quarantine on my own for a night. It meant being met by police officers to walk me to my hotel room and touch the lift button in case I touched it as a dirty Sydney cider. Like, it was just a whole nother level of absolute horror to the point where dad and I were not meant to be able to be in the same room as Mumdha, saying our goodbyes at the same time. We weren't meant to touch, but the beautiful, dear nurses in ICU, one of them left us at one point in time so that we could actually hug. Like they broke the rules. We were all in our pec or whatever it is that full, like, hectic, you know, kid out that you have to cover, be covered in. So, you know, there are compassionate people. Obviously, in the worst of times, it did mean that all of the people that might have come to mum's life celebration when we could eventually have it. Months later, Australia still had its borders closed to New Zealand, so they couldn't come. So to get to your question of the relationship with dad, I suggested that we go back to New Zealand together and we see those people that we were so close to with mum. And that was probably the first big step in, you know, making our relationship better, that we did that together, that we connected with all these beautiful people who loved mum as well. And dad saw that all of these people we visited in New Zealand, whether they were a man his age or a lady my age, I was the weird vegan and they would simply and easily and without fuss cook a meal that included me. Now, dad, up until that point, had not cooked one thing in all the years that I was vegan, not so much as a baked potato. He kind of had this, like, mark in the sand where I'm that vegan that made his wife vegan, and that's bad. And so let's not make it easy for me, even though I'd cook for him a lot. Anyway, we came back from the New Zealand trip and the first time I visited dad again in Noosa, where he lived, was the one year anniversary of mum dying. And I came up for it and I'd worked a full week and flown up and he picked me up from the airport and brought me home and he said, I know you would have had a really busy week. I made you dinner and he'd cooked this full tofu stir fry, 100% vegan meal for the first time. And it would have been six years by then. And that was a big step too, because, again, people match your energy. And he did that for me and it made me really want to try so much harder with him because he had made this big step. It really was a big step.
[00:14:37] Speaker A: Wow, that's. That's an incredible story. Just the personal journey that you went through and the journey that you went through with your dad and to be able to come to a point where you guys don't necessarily agree and that's okay. You may probably won't ever agree on it, but you can agree that it doesn't make you both bad people and really have come around on it. That's pretty amazing.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: 100%. I mean, one of the lessons that I remember, and I do have to remind myself pretty much every day. Well, there's a couple. Number one, this is a really amazing opportunity to every single day, try and be more like my mum. To lead with love, compassion and deliciousness. You know, delicious food is the way to most people's heart and vegan food can be delicious. And so that's my main strategy, to try and be more and more like her, to honour her and equally. The other thing I always remind myself is to focus on what you have in common with the people you love. You know, I used to look at his plate and count the number of dead animals on that plate because often there would be many. And now it's like, no, focus on how much he loves his cat, like you love your cat and like, find the things to focus on that bring you closer rather than that build that.
[00:16:00] Speaker A: Distance that is so powerful. You know, as human beings, it's very easy, like you said, to focus on the differences, to focus on the things that make you feel, you know, self righteous or better than. And I think it's just an inherent thing that as humans we just tend to do.
But when you really step back and think about what really matters, you can find things in common with anyone, even the person that you most disagree with in the world. And it just takes that commitment to saying, I'm going to find this and I'm going to focus on this rather than focusing on the negative part.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: 100%. And I think it. It takes an awareness. I used to analyze how I would feel after a bad interaction. Like, you never guilt or, you know, judge someone into making a change. It's never worked for me. It doesn't work for anyone else either. And I would have these conversations where I would win with all the facts. You know, I would win that battle and it just still wouldn't go well and I would feel rubbish afterwards and he would too. And I. I kind of had to have a talk, like, I guess a talking to myself, like, how important is this relationship? Do you want to maintain it? And is your current strategy working, winning with all the facts? No.
[00:17:21] Speaker A: And how have you implemented what you've learned from that into your coaching and working with clients?
[00:17:29] Speaker B: As I hinted at, it relates to so many things in relation to what you are most passionate. Passionate about. When I'm working with clients, whatever they're looking to achieve, like maybe it's a health and fitness goal, maybe it's body composition wise and they're looking to implement some healthy habits, or maybe it's adopting a plant based lifestyle and they're doing it, you know, for the planet or for their health, for whatever reason. My first port of call is always to get really clear on your why and the compelling reasons behind that why. So I would say stack your why, what you're looking to achieve and why you're looking to achieve it with huge emotional intensity.
So that is something that I always do. But then beyond that with my clients, and absolutely I've done that this with myself as well. I look to align that why with your most important values and beliefs. So integrity is one of my top values and I'm vegan for the animals and it's all about compassion. And yet I'm not showing compassion to my fellow humans, especially the ones I love most. There's not much integrity in that right there. Just, there isn't. So part of what I look to do with my clients is help them make the connection between, yes, this is what I'm looking to achieve and why these are my most important values and beliefs. And here is the connection that sees the two of those things as being aligned rather than as being in conflict. So, for example, if I had a client whose number one value was family, love, connection, family, something like that, and they wanted to get in shape, and they saw getting to the gym early each morning as taking away from waking up with the kids or waking up with their partner, they saw that action that they need to take to get the result they want, as in conflict with a very important value or even an identity belief that, hey, I'm an amazing mum, I'm an amazing dad, I put my children first. If that's in conflict, it's always going to be a struggle street to take those actions consistently and to get the results. We don't need to change the values, the beliefs, the goal. We just need to reframe the way we think of them. So, for example, perhaps that mother we're talking about, a mum, perhaps she might see that getting to the gym and being fit and strong, healthy is an amazing way to stick around long term for her kids, to model a healthy lifestyle for her kids. That's going to make it a whole lot easier for her to bounce out of bed and get to the gym early each morning.
[00:20:19] Speaker A: That's a great point. And I would imagine that you're dealing with, I mean, hundreds of different combinations of values and goals that people are thinking about and that are important to them.
[00:20:31] Speaker B: Yeah, 100%. Like, it's not up to me to say, hey, how about if you reframed it this way? It's about me. It's more about having the conversation with them, I guess, prompting them to come up with what most resonates with them. And again, there's no right or wrong so far as your values, your beliefs, your goals. However, there is effective so far as the way that you frame them or reframe them if you need to so that it makes it easier for you to take the most effective action, take the right action, if you call it that, and have the more supportive thought processes as well.
[00:21:10] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So I'm curious to hear how has your coaching philosophy, coaching process changed and developed over time?
[00:21:22] Speaker B: I guess when I was young, like I've been a personal trainer almost two decades now. Right. So I've got a lot of experience. It used to be, I guess, more about, not about me. I was always from the very get go, I decided on the trainer I wanted to be. Personal training is very visible. I wanted to be the most focused and most positive trainer in the gym and that's still super important to me. What I needed to learn though is that my goals aren't my clients goals. In fact, most of my clients, they don't want what I've got so far as my health and fitness. They don't want to make what they would judge as the sacrifices I don't at all. But I need to focus on their goals and, you know, help them get that absolute clarity on their goals and the why behind their goals. And also get really good at supporting my clients in setting up the foundation for their future success. So this is some of the mindset work that we've been touching on. With values, with beliefs, with limiting beliefs. All of this when you're working with someone as a personal trainer or health coach or helping someone adopt a healthy plant based lifestyle. People just want the actions. We all want the actions. We want to be told how to exercise and how to eat to get the results. The thing is, there's no shortage of all of that information for free online. Some of it's even good. However, you need to lay the foundation, you need to do the mindset work that makes those actions easy to take. When the motivation and inspiration wears off, you know, when it's been more than just the first couple of weeks, when perhaps your family or partner isn't supportive, when it's winter, when you're away on holiday, you need that framework or foundation.
And that is something that I've really put more time on as the years go by to help my clients lay down so that they have that success, like long term and sustainably, because there's no value in like a short term quick fix that doesn't last.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: I'm hearing a lot. You know, you mentioned it earlier about the healthcare system being very much oriented around sort of short term, hey, you've got this problem now, let's fix it. And it sounds like something really similar when you're working with your clients, right? Instead of here's the silver bullet, you just need to take these actions. It's actually taking this longer term view about who are you and how are you going to make this something that's sustainable beyond just when you're motivated. It sounds like that's something that you're very passionate about. I mean, it sounds like that might be a core value of yours. I'd love to hear more about that.
[00:24:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it's a good catch. I hadn't thought of it that way. I mean, my number one, my number one value, integrity is two. But number one is absolutely, absolutely freedom. And I see living and loving a healthy lifestyle as the ultimate freedom. It gives you the freedom of energy, health, to do what you want, when you want, sustainably. You know, some of the things that, some of the strategies that I talk about and laying the foundation and that not the quick fix, the longer, more sustained, consistent approach, that could sound really boring and like a lot of hard work and that could be pretty unappealing for people, particularly people who haven't gotten there in the past. If it's something a bit new and you're like, I don't know if I can do it, that sounds like a lot of hard work. I would kind of say the most hard work is the stop start, inconsistent program hopping approach where you try the latest new thing. You work really hard, your food is a bit restrictive and your exercise is a bit punishing and you don't get the results that you want. So you stop and then you have to start that hard bit all over again with the next silver bullet that you want to jump on. Right. Consistency isn't that hard because at least you're getting results and the effort that you have to put in. It really does diminish a little bit over time. As you get older, you learn what works for you. Yes. You learn what exercise and what nutrition more. So you learn the mind games to play with yourself that work, you know, how to set yourself up for success so far as discipline and motivation and all of this, we learn that with time. And. Yes, absolutely. That is my approach now.
[00:25:55] Speaker A: Interesting. You mentioned mind games with yourself.
[00:25:57] Speaker B: 100%. Like, the reframe is my favorite one, right? So it can be as simple as I have to get to the gym. You know, that's language of pressure, right? It's not really fun at all. That mindset is always going to make it hard for you to get to the gym. Whereas I see exercise as precious me time. It's a privilege. We are those of us that have the physical capacity, the money, the time, the freedom to be able to get to the gym. That is absolutely precious you time that you are committing just to you. You can see it as selfish, but it's absolutely not because it allows you to show up better in life for everyone that you do love. So a simple reframe like that, you know, I used to say, I hate all salads. All salads are boring. You know? Now I've discovered that anything can be a salad, right? You can have the most abundant, beautiful, hearty, bean based burger crumbled all over your salad that's full of baked, smashed potatoes and a creamy avocado dressing and nuts and seeds and, like, that can be a salad if it wants to be a salad, you know? And that makes it much more likely that I'm going to eat and love a salad.
[00:27:14] Speaker A: That is such a great point. I've had a similar experience. I mean, actually, with, with salad. For the longest time, it was like, salads, you know, they're gross. And you're just sort of thinking of this one or two, like, prototypical salads that you've had, and then you have a good salad and it just. I mean, it changes your outlook on salads 100%.
[00:27:32] Speaker B: There are so many things from within the fitness world. I used to say, I'm a weights girl, right? I love lifting heavy weights. And I used to say I hate cardio. And I do. I really don't like spending 40 minutes on a machine at the gym. In fact, I never do it. That is pretty hateful. It's probably more hateful when you're thinking about it before you actually start. It's probably not all that bad. I probably don't need to use the word hate. However, even better. How about if I turn to the forms of cardio that I do love, walking along the river in nature with a friend on the phone, listening to a podcast or just having clear peace of mind and no inputs or something that perhaps you loved as a child that that is a form of cardio, be it like dancing or whatever it may be. Definitely there are non hateful forms of cardio, and once you frame it in a more pleasurable way, you are much more inclined to actually take that action consistently and get those results you're seeking.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: That is such a great point. I love that. And you kind of touched on the piece of love is easier than hate. It's easier not to focus on. I hate cardio. I hate all cardio. But I love this type of cardio.
[00:28:47] Speaker B: Also. Much more productive. 100%. Yeah, I absolutely agree. And in the same way that I try to minimize the emotional intensity in the things that I don't like, you know, I don't really hate cardio. It's just not my favorite. I also try to maximize the emotional intensity and the things that are good for me. So I love kale and I love broccoli. Look, do I love them as much as my mum's roast potatoes or cauliflower cheese? Probably not. Or Anzac biscuits? You know, certainly not. However, when I say I love kale and I love broccoli, again, it makes me more inclined to eat those foods. And I do want to eat those foods.
[00:29:29] Speaker A: Absolutely. So, changing gears a little bit, I would love to hear about one of, you know, your favorite, most rewarding clients that you've worked with. Overdose the years.
[00:29:40] Speaker B: Oh, I've got so many. And I guess as a little bit of context, because I was a vegetarian trainer for a full decade before I became vegan. You know, I talked about, I didn't really enforce my vegetarian nutrition on my clients, right. So even when I became vegan, I, my clients, let's put it this way, my clients weren't super open to becoming plant based overnight. A lot of them made some big changes and saw results for that. However, still, the majority of my clients were people that ate animals and just included more plants. So that's to frame the conversation, I guess. However, you know, the clients and the clients that I love spending time with most are those individuals that are super successful in business and family and life. And I'm thinking of one gentleman in particular who became a friend and I trained him for about eleven years before I left Sydney and moved to Noosa. And that was why we stopped training because I'm in a different state. However, he's still a friend and this is an individual that. Here's a special thing about personal training. You see someone for 45 minutes, two or three times a week, four years, you really get to know them and their families and they really get to know you as well. And although this gentleman didn't become full vegan, he became a lot more plant based and, you know, no names. But he's one of the most successful businessmen here in Australia and he is incorporating more ethical, animal friendly frameworks into the way that he does business. And he's having conversations with people that I respect in the not for profits animal welfare, not so much rights side of things. And he's having these conversations and making these changes because of this crazy little animal rights activist, vegan personal trainer that he's gotten to know over eleven years. And I might have done 887 episodes of my podcast speaking to the vegans I respect most in the world. I'm probably having more impact here in Australia because of this one individual that over many years we've built up a relationship. And he's seen me as, I guess, calm, not that crazy, angry vegan that I used to be. He's seen the change in me and he respects it. And yeah, that is certainly my favorite client, even though I don't have the privilege of training him anymore.
[00:32:30] Speaker A: Yeah. And that really, I think goes along with what you were talking about earlier about could you have made a real impact on this person's beliefs if you had taken the angry route? Right.
You're wrong. I've got to sort of prove you wrong. And, you know, we're not going to be able to get along versus taking the sort of compassionate understanding. Here's the values that we do share and here's where we can connect her out.
[00:32:56] Speaker B: And Jordan, I learned this the hard way as well. Sometimes I can be a slow learner. And mum used to say, Katie, you make it hard on yourself. Because sometimes I would say things in our personal training conversations about how animals are treated within animal agriculture and I would see his face fall and I would have just used the wrong word. I would have used the word that brings up connotations to him that he just wasn't ready for. I would have used a word that would be fine with my animal rights activist friends, but I would get the immediate feedback, hey, this is not the word to use with this person. It's just going to make him shut down like, it is too much. He's not there yet. Maybe he'll get there. But, Kate, just choose your word better and, you know, take feedback on how you're being received. And my clients have been an amazing opportunity to do that. Right. I know when I get it right and I know when I've pushed a bit too hard or, you know, just jumped over that fine line a little bit.
[00:33:55] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I love that you are so reflective. Every single time, you know, you have a conversation, it sounds like with a client about how what you're saying is being received. Am I being, am I being effective here? Or, you know, am I, is my message being received or am I just sending the message and putting the responsibility on the client to either accept it or not?
[00:34:19] Speaker B: That is everything. My goal and my vision for the world is huge. Absolutely huge. I want to live in a happy, healthy, kind, compassionate, vegan world. That is my goal. And most people would say it's delusional. I have to keep bringing myself back to what is effective. And that is the word I always use in conversations with other vegan business owners. In terms of the language that we use, the audience, the demographics that we're trying to appeal to, there's really no point reaching the quiet. And again, this probably relates to whatever you care most about. It doesn't have to be about veganism or animal rights activism. Think of what you are really looking to achieve and have an honest reflection, an honest conversation with yourself. Are you just putting out the messaging that gets the people who are already on your same page to go, yeah, go.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: You.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: You're amazing. Because that feels good short term, but you're not really making any progress if that's all you're doing. And so I have to remind myself, however, that generally is the approach that I look to take.
[00:35:32] Speaker A: I love that. So what if you could share like one or two things that you wish that people who don't necessarily have the vegan perspective that you wish that we knew. I'm not a vegan.
I'm curious, like, what would you share?
[00:35:47] Speaker B: So many things. I would like you to imagine the world where if children, when they were first born, if they were, and kids are naturally compassionate, right? You know, the cliche is you give them an apple, you give them a bunny, they're going to bite into the apple, not the bunny. My cat is definitely going to bite into the bunny, not the apple. Right. Children, we are naturally compassionate. We naturally care. And what would our world look like if from that very young age we were taught that all species were equal, that they were all worthy of respect? And compassion. You know, what? If we were talking that animals are here with us, not for us, not that some animals are here as products to be used for profit, that there's really no difference between the cat or the dog that you share your home with and the pig or the chicken that most people eat. There's no difference in the way that those individuals see their life and feel pain or joy and feel fear and terror or love. They all have the same capacity that those individuals we happen to share our homes with have. If we were. If a child was brought up in that world, I can't imagine that other prejudices that we're struggling with still happening, be it sexism or racism or all the conflicts in the world that we have. If we were to from the youngest age, that every animal is worthy of respect, I hope, and again, unsolutionally optimistic. I hope that we would share that same level of love and compassion and respect to all the other humans that we share this world with as well.
[00:37:37] Speaker A: That's such a great point. It's absolutely. I mean, how you look at one set of living, living creatures absolutely influences how you're going to look at another 100%.
[00:37:48] Speaker B: And again, most, I choose to believe that the vast majority of us are compassionate. Again, I go back to focusing on what you have in common. And I look at my dad, and I love, he showers upon his cat. You know, he has so much love and compassion to that individual. And I wish with all my heart he could just see that that cat can go the panther. He is really no different to the millions of pigs that are killed each year.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: Wow. So, one last thing that I love to ask you, and you may have sort of already shared this in the course of sharing your story, if you could go back 2030 years and give yourself one single piece of advice, what would that be?
[00:38:36] Speaker B: The advice I usually come back to is to back yourself 100%. I shared early days that I was debilitatingly shy as a teenager, both about my body, but about absolutely everything. I remember going on car trips with my father, and he would play cassette because it was that long ago by Brian Tracy of how to be more confident, because I really was debilitatingly shy. The gym helped that. Learning just, I guess, evolving helped that. But the lesson I would share to myself and to anyone else who's not there yet listening is to back yourself 100%. You know, the past few years have taught us that you can't have certainty in circumstances, or I, other people, most of the time, you don't know what's coming up today, tomorrow, next year, you can build a certainty of self. You can build the knowledge that you are someone that you can rely on, that you are someone that comes through for you. Part of that is living a life aligned where your actions are aligned with your values. So, yeah, that is my advice. Back yourself 100%.
[00:39:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I love the integrity point that you're coming back around to. And I think my husband, he had mentioned at one point that, you know, the key to building confidence is having that integrity with yourself. Knowing that when you say that you're going to do something, even if you're just saying it in your own head and you're not making a commitment to anyone else, knowing that you can trust that you are going to follow through and do that thing that you said.
[00:40:10] Speaker B: That you would do 100% for sure. Like anything that follows, I am. That's an identity belief. It is hugely powerful. So if you believe I am a person that will do whatever it takes to insert whatever your most important goal here is, that is a really powerful belief to have. And, you know, if you're struggling, struggling a little bit each day, I just ask myself, what do I need to do today to go to bed proud? I want to make me proud. I don't care so much about everyone else. I know my mum was proud. She was the most important one, but what do I want to do to make me proud is also a really powerful question to ask.
[00:40:50] Speaker A: That's incredible. I think that that is a great place for us to end today. I wanted to thank you, Kate, for your time and for coming on here. This has been a fascinating conversation.
I've definitely learned a lot and very excited for our audience to be able to learn from some of the things that you shared as well.
[00:41:06] Speaker B: Jordan, thank you so much. I had a lot of fun and I appreciate your time and your questions. So thank you.
