I’m joined by an inspiring guest, Kathryn Johnson, and our conversation is about turning obstacles into joy. Kathryn explains that obstacles can teach us things, and when we learn from them, we connect with others wisdom, grow and learn, and pass on wisdom to others. The approach is everything when it comes to obstacles, and the perspective is key. She developed this philosophy through her life experience of being born with cerebral palsy, being labeled as someone who can't do things because of her condition, and proving people wrong through her achievements.

Highlights

1. Life is a paradox, and obstacles can be turned into joy.

2. Obstacles happen to teach us things.

3. We learn from obstacles by connecting with others' wisdom.

4. When we look outside ourselves, both people win, and there is joy in the obstacles.

5. Obstacles can cause people to freeze and isolate themselves, but that causes everyone to lose.

6. The approach is everything when it comes to obstacles, and the perspective is key.

7. The guest developed this philosophy through her life experience of being born with cerebral palsy.

8. She has been labeled as someone who can't do things because of her condition, but she has proven people wrong through her achievements.

9. The guest believes her disability is her greatest gift because it has forced her to develop skills to compensate for her mobility differences.

10. She has become an efficient person who can coach businesses and people in creating flow in their lives no matter what they are facing today.

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Kathryn Johnson

AS AN EXPERT IN TURNING OBSTACLES INTO JOY, KATHRYN CAN HELP YOU FIND THE GIFT IN ANY SITUATION. Born with the disability cerebral palsy, Kathryn has overcome a lifetime of “no you can’t” to “yes, I can”. With 3 degrees, 2 world championship bronze metals, a best-selling book, multiple awards, and certifications; her truly unique life’s journey has given her the skills to help YOU find the gift in any obstacle.

Website: https://inspiredbykathryn.com/

Social: https://www.instagram.com/inspiredbykathrynjohnson/

Sign Up For The Free Resource: https://inspiredbykathryn.com/#5-mistakes

Hey welcome to she coaches coaches, I'm your host, Candy Motzek. And I'm going to help you find the clarity, confidence and courage to become the coach that you are meant to be. If you're a new coach, or if you've always wanted to be a life coach, then this is the place for you. We're going to talk all about mindset and strategies and how to because step by step only works when you have the clarity, courage and confidence to take action. Let's get started. Hey, everyone, and welcome to this week's episode. I have a special guest for you today. Her name is Kathryn Johnson of inspired by Kathryn. Now let me tell you a little bit about her. So Kathryn can help you find the gift in any situation. And she is an expert in turning obstacles into joy. She was born with disability, cerebral palsy, and Kathryn has overcome a lifetime of that. No, you can't. To Yes, I can't wait three degrees to World Championship bronze medals, a best selling book multiple awards and certifications. Her truly unique life's journey has given her the skills to help you find the gift in any obstacle. Kathryn, welcome to the show. I'm so glad you're here.

Oh, thank you so much, Candy. I'm so happy to be here with everyone today.

Tell me about the two World Championship bronze medals. What are those in?

Oh my goodness. earlier in life, I loved track and field. So I participated in track and field. Anything from 100 meters up to 800 meters. And I had the privilege of racing for Team Canada, in England and in Germany in 1994. And in 1994, I was privileged enough to come home with two bronze medals.

That's amazing. I love that. And you got to travel too, even. So, as we were talking before we started the recording here. We were talking about this gift, slash skill slash expertise that you have about dealing with obstacles and turning obstacles into joy. What do you mean by that? Can you

it sounds like a bit of a paradox, doesn't it? And find that life is actually is a bit of a paradox. And life has a sense of humor if you look for so what do I mean by turning obstacles into joy? Obstacles happen to teach us things. And when we learn, we often have to, we look outside of ourselves, we connect with others, even if that other person is not in front of us in a conversation like we are today. It might be a book or something on the internet. And so through connecting with others wisdom, we we get through our obstacles. And then because we've gone outside of ourselves, both people win. And there's the joy and the obstacles, you've created a connection at both people grow and learn and everybody passes on the wisdom to everybody else. And hopefully the world's a better place. Sometimes what happens or often what happens if people are not aware of this? Is they faced they are faced with an obstacle which PS life happens. And we all have obstacles. And people start to go Oh, no. And they hide and they freeze. And they isolate themselves. And everybody loses. Because they're not moving. They're not moving forward. They're not reaching out. So their friends are feeling like, oh, did I do something wrong? Jane hasn't called me she said she would call me I don't get it. Maybe she doesn't like me anymore. And everything just gets we pull apart from each other and what we're really supposed to be doing the opposite ends up happening and everybody loses. So it's my goal as a spiritual coach, and business coach to teach people to embrace their obstacles and how to do that.

Kathryn you said something really interesting. PS life happens. Yes. And the the thing that I really heard when you were describing, you know what happens when an obstacle what happens when When not if an obstacle happens, is the approach is everything. The perspective is everything. Right. And so when, you know, when you described of like, if we look at it from a place of awareness and perspective, and a place of connection, and truthfully a bit of magic, like, for one problem Big or small, and then we connect with others, and we all grow because of it, or that place where we, you know, really sort of pull away and, and isolate. And yeah, there's just something really meaningful there. And a really great lesson for all of us. PS life happens. It's just that really like I made while we were talking, I was like, I have to write that down. That's really true. You know, when I just I forget, you know, I forget that it happens to everybody. Right? So how do you sort of, I don't know, stumble upon this philosophy, like, how did this come to you?

Well, part of it is the spiritual books I've read. Most importantly, I think it's my life experience. Being born with cerebral palsy, as you've, as you stated in the introduction, which was lovely, by the way, thank you so much for your kind words. I have since day one, been labeled. In a way that is, oh, how sad. Oh, that's too bad. Oh, she can't do that. And people don't even know me. They don't even know me. And then I start to talk about what I've accomplished in my life, my degrees, my world championships, medals, my relationships, my business coaching, all of that, and people are blown away, because they assume that because you have an obstacle, you can't do it. And I've said, Well, of course I can, like it's just a matter of perspective, I found a way around it. I personally believe my disability is my greatest gift. Because I've had to develop skills to compensate for some of my mobility differences, such as being more organized, more Muriwai more on communication skills, maybe deepening relationships, understanding how things are put together in a different way, so that I can do them more efficiently. So as a result, I've become this incredibly efficient person who can really coach businesses and people in creating flow in their lives, no matter what they're facing today.

So this, you know, the place of an assumption that because you have another ability, a physical issue, that's not an extra challenge. And then the, you know, to get the, the pity, does not help, right. Like, it's, I think back to when I started my coaching journey, the coaching school that I went to has a foundational principle called natural, naturally creative, resourceful in whole. And that says that every single one of us is resourceful, is creative, is whole. And so, you know, the first thing as you're describing that, to me, I'm thinking, How disrespectful. Right? Like, and not not from a, you know, from a place of malice, but just from a place of not really appreciating that every human being is whole. And every human being has capabilities. And so very interesting. And then I guess, conversely, very interesting, because then when you're a high achiever, people are like, Oh, my gosh, what a surprise. It's like, which not to say that the things that you've accomplished are not incredible. Three degrees, bronze medals, and all of that are incredible, but you decided to do it. You had the perspective that you'll figure out your way, and you'll accomplish that. You should always be so we should all be so fortunate, right?

Yes, that's true. I one of my pet peeves that I have, is that when I accomplish something, people are often overly enthused about it. And I kind of find that difficult to swallow. Oh, well, I'll say, yeah. Because what that tells me is they have lower expectations of me to begin with. And I want to change that in the world.

So I would say yes. And, and the place that I'm curious about is, you know, we can't control how people think, or how they feel. But when we know that it's coming from an unfounded bias, that's the place it's like, how, you know, how do you find that balance between an unfounded bias versus not being able to know it, people get to think whatever words rolls through their brain, you know, like, it's not up to me to to deal with that. So how do you, you know, how do you find that balance for people and how, and I wonder how that will form part of your mission.

I've learned let just as you said, I've learned to be more detached to what other people think. Because it's just a, it's just an indication of where they are in this moment. And we all have ability to we all have ability to learn and people are at choice. And, you know, we're all we're all where we're meant to be, for whatever reason at this time. So I'm just going to do what I know how to do and what I love to do, and keep spreading my message. And hopefully, you know, people while people are listening, and, and I know that the right people listening, because that's just the way the universe works. The right people will always hear at the right time.

Yeah. And it just makes me it makes me thankful, you know, the first time you and I met was through a podcasting event. And, you know, the recordings that we did, there was a number of people and I was doing a number of recordings, and they just didn't, the quality, wasn't there, quality of sound quality of consistency of responses. And so I came back and said, hey, you know, to all of those individuals that I spoke to, hey, this isn't the way that we're going to show you to your best light. And so like you said, the right thing happens at the right time. And so kind of fortunate that we got to speak in this way. That's right. Yeah, that's a perfect example.

So nice to speak to you again, candy.

So I'm, there's something here about the quality of joy. And I'm not exactly sure what it is. But you know, there's something that's really bold about this turning obstacles into joy, like turning obstacles into something functional. Okay, turning obstacles into joy. That's a different level of, you know, like a claim, right? So talk to me about joy.

Okay, well, why Joy? I love challenges. I absolutely love challenges. My mother often says to me, Catherine, why do you always pick the hard way. And it's because it's fun. It's fun, to see what I can do, and to challenge myself. So I think that's, you know, partly where the title comes from. The sense of accomplishment that I receive, or one can really see when they come to the other side of whatever it is they're facing. There's often an aha, a major Aha. And often, the bigger the obstacle, the bigger the AHA, and the bigger the joy. It's amazing. I have heard so many stories of people with stage four, cancer, and all is lost, right? That's the perception. At first all is lost. And they are at the end of their rope, and they meet somebody and they have a conversation. And that conversation changes their life. They miraculously heal themselves or you know, things turn and they've changed their life. They've changed their career. They've got totally different friends. And they're completely in love with their life and they say thank God and they're just this this example of joy and they're so thankful for their for whatever As they went through this, I've heard this over and over and over again. Personally, the title joy of obstacles came, because I love sports. And the title and joy of obstacles came because of the show, American Ninja Warrior. I don't know how many of you out there have watched that show. But it's all about community. And it's all about these incredible athletes that have incredible personal obstacles as well. Often there's illness in a family and financial struggle and different things. And the community supports them and the obstacles and metaphor for them getting through their personal struggle. And it doesn't matter how you get through, just get through, just stay on the obstacle course. And when they get through that obstacle, or even if they fall, they're so happy because because they pushed themselves to the next level. And that's where the title comes from this connection with their own power as humans,

right? Yeah. There's a lot there. It's very profound. And, you know, interesting this, the metaphor plays out in so many areas of our life, right? And so many areas of society. If you were giving somebody just some initial recommendations, somebody who's just having a tough time. Is there are there a couple of column tips, but you know, maybe tips isn't the right word, maybe its thoughts, a couple of thoughts that you would give them to get them started on that paths, noticing, noticing the metaphor of obstacle, and the possibility in what an obstacle can be for them. So any thoughts on that?

The first thing I always say is look for the good. Everything happens. For us in the universe, life doesn't happen to us, it happens with us. And it happens for our greatest good. So look for the good. It might be Oh, I lost my job. How scary how awful? Well, maybe there's a better job. Maybe you're going to discover that you weren't as happy as you thought you were? Who knows? Look for the good. And understand that whatever is happening is for learning and growth. So keep looking for the learning. What am I learning? What am I learning about myself? What am I learning about my assumptions about life? Is that true? Or maybe maybe there's a different perspective?

Right? Such a coach approach, right? So look for the good and we know, I mean, it's a bit of a trite saying, but you know, where you're where you focus is what you create more of, but it's true. You know? So look for the good, and then look for the learning. Yeah, and be curious and question and love. Catherine, it has been so interesting talking to you. Do you have anything else to add on these tips and thoughts and such?

The last thing is, you know, don't do it alone. My third key is always to connect with others through your obstacles. And I'd like to offer everyone my free downloadable lead magnet for five mistakes people make when faced with obstacles. That's got five keys on there that they might enjoy.

I bet they will. Yeah, I'll make sure to put that in the Episode Notes. And would you mind sharing your website with us as well, just for those who are listening and driving at the moment, if they can hear it, they can, you know, the next time they've pulled over, they can kind of key on and come and come and check it out? Sure.

My website is inspired by catherine.com. And Catherine is spelled K A thry. And inspired by catherine.com.

Thank you, Catherine. It's been such a pleasure talking to you. And this is one of those episodes that is gonna give everybody pause. You'll get to pause and consider and learn and get curious and look for that joy, right.

Wonderful. Well, I love to connect with people. So if anybody wants more information, feel free to reach out.