Kate's Niche

I have been on quite a rollercoaster ride in the past few months (and if I’m honest with myself – the whole year). I have started a new job and have a new home. I’ve gained people in my life and lost people in my life. I’ve discovered what things matter and what things really don’t matter. At the end of the day, I know I am incredibly blessed, but this doesn’t cancel out the trials and tribulations that life can (and has) thrown my way. We must never lose our resilience, and our strength, because we need this to keep going when times get tough. We must never lose our sense of wonder and curiosity, because without these, we become cynical, fearful, and negative. We must roll with changes and the unpredictability of life, because everything in life comes and goes, ebbs and flows, and acceptance around this is essential.

Here are a few of the most important elements of what I have learnt this year:

Gratitude is so important for happiness:

Without it, it is too easy to focus on the negatives and this can become overwhelming and effect your mood and wellbeing. You will in turn attract more of the negative and less of the positive. I have practiced gratitude consistently this year and it has helped me attract some wonderful things into my life. Recently though, I have been too wrapped up in the goings on of life, to really take the time to smell the roses and give thanks for all the wonderfulness in my life. I am now making a new goal to re-focus my lenses of gratitude and appreciation.

Balance is Key for staying well:

The importance of physical health is paramount when dealing with mental/emotional issues. The moment I get too tired, or feel unbalanced in my lifestyle, is the moment I begin to slowly drown in the many responsibilities of my day to day life. Things get hard. Things become foggy. Life becomes an uphill battle. We make choices every single day, how we choose to live this life. I now choose wellness. Which, for me means sleep and exercise and a healthy diet. Never underestimate the power of these three things.

Friends and family are the most important part of my life:

Work will come and go; money will come and go… but friends and family are there for life. Ok, not all friends are there for life, because people do change, and circumstances can change. But none the less it is so important to recognize the importance of friendships… and also let your friends know how much they mean to you, regularly. I don’t think we appreciate friendships as much as we could. It is important to remember that there are a lot of people out there, that have no one (like me many moons ago). And how lucky are we that we have at least a handful of true friendships? It is literally like gold. This has been more in my general awareness of late, because of the struggles I have had. Friends (and family) make a tough time, bearable. Friends and family ease the pain, and give you hope to fight another way; and they are there to celebrate your wins. I choose to recognize and appreciate my wonderful friendships and family.
What other people think of you doesn’t really matter:

Nor should it affect how you live your life… Nor should it affect who you are and/or your self-worth and self- esteem. Because I deal with the intense sting of mental health stigma, on almost a daily basis at times, I am consistently faced with this difficult truth. I could let what others think of me, affect me to the point where I could give up completely…. To the point where I could begin to crumble as I start to believe other people’s harsh judgements. But I don’t. I made a choice a long time ago that I would keep moving forward in my life, no matter what. And when I say “no matter what”, I really mean that. For all I care, everybody in my life could judge me, but I would choose not to let that determine who I am, what I want, or what I can achieve in this life. I choose this path of self-determination and freedom of choice.

 

We must have the courage and strength to say… “I don’t care what you think, I am enough even without your approval”.

There is one fact I know to be true…. We all want to feel secure and safe in this world. We like to feel that we can predict that life will be a certain way in the future; and that certain situations, and certain people will always be present in your life in some form or another.

The reality is though, that things change all the time, people change, and circumstances change. This is inevitable; but this can leave us feeling very uneasy and may cause some anxiety.

I have recently been through an upheaval, lots of change in my life, perhaps some for good, and others not so much… but change none the less. And I have been trying to make peace with all those changes… and trying to make peace with the fact that my life doesn’t look at all like it did this time last year, or the year before that, or the year before that!

No doubt this time next year things will look different again. So, I think what we must do is embrace change and remember that it is simply the nature of the world we live in. Buddhists refer to this notion of impermanence as “non-attachment”. And I think we would all benefit from a little bit of this type of thinking. Non-attachment does not mean that we don’t care about a person/material possession/etc. It simply means that we are in a state of mind of being objective and that we don’t cling onto something with a desperation that it must never be lost.

We need to simply trust that the right people (and the right situations and resources) will be in your life at the right time… and when I look back… I see that this is 100% true. I am so very grateful for all the people that have passed in and out of my life, and I am so grateful for those people who are currently in my life. I have faith that things always unfold as they should, and that any fork in the road is not only necessary, but often a blessing in disguise.

When we think in this way, and accept life in this way, we sidestep unnecessary pain and suffering. Don’t get me wrong, grieving the loss of something or someone in your life is very important… and very healthy. Allow yourself to do this, and then move on in a way that is trusting of what will be, and grateful for what is.

Today I would like to reflect on resilience. This is because it may spark something for someone reading this blog….  But more than that, it is a gentle reminder to myself, the importance and the power of inner strength. Resilience is basically our ability to keep going when things are tough… it is that small yet powerful thing inside ourselves that whispers to us, “I must keep trying, no matter what”.

Resilience and I go way back…. Back to the days of anorexia when all I wanted to do was give up, because of the constant internal distress… but I kept facing another day, and another, and another. Back to the days when I had no idea what was wrong with me…. When I was scared all the time. It is important to note here that a level of resilience can still co-exist with fear… being afraid doesn’t mean you are weak or lacking resilience. It simply means we are human. But we have a choice as to whether we live with the fear, and keep going, or simply give up. It takes tremendous strength to do the former… but I have become an expert at this.

I feel that I would not be here today, had I not built up a huge impenetrable wall of resilience inside myself, that allows me to greet challenges with confidence and even a sense of appreciation.

This wall is not a wall that keeps others out, it is simply a wall that creates a shield…. It creates armor. This armor is absolutely 100% necessary in order to live as a human being. Without it… life becomes too much, you become overwhelmed and simply crumble when being faced with anything that isn’t desirable.

One thing that helps me to keep going at times is the thought that, “hey… things could be worse… I have been through worse; and I have survived…. Therefore, I can survive this”

Also, finding that tiny spark of gratitude for what you have, can spark feelings of hope and can give you strength.

Just a little bit more insight into me…. I can go for days where I struggle… but nobody would ever know, because I just keep going. I just keep striving and looking forward, no matter how uncomfortable or undesirable circumstances are in my life. I keep going because I know that everything is temporary. There will soon be a day where everything is wonderful, and there will soon be a day of relief from the discomfort. I know this. And when you know that and have faith in that… it makes the unbearable, bearable.

If there is one thing I have learnt over the course of my life… it is that miraculous things can occur, as long as you keep trying. Life has a way of surprising us at times, when things just work out for the best. So, the very key thing here is…. hold on, pain ends. Hold on, because even one good day out of 10 bad days is worth the effort of holding on. That is what I constantly remind myself. No matter what I am going through at any given time, I know…. And I mean know… that it will be worth it in the end.

It will be worth it because life can present us with so many wonderful gifts…. If only we have the courage to believe that…. And the courage to keep going, always.

• Resilience is the reason I am alive, and that is not an exaggeration.
• Resilience is the reason I have been able to attract so many good things in my life, despite consistent challenges.
• Resilience is Key for recovery from a mental illness.
• Resilience is a learnt behavior.

If there is one thing I have learnt over the past few years is that it’s so important to have balance in your life. When life becomes out of balance… illness follows in some way; whether it be your physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual health… something will flounder.

I know, for me, that because I have such a serious mental health diagnosis, I need to take extra good care of all aspects of my health… to stay well, and to keep thriving in life.

I have been through quite the learning curve recently… I had to change up my medications which was difficult for me mentally. Once that was sorted out, I felt better initially, but I have been up and down since this time. Things have been a struggle… not every day, but enough to make me feel disheartened and totally fed up.

The reason I have been struggling, is no doubt, like I said, because I have had little balance in my life in terms of my lifestyle. In other words, eating and drinking too much on the weekends and not getting enough sleep or exercise. As soon as you start doing anything is excess… this is what happens! I should know this by, now right?
*sigh*

Why does this happen? How do I let it happen? I think it is partly because I have trouble setting boundaries… in other words I should tell friends and loved ones that I need to get a certain amount of sleep and exercise on the weekends or my health deteriorates. I need to be able to say no. I also need to say no to excess alcohol… and eating unhealthy food. It’s just easier to go along with the crowd sometimes I’m sure you’ll agree.

This imbalance may also happen because I have not enough will power! It’s silly because I am such a strong, resilient person… but for some reason when it comes to indulging on weekends after a long work week…. I can be as weak as water! I’m sure you can relate to this to some degree, in some area of your life. Being vulnerable and easily swayed is part of the human condition after all!

So today, I have made the decision once again to re-balance my life. I need to be healthy in body, mind and soul, in order to enjoy life and thrive in life. I’m sick of just “doing ok” or struggling through the working week.

For me, I need to get a lot of rest… during the week AND the weekends…. Because a tired Kate is an unwell Kate.

I need to exercise every day and if possible, connect with nature at the same time!

I need to limit alcohol to one or two drinks at any given time… and keep this mainly to weekends!

I need to eat a healthy and balanced diet in order to feel good and keep my weight in check.

I also need to practice mindfulness and yoga, to keep a sense of peace within my whole being (lessen any anxiety) … and to keep connected to my spirituality.

I would also like to get back into reading self-development books, because this brings with it, learning, wisdom and awareness.

I am going to stick to this for the next month and then write another blog so I can reflect on the difference of being unbalanced…. And in balance 🙂

I urge you to ask yourself… Where is there imbalance in your life? And what can you do to bring balance and harmony back into your world

Good luck!

Love Kate

Sometimes it’s necessary to take a step back and smell the roses.

We are so busy, constantly bombarded with stimuli…. Were at work, were on our phones, on Facebook, listening to music…. And if you’re like me, whenever there is lack of stimuli… I tend to get bored and restless. So, last night I decided to take some time to meditate….

And I don’t mean sitting in lotus position chanting or anything like that… because to be honest, I’m not really into that kind of thing.
I simply mean taking some time to reflect on my life, reflect upon what is important to me, reflect upon what path I am wanting to go down next; and, taking time to reflect upon what I want to manifest in my life. This is so important, because if we are running on autopilot, we are not being intentional in the way we are living, we are not moving towards anything, consciously.
When we are running on autopilot, we are running on old unconscious patterns of thought and behavior. This means we end up with the same result, again and again. And if we are wanting to change our lives in some way, living unconsciously just won’t cut the mustard.

If you no longer want to run on autopilot, and you instead want to live with intention, and purpose, I suggest taking some “mindfulness time” every day to simply reflect, be silent and still. I found that when I woke up this morning I felt so much more peaceful yet focused… and I felt a sense of very real, effortless gratitude. All I did last night was take a good half hour to light some candles and use some aromatherapy to relax and reflect, and write.

I always talk about being grateful, but I don’t think I’ve ever really mastered the art of it… as I am always stuck in my head, constantly on the go. I’m going to be intentional about having more “soul time”. Part of this will involve spending some more time down the river bank in east Fremantle, because nature helps us to be mindful and grateful.

I am going to be intentional about manifesting romance in my life…. And the best way to prepare for this is by becoming more comfortable in my own company, to practice being content and happy, rather than creating a negative view of where I am at – this will only attract more negativity, and keep me stuck living with unconscious old patterns of thinking and behavior and therefore manifesting the same old, same old.

I am going to create an environment that is uncluttered and comfortable, and simplify my life a bit. This will hopefully create the space for more good things to enter my world 🙂

I will keep you posted with how things progress!

I have recently found out that I have some people in the outskirts of my life that are being quite critical of myself and my life endeavors. And I am not talking about constructive criticism here, which can be useful… I mean awful, degrading comments are being made… and part of the problem here is stigma, I feel.

Criticism will always be there to some degree… It doesn’t matter who you are, and what you do, you will at some stage have to overcome criticism from others. Myself in particular should expect it from some, as I put my whole self and my whole experience of life, out there for everyone to see. I am transparent and I like being this way, but it can be difficult. I feel that it is a risk worth taking though, as the positives of sharing with others greatly outweigh the potential risk of being criticized.

It certainly does leave a bitter taste in your mouth though, knowing you have “enemies” in this world. But all you can really do is stand strong – in terms of the person you are and what you believe to be true. Integrity is important here. Also, know that harsh/unfair criticism indicates shortcomings in your critic rather in you.

We all make mistakes in life, we are not perfect because we are human. People that judge a whole book simply by seeing one chapter, are missing out on getting to know who people really are… and they certainly set themselves up, to look bad themselves. I know i would much prefer to be the person that is being criticized and standing in a position of integrity – rather than be the person who criticizes, standing in a position of disgrace.

I have made peace with criticism because it will always be there in the background of my life, I’m sure. We must make peace with it and remain detached from it (always take a step back from the situation) … rather than get upset or angry about it. This would simply bring you down to the level of those people who are doing the criticizing. Be the bigger person, always. Also, consider the source…. Do you really value this person’s opinion… is it worth worrying about?

The absolute most important thing, in regards to dealing with destructive criticism… is that you mustn’t become your own worst critic… you mustn’t take on what the others are saying… you must remember that unfair, harsh criticism can be simply insignificant in your world if you want it to be. You mustn’t give the criticism more energy than it deserves.

We cannot go through our lives trying to please everyone, because this would be utterly impossible. So, embrace the fact that there will be nay-Sayers out there. Just remain grounded and clear in your thinking… remain calm and if you must respond to the criticisms, do so in an assertive manner, do not criticize back, become defensive, or stoop down to their level.

One last note: if you believe in Karma, which i do… then find comfort that these destructive people will inevitably get dished up a plate of Karma soon enough!

Stay strong and don’t succumb the unfair opinions of others!

Love Kate xx

“We are all on separate journeys. We just need to stay in our own lanes. Trust in yourself, trust that you are doing the best you can, and never let another’s lack of security steal your own.”

My name is Kate and I am 32 years old at present.

When I asked loved ones to describe me some of the words that were used include, positive, resilient, hopeful, quirky, courageous, kind and passionate.

I work in mental health and have done for four years. Getting into the mental health field is single handedly the best thing I have ever done, and I just love it so much. I started off doing PSW and then became a mental health advocate at Alma street and FSH. I’ve recently left this role and have now gone back to doing peer work fulltime at RUAH community services – and I’m very excited about this!

My passions (aside from working in mental health) include, writing and speaking – in relation to mental health recovery, personal development, and reducing stigma in society. I also love seeing friends and family and I like to have fun and laugh a lot!

I have written a memoir that is in its editing stages at the moment… and hopefully will be published soon! I write blogs and I also write presentations. My presentations are generally about one or several of the following topics: my lived experience story, my recovery journey, different recovery concepts such as hope and resilience, and reduction of stigma and self-stigma.

I am telling you all this information so you can start to form a picture of who I am, at this time. Generally, the picture that people form is quite a positive one… and this is important, because when I go on to talk about my experiences with mental illness, peoples vision of me can get clouded (when stigma tends to set in).

I have battled with mental illness for the majority of my life.

Diagnosis’ from beginning to most recently include anorexia nervosa, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, social phobia, depression, psychosis, mania and schizoaffective disorder. These span from roughly the ages of 14 to 26

The important thing to remember about me, is that despite going through almost all mental illnesses under the sun, I have made an amazing life for myself. One that I am very proud of and excited about. In other words, remember that recovery from serious mental illness, does happen! And remember that people with serious mental health diagnosis’ are capable of living amazing lives!

I have purpose in my life now, to prove the nay-sayers wrong… to help society see that we (people with mental illness) can strive and thrive in life… to help society see how awful mental health stigma is, how unnecessary it is, and how much it can affect people’s ability to recover and move forward in their lives. So, say no to stigma!

Luckily, I didn’t succumb to the negative stigma, although I did battle with it and still do at times. I remember back when I was diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder, my GP told me to go onto the disability pension because he figured I wouldn’t be able to work ever again. I remember when I first got diagnosed my “best friend” at the time, cut me out of her life entirely (I was going to be her maid of honor at her wedding, but after this I wasn’t even invited to attend).

I got over all this eventually, but the recovery journey was slow and arduous at first (and stigmatized ideas about schizophrenia probably had a lot to do with this). Now I am absolutely open book with everybody in my life… the more superficial friends fell by the way side, and I have been left with an amazing bunch of friends, work colleagues, and family, who know everything about my past, and who love me for who I am. They are all amazing; they are understanding when I have an off day and always encourage me to do my best and to strive for greatness.

Most of my recovery I would say was helped by my willingness to push myself out of my comfort zone, consistently. I can say with certainty that I would not be where I am today, if this wasn’t the case.

When I was diagnosed with the schizoaffective disorder I had very little in my life. I had a roof over my head and my immediate family… and really, that’s about it. Now I have my own gorgeous little place in east Fremantle, many wonderful friends and colleagues, a wonderful job, an extensive resume, including being a key note lived experience speaker at the very first WAAMH conference in 2016. I have a life full of passion and purpose and meaning, and I am motivated to keep striving and thriving – always moving towards my ultimate dreams and aspirations – personal and professional.

Some of my milestone decisions include – (in relation to pushing myself out of my comfort zone) :

• Making the decision that I wanted more for my life – rather than staying stuck in fear and isolation and on disability pension.
• Making the decision to start internet dating (was terrified)
• Making the decision to apply for a retail job (also terrified).
• Making the decision to start socializing again with 2 friends – and then the decision to go to a party that I was invited to (terrified x 1000).
• Making the decision to tell my partner about my diagnosis
• Making the decision to apply for a job in mental health
• Making the decision to do my first talk in public – and every other time after that!
• Making the decision to take up writing – specifically writing my book (which was confronting to say the least!)
• Making the decision to write blogs that upload to my Facebook – which means sharing my whole self with everyone on my Facebook

And the list goes on….

The thing to remember here is, if you’re not pushing yourself, if you’re not a little bit uncomfortable in your life… you’re not growing, and if you’re not growing, you’re not really living…

If there would be three things that you take from my talk today… hopefully they would be:

1. Recovery happens! It can take a long time….and requires patience and strength… but it’s important to never, ever give up…. because you just don’t know what may be around the corner!
2. Change can be uncomfortable, but pushing yourself out of your comfort zone is necessary for real, life changing recovery to take place.
3. Don’t judge a book by its cover, or in other words, always look to see the person behind the diagnosis…

 

One final note:

Yes, it may be difficult at times to understand what is going on for someone effected my mental challenges, but don’t let that separate you from those people. Like me, those people are human beings, with families and friends and hopes and dreams. Don’t give up on them…

Believe in them, and they will better believe in themselves….and this is key!

What is it that keeps us going when times get rough? When everything seems to just fall apart…and when you struggle to maintain a sense of hope in your life…. I ask this question because these past few weeks have been a struggle for me…. I have had moments of wanting to give up…and moments where I think it’s all too hard. For those of you that know me though, you will know I never will give up, I never will succumb to negativity, I will never cease to strive for anything less than amazing, because I know that this is what I deserve.

This next stretch of road may be a little rocky for me… but I know I will get through it. The reason I will get through it… is the same reason I am writing this blog. That reason…. Is friends and loved ones. No matter what I am going through at any given time, I feel so blessed, because of the wonderful people in my life. For so many years I was isolated, too unwell to really connect with friends or family.

Now my life is full of amazing individuals…. you all know who you are… I want to say thank you to those special people, who light up my life when my internal light starts to waver. You mean the world to me, and I am so grateful.

When the human spirit connects to another human spirit, the connection creates hope within us…it creates strength; and it creates that feeling of warmth. It is what life is all about. When I go through times of struggle, this truth always resonates with me. At the end of the day, it is nice (and necessary) to have hopes and dreams… it is nice to have ambition, and it is nice to earn good money, to sustain a life of good quality. But if all of that were to cease…. The one thing that would remain…. And the only thing that really, truly matters, is the relationships we have with other people in our lives… it is the kinship that is created when two people connect, authentically.

If we are to have one goal in life, it should be to love others and to allow yourself to be loved in return. If we are to have one goal in life, it should be connection; it should be to have that love and laughter that can only be found within the relationships of kindred souls.

So, if you are struggling in your life, for whatever reason, remember how lucky you are to have other people in your life… remember how lucky you are that you are not alone. Just hold on…. Pain ends; and in the meantime, take refuge in the fact that you are loved, and can love in return. This is what truly matters. This is what makes life worth living.

Always reach out to others, be honest and authentic, because this is what will save us, in the end.

And to those special people in my life, I apologize if I am not at my best in the coming weeks…. I will be back on top of everything as soon as possible; and ready to kick some serious ass.

Love Kate xxx

I have been on quite the journey in regards to my thoughts…. I’m going to use a bit of a timeline to talk about the different kinds of thinking that I experienced from around the age of 13 up until now.

When I was going through anorexia, my thoughts were very negative and obsessive (as you can imagine). There was a kind of depression that came along with this illness, as life just seemed to be a constant struggle and full of hopelessness…. It wasn’t until I went to Hollywood clinic that I really started to become aware of my thought patterns… and it was a very slow process of changing the constant barrage of negativity in my mind and soul. It was only when I saw a glimmer of hope, that I finally started to feel as if I could rise up above my negative thoughts. I believe that in recovery from an eating disorder, it is vital to do some work on thought patterns…. Because essentially thoughts are what keep us stuck in the darkness.

When I was going through anxiety, depression and social phobia after my drug taking days, my thoughts were all consuming at times. And they were slightly disjointed or disconnected. When my doctor sent me off to a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy course, it didn’t work at all. I wasn’t in the right place, mentally, to fight my demons. So, CBT can be great… if you are in the right place mentally. The one strategy that I adhered to… that kept the anxiety from getting out of control, is that I used to “feel the fear and do it anyway”.

This is a powerful way of changing thought patterns. If you succumb to the fear, the more fearful and negative and afraid you will become. However if you act, despite being afraid, this creates thoughts of empowerment and it actually lessens the fear, ultimately. I use this strategy to this day, and it has worked wonders for me. Faking it until you make it isn’t always easy, but the result is 1000 times better that if you stay stuck in fear.

Whilst I was going through my psychosis, there was little I could do about my delusional, grandiose and negative thoughts. This is where medication comes into play. With illnesses like schizophrenia, or psychosis in general, there first needs to be a normalizing of thoughts with medication…a movement back to reality. Then once this has occurred, you can start to work on your thoughts and move further forward.

So, when I finally was diagnosed and medicated… I was on the road to recovery. It was at this time, that I could finally start to change my thoughts, and consequently, change the course of my life.

There are a few strategies I use now which help me remain positive and keep my thoughts positive. Firstly, it was the right time to go back to CBT. I did a two-week course at Perth Clinic, to really help me become aware of my unhelpful thought patterns. Things like black or white thinking, or catastrophized thinking were helpful to become aware of. This course gave me the positivity and more importantly the confidence, to make positive changes in my life, such as changing career paths into the mental health field (which was the best thing I’ve ever done.
Also, I believe faith and hope are integral to remaining positive in your thinking. Trusting and having faith that things will work themselves out, is so important…. Hope creates a sense of positive expectation… which ultimately helps with feeling resilient and helps to attract positive things into your life.
Gratitude is another big one for me. When you are consistently thankful and grateful for things that are part of your life, it also creates an underlying stream of positivity in your psyche. The key here is also to be grateful for the challenging things too… see challenges and setbacks as learnings, and you will again, be more open to attracting more positivity into your world.

Stay positive

Kate xxx

 

Speaking from a place of authenticity opens the door to honest, authentic, friendships and relationships – and this is how I choose to live, every day.

So, the saying goes, “if you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” So, it is then, when you are truly authentic, you don’t have to think about what to say…it just comes out…as if from your soul, not your mind. It is this so called “soul speak” that gets me through the day without exerting too much effort… and this is how I choose to connect with others. The moment I try to put on a mask, or try and “be” a certain way… or fit a certain mold… this is also the moment when I get socially anxious or awkward. It is truly amazing the difference that authenticity makes in my life, on a day to day basis. I simply cannot be active in a friendship with someone, if I don’t show them the all of who I am. There is always a certain awkwardness whenever I try to have superficial interaction with someone…when there is a sense of ‘hiding’ the so called ‘imperfections’ that lie within me… but as soon as I allow myself to be free… to be honest…and real… there becomes a beautiful connection, and once there is a connection, you don’t have to worry about what to say or what not to say.

Authenticity truly starts in the heart. And again, this is why, when my heart is involved in my communication, my words flow and I could talk forever. When my heart is not engaged in a conversation, for instance, I have very little to say… I become pretty quiet. This kind of communication I tend to see as “ego speak”…. Where you are speaking from a place of ego.

Why am I telling you all of this? I suppose I am telling you this because it is itself, a way of communicating authentically with you. I am so open to building new friendships, based on the truth of who I am, and generally I find, that people appreciate the authenticity. An authentic conversation, feeds the soul, after all. I also urge others to relate in this way, to their social circle or networks. It is a way of enriching your life. I think people who only relate to people on a superficial level tend to be lonely… because it is to a degree… meaningless.

Yes, Authenticity takes courage, but often you don’t reap the rewards of something until you put in a little hard work. Hard work at first…. But then it becomes second nature… and this is a beautiful way to experience life… and the only way to experience relationships.

True, authentic relationships are in my mind, the most important thing – period.

So speak the truth – always.

They say we should care less about perfection – and more about authenticity …. However, I in fact believe that authentic people are uniquely perfect in their own special way.

 

Love Kate xxx