Let's Stop the War Stories "Birth is Beautiful"

So last week my unpopular opinion episode “Birth is Beautiful” apparently ruffled some feathers. And because of that I’m not releasing a new episode this week, but encouraging you ALL to go over and listen with an open mind. 

I received messages from both sides as I normally do with an either “thank you for standing up, I’ve felt attacked anytime I’ve tried to say I had a pleasant birth experience” OR “you're silencing my trauma! My birth plan wasn’t exactly as I had hoped and therefore I now have trauma and it’s people like you who trigger me”.

All I can say is, I know this is a BOLD statement digging myself even deeper, but I can typically call those women who come running to me with anger. They do the same with anything that I write. So it makes me wonder🤷🏻‍♀️Again, yes, birth trauma CAN happen , but it’s not common. And I would rather if you experienced it to share what you learned (which I do in the episode) rather than do it to drive fear in others.

This episode was supposed to be encouraging to first time mamas to shine a light on the beauty of birth and to encourage the women (so many have messaged me!!!!) who had positive experiences to not be silenced by the angry mob who are angry at everything.

Ok I said it🤣If birth was so bad we wouldn’t still be doing it today lol it’s not meant to feel good right? (although the other extreme will say it is, which that’s cool!), but that little human that you meet on the other side of the pain will ALWAYS be worth it🙏🏼

It is also a privilege to GET to give birth!!! There are thousands of women begging God right now to bring them a sweet child. So I will fight for this one and not be silenced……BIRTH IS BEAUTIFUL✨✨✨

You can have listen here yourself and share with a mama who needs some encouragement!!!

I am closing up shop

I am closing up shop

As of today, after May 1st, the Mastermind will be shutting down indefinitely. I will be closing the doors of my coaching business to fully step into first and foremost, mama, author, and podcaster. Maybe down the road I will step back into the coaching space, but for this season that door will be closed while I really focus on writing alongside mamahood.

Shifting our deep rooted beliefs around SUCCESS

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Dear former self,

Thank you for the strength to push through the hard times. Thank you

for not giving up when business felt impossible. Thank you for surrendering

rather than pushing and striving.

Love,

the more compassionate me

…..If someone showed me a mirror of what my life looks like today, as a part-time business owner and mostly stay at home mama, I would have been utterly disappointed. I would have looked at my business as a failure. I would have looked at my LIFE as a failure. I would have thought I had given up.

Hitting six figures my first year of business was the result of working around the clock, losing myself, my zest for life, my intentionality in relationships, and most tragically, my relationship with God. I mean he was still there and I didn’t realize at the time I was slipping, but looking back, my business and success WAS my number one and everyone and everything was after.

If you would have asked me where I’d be at year seven in business, I would answered with, “making either a million or close to million a year”. I cringe and chuckle as I write this. It feels so ick. Not that making a million dollars is ick, because it isn’t, but my way about it, at the expense of losing what meant most to me is so sad. If I would have continued the hustle, I could have very easily hit those numbers and levels of what I viewed as success. But that’s not what God had for me. He decided my future for me. Three beautiful babies and a business that IS SUCCESSFUL, but looks different than what I envisioned for myself.

I was on a fast track to losing my vision, my spark for serving, and my heart for people, but God humbled me. Abundance doesn’t always equate to financial wealth. It can equate to overall holistic wealth, your mind, body, and soul in the most perfect alignment with Gods plan for your life. Today the majority of my day is spent wrangling toddlers, carting to practices, filling sippy cups, washing, folding, and sorting outfits to stash in ziplocks for easy morning grabs, wiping tushies, and reminding these little of KINDNESS, threatening “kindness girls or else….” LOL

These days I work at max 5 hours per week. I’m certainly not making millions, but I’m far more fulfilled than ever before. I’ve learned that in this season of CHOOSING motherhood over business, success is being the best mom I can be to my kiddos while still being able to pour into my Mastermind coaching ladies, and still be able to pay my team, pay for daycare (NY is expensive!!), tithe, donate, contribute to grown up bills, and still have a few bucks to treat myself to little delights in life guilt free. If you’re local, that’s the Ready Coffee drive-through, the Fit Social Smoothie bar, and adding new books to my library! To me this feels the most abundant I’ve ever been! Although to some this looks like just getting by, to me it’s everything I’ve dreamed of, running a business to SERVE and watch women grow WHILE watching my little people grow , fully contributing to both.


Today you may be a full time stay at home mama not working at all. Yet, you are STILL contributing ALL of your time and energy to your family. Whether you’re making millions, thousands, or even nothing, you CAN still leave a mark on this world and live abundantly. Your season is not forever. There is a time and a season for different levels of abundance. Fully immerse yourself in the season that God has placed you in. Don’t fight against it. Thank him for it. Once I stopped fighting and began realizing how abundant my life was, it all felt light.

Over the next seven weeks I recorded some fun podcast episodes for you! These are not your typically business coaching, but raw unedited, get to know the season I’m in podcast episodes. I get honest and maybe even share TMI on birth details, but make sure you listen til the last episode where I talk about changing my mind and narrative of my birth story. I had a revelation about how I want to change the birth narratives for generations of women before us. I won’t share anymore, tune in and stick around to hear more. LISTEN HERE!

Can you relate to this today? Has your vision of success shifted with the season you are in? Are you missing out on what you truly desire for your life because you’re too focussed on success? Share with me, I’d love to hear and support you sister.

XO Kate

On the seventh day we rested

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Man what a month it has been friends! I’ve been yearning to sneak away for a few minutes to put my thoughts on paper, but life with three 4 and under is no joke. I’ve had so many revelations around birth, mothering, friendships, and of course business. Our faith has been put to the test like no other. Just when you think you’ve been through hell, sometimes it only gets worse. AND remember, God is still good. He is still listening. He is still working all of the little details. Even when you don’t feel it.

I could type for hours upon hours of what’s been happening and how my eyes have been opening, but today I am choosing one particular story because it’s closest on my mind. I will preface this with, I have only had a few hours to process what just happened and will probably see other cracks and divine pieces once my head is completely clear, but I feel compelled, like I need to share this M I R A C L E in the moment.

My hubs came down with what I call the man cold—a cold so bad that he is confined to the bed. But then days later it began to worsen, leaving him with extreme sinus pressure that was unbearable. Trust me I felt pretty bad categorizing it to him as the man cold after LOL He went to the doctor and the big C was negative. Praise God! During all of this what we thought was a simple ailment that Charlie was dealing with ended up being the scare of our life. I can now understand the sheer panic and adrenaline when a mother is told that their daughter has been diagnosed with a medical condition that is currently life threatening and something she will need to live with the rest of her life. I’ve experienced trauma in my lifetime, but getting news that your child might have something life threatening strips you of all control and sets you on that path of all of the worst case scenarios that you have zero control over.

With hubs still recovering from whatever he had, I jump into adrenaline mode. Doing everything in my power to research what’s happening to her body, to keep her comfortable and comforted when she’s clearing suffering, and to keep myself nourished enough to still produce milk for our three month old. My mind flooded with a sea of emotions, anger, despair, confusion, defeat, as I lay awake at night trying to put the pieces together. In the midst of all of this, the potentially life saving medicine we were prescribed on a Friday evening ended up not being in ONE drugstore in ALL OF NEW YORK STATE. Every pharmacy you can think of searched their database for this med and not one had it. And so we needed to drive to a pharmacy in CT to get in and with the elevation change, my husbands ear inflammation he didnt know he had worsened, leaving him with an ear infection. Who would have known this was even possible?! Praise God we get her the medication and get her started on it.

We tell our family . They are all distraught in the moment. But hours later, both mothers messaged me and confidently told me our sweet two year old DID NOT have what the doctor said she did. I say, that’s great, wishful thinking, but after seeing her multiple times the doctor was completly certain it was what she thought it was. So we all started praying that it wasn’t so. My parents fasted. We kept declaring this diagnosis was wrong and would not be a part of her story. To be honest, it was hard to believe that it wasn’t what we were told. But all I needed was faith even as tiny as a mustard seed to get me through. It was on the sixth day that a song popped up on my spotify by Kim Walker called Protector. This one part jumped out at me and it was in that moment I knew this was all a scheme of the enemy to torment our family.

Protector
You never, never, never let me go
You said You wouldn't leave me, and You won't
You're right by my side
Protector
You hide me in the shadow of Your wings
Your presence is my peace, my covering
My song in the night
Protector
No weapon, no worry will prosper against me
No darkness, no evil will tease or torment me
All power, dominion to one name is given
My fortress, my freedom, my refuge, my Jesus

When we are on our race to do good in the world, forces stronger than us will do their work to take us down. In those moments I felt like my life and future were over, but this fear would only be used to be a testimony of prayer. With family praying and parents fasting we received a call we will never forget on the seventh day…….”all of the testing came back and all is well. It is actually something much smaller than what we first believed was happening to her body”. The medical diagnosis they thought it might be will not have to be a part of her story. But she now has a story of how God worked a miracle when it didn’t seem possible.

Are you going through something today that feels IMPOSSIBLE for God to redeem? In your business? Your friendships? Your marriage? Don’t lose hope. All you need is faith the size of a mustard seed like my mama reminded me. And then let God do the rest. HERE is the song in case you need a reminder today <3

Also, have you caught up on podcast episodes? Just about 150 episodes for you to binge + get inspiration to keep running toward your vision. LISTEN HERE!

XO Kate

It's been a while, but I'm back.

Hey friends,

Last time I posted here was my 2019 birthday, October 28th. One month prior I was sitting at my parents dining table pre planning Octobers content to prep for our precious Charlotte Ann to arrive. Life at that time felt so exciting, we had sold our fixer upper, almost done with our next fixer upper, chasing an 18-month old while nine months pregnant living with my parents. My hubs was commuting 5 hours round trip daily to NYC for work while I was coaching clients and writing my first book Thinking Like a Boss after signing my first book deal with Baker Books. Stressful was an understatement for our family, manifesting as shingles on the left side of my husbands body. Yet this time was also JOYOUS with sweet expectancy. Life can always be both, right? It’s times like those that you wonder “HOW WILL I EVER SURVIVE this next month or year?” that someday you will look back with humble pride and celebrate that girl who had the strength to push and not call it quits on her dreams.

I know that speaks to you. YOU are that girl and if you’ve lived through 2020, you sure have the 2020 version of you to thank. And of course you lived through 2020 if you’re reading this HA

Now almost two years past the last time I wrote, boy has life changed. Some may say for the worse, but I beg to differ and would say it’s only changed for the better. Yes, it’s been almost 18 months of uncertainty, disappointment, loss, pivoting, and so much more for most, but I bet most of you wouldn’t trade that seasons badge of honor for anything. You’ve shown yourself just how resilient you really are. You’ve survived painful events. You’ve lost family to illness. You’ve lost friends to politics. You’ve lost income from shut downs. But you have shown yourself just how resilient you really are. Now I won’t get into what 2020 was like for me, because I wrote almost an entire book on this epiphany which releases with Baker Books Spring 2022 entitled: Drawing the Line: How to find more peace and less chaos in your life. Be on the lookout friends!

But here is what I want to send you off with today…….I am committing this moment forward to share even more of my thoughts and the conversations that I have with people in my home or in the DMs that I don’t necessarily openly broadcast. To be honest, I’m not afraid of whether you’ll judge me or no longer like me, I honestly don’t have time for that, but I constantly ask myself as social media is my business + livelihood…… “is this related to business? Is this something that needs to be shared on my business account or maybe a more intimate space where I have more than 150 characters to explain why I feel the way that I do?” I also just miss good old fashioned blog posts and want to vomit thinking about recording a reel. I did a whole post on why I refuse to record reels, how I think they’re silly, and refuse to do something “just to beat an algorithm”. I don’t know about you, but most of the time I find the pointing and lip syncing cheesy and just plain awkward, the words move too quickly for these tired eyes of mine, and it takes me multiple times of hitting re play to actually catch on to what they are trying to say. Also, who knows where social media platforms are going? We don’t own them, so can’t control the shop we set up on them. Don’t you want to fully own your content and have it safely tucked away onto a page that can’t be taken from you or censored? That’s why I’m back….I want this blog to remain a headquarters for my friends to be able to find me should social media ever go bye bye.

I love this C.S. Lewis quote and feel it more than ever before in this world we are living…. “When the whole world is running towards a cliff, he who is running in the opposite direction appears to have lost his mind.” I’ve gotten so many “private” messages from mamas, dads, and other business owners sharing their opinions of what our world is experiencing these days. These are opinions that are felt they need to stay hidden, in fear of people thinking they are crazy or naive or even a conspiracy theorist. But friends, many of those opinions I see truth in and even agree with! Our nation is living in constant FEAR and being fed fear-dependency on the daily. As awful as it all may seem and scary, how uncontrollable life may appear, GOD IS STILL in control. People have been forced to become alarmists and fear anything outside of their protective bubble. We have metaphorically and literally been muzzled. When everything in 2020 began to unfold I felt SWALLOWED whole + SURROUNDED by fear. But as time went on I realized even though fear surrounded me, I was still surrounded by HIM. This SONG became an anthem and sweet reminder that although the world may push FEAR and the fear may surround us, HE is always surrounding us. HERE is a sweet video of my dad playing this song on the piano and singing it with Annabelle. Oh when I walked into the room and heard what their little duet, tears welled up and my heart exploded with hope for our future generation.

I hope that today you will link arms with me in committing to living a life of hope and not allow fear to run your life. Humans need each other. We were not designed to be locked down in isolation. Find community in life and business and be there for one another. We will come out of this stronger. We will no longer believe all that is fed to us. We will think critically and put our trust in God rather than the daily headlines.

I have found much comfort in an old childhood hymn, one written in 1922, Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus….here are the lyrics:

O soul are you weary and troubled
No light in the darkness you see
There's light for a look at the Savior
And life more abundant and free

Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there
Over us sin no more hath dominion
For more than conquerors we are

Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace

His word shall not fail you, He promised
Believe Him and all will be well
Then go to a world that is dying
His perfect salvation to tell

AND if you want a newer version of this old hymn, you’ll find it incorporated into THIS song. My girls know almost all the lyrics and I catch them going around the house saying “Right here, right now, NO fear”. What a beautiful reminder friend. Did this hit home today? Has this year left you feeling surrounded by fear or confidence that you are surrnounded by HIM? Comment below and share with me!

If think you might be ready to get some support in your business, shoot an email to me at kate@katecrocco.com and we will chat about some ways I can support you in getting confident in what is already within you.

Blessings + Abundance,

XO Kate