Episode 32: Finding Ease and Coming Home to Yourself in Midlife with Ekaterina Ward

Hello and welcome to the Mum Means Business podcast, where we shine a light on inspiring women who have one thing in common. When they’re not managing tantrums, homework, P.E. kits and play dates, they are busting their gut to create something from nothing, to turn their passion into a thriving business and build a better life for themselves and their families. We dig into what motivates devoted mothers to pursue entrepreneurship and how they integrate their work and family life.

I’m Victoria Phipps, your host, and if you’re an ambitious mum in need of some solidarity whilst navigating the messy middle of making your big dream a reality, then stick around. This is for you.

NOTE: This is the transcript from the original recording, rather than the edited episode so timings may vary.

Victoria (00:01)
My guest today is a mindset coach and founder of Vivacity, a community designed to empower female founders 40 and over to build vibrant, soul-aligned businesses that support the lives they want to lead. She began her career in teaching before transitioning into corporate financial services, and 11 years ago she retrained and has been working as a corporate and executive coach ever since.

She specializes in supporting mothers in business, guiding them to grow their income, energy and impact without sacrificing themselves in the process. Mum to an 11 year old daughter, she’s passionate about empowering women to reject the societal expectation that they should shrink in midlife. Instead seeing this season as an opportunity for expansion and becoming. Ekaterina’s work explores the common themes that guide our behavior.

Saying in a recent Instagram post, some are guided by their heart, being, feeling everything deeply and holding it all together. Others are guided by their fire, doing, achieving, making it happen. But most of us are in some way addicted to suffering, controlling, tolerating, staying busy, distracting and neglecting our health. But we do not need to suffer to grow. What if we stopped asking, how can I hold more?

and started asking, how can I find more peace? When I read this, I knew that hers was a mind I wanted to delve into. And so I can’t wait to do that today. Katerina, welcome to the Mummy’s Business Podcast.

Ekaterina (01:35)
What an exquisite intro. ⁓ Thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you, Victoria. It’s a pleasure to be here.

Victoria (01:39)
hahahahah

I’m really, really looking forward to this because so much of your work, for one, I’m just completely interested in everything that you’re focusing on at the moment. And also I don’t think these conversations have yet been covered on this podcast. And so I can’t wait to delve into this mind of yours. So let’s start at the beginning. You had this corporate career for quite a substantial amount of time, and then you decided to pivot and start your own business. What made you do it?

Ekaterina (02:14)
Well, ⁓ interestingly, the decision was made for me because my corporate career was so positive and I know that’s not everyone’s experience. ⁓ We had an amazing, I was part of an amazing team. would go, we’ll work hard, but we’ll play hard as well and we’ll even go and exercise at lunchtime. So it was absolutely beautiful and…

Victoria (02:35)
Yeah.

Ekaterina (02:42)
Just as I was entering my pregnancy, turned out, rumor had it that we were a daughter company of an American LLC, so a London office. And we’ve heard the rumor that the London office will be closing just because our CEO decided to, I mean, they accumulated substantial wealth. We were in carbon trading.

they were moving into different industries, so only the New York office would stay open. And this is when I knew. ⁓ Quite frankly, very often I think, have that not been presented to me, I would probably be still working for that office because it was such a positive thing. at that time, alongside my corporate responsibilities, I’ve also raised my hand and started doing corporate coaching. ⁓

took over responsibility for HR and stuff like that. So I was really fulfilled. I was, and I know that’s not everyone’s experience. And then this happened and ⁓ I went into my pregnancy, obviously the office closed down. And at that time I knew that I’ve always had this love for the woman, for the mother. I have to say for the mother.

Even before I was a mother, I would watch a movie and when that relationship between a mother and a child presents, I would just start crying. And then I knew, okay, well, I love mentoring and coaching. ⁓ I’m quite good at this and I love this human. I’m about to become this human, become a mother. And so I knew that I will be working for…

Victoria (04:16)
Ha ha.

Ekaterina (04:36)
and in support of a woman who runs a business alongside motherhood. So that’s how it all began.

Victoria (04:46)
I mean, it’s lovely actually to hear that you had such a positive corporate experience because, and I think on this podcast, we’re quite guilty of it. There are so many cases where women feel, particularly when they enter that season of motherhood, that they are somehow pushed out, whether that be kind of actually physically literally pushed out or kind of the messaging changes and they don’t feel like they are as welcome.

which is really, really sad. And obviously there is so much evolution for the corporate world to do in that sense in its relationship to mothers, but it’s not okay to kind of slam all corporate experiences because it sounds like, and it’s all about the people, isn’t it? It sounds like you were just very happy there.

Ekaterina (05:34)
I was really happy, Victoria. very often now when I tell my story, I do say, I know that’s not everyone’s experience. I know I’m in the minority. ⁓ were mainly, so mainly masculine team, but there were three or four of us, which females, and that made us so close. ⁓ The male representatives of our theme were amazing. There was so much fun.

and again, I would say we would work hard when we had to, but we would also exercise. So my CEO came up with this thing about team building. ⁓ I’m just going to get everyone to a corporate subscription so we can play tennis or we can exercise at lunchtime. And I know that’s triggering for loads because the main stories that I hear were, ⁓ stories of burnout, but

Mine was different. I even loved, so it was in a beautiful part of London, which is completely residential. I don’t know if you know Richmond. ⁓ So almost, I felt like when I was going to work, everyone was leaving residential to go into the city and I was entering the, you know, Richmond. And it was, it was quite unique and I feel very, very lucky and blessed to have, to have had this experience.

Victoria (06:34)
Yeah, lovely.

And do you feel that you learned a lot, I imagine you did, around that time about how to run a business in this kind of positive, collaborative way that you could then take with you when you launched your own business?

Ekaterina (07:09)
Absolutely. So everything I’ve learned about business, I’ve learned there. ⁓ So it happened that as we were a London office and an American LLC, I happened to sit next to my managing director and all the senior people around me. I could hear sales calls all day long. I could hear how they ⁓

some really challenging things and there were loads of money involved in the deals that our company was ⁓ kind of engaged in. And I learned a ton. if I can, I’ve learned how business is set up, but I’ve also learned about relationships. I’ve learned that bigger part of it is relationships. ⁓ You know, the people behind the business who

make the business. also solidarity, yes, it was the three females and we really clicked. We were all very different. We are all really very different. ⁓ it was just a really kind of, there was harmony. And again, I know that’s not ⁓ what you usually put in a sentence when you describe ⁓

corporate environment, but maybe because it was very unique, it was a relatively small office. I got to learn from everyone and anyone. ⁓ even more my colleagues that were, actually occupied a whole floor, but every door on that floor was open. So I could hear every single conversation. And also there was a real opportunity. I think this was what was really important for me later on that if you became proactive on something and take ownership of it.

it can become your own. This is how I put my hands up to you, start doing more HR ⁓ kind of role. This is how I’ve ⁓ spoken about doing more coaching and ⁓ everything. Yeah, you wanted an ownership of something, you raised your hand, ⁓ you asked for support along the way, all the skills that you didn’t have, you asked to be resourced and

And that is a mantra for actually, it became a mantra for how I set up my own business. The most important thing is put yourself forward, take ownership and ⁓ analyze the gap. What is it that you don’t have that you need to have to be very successful with it and ask for it. I think that’s probably the main thing asking for what I feel the gap is. And if it wasn’t given to me, just finding different ways of

acquiring it.

Victoria (10:00)
This sounds like such a ⁓ brilliant schooling in the fundamentals. You know, as women, we don’t like to ask for support at all. So the fact that you are in a corporate environment and perhaps you have some male leadership and you have your team and that there are women in there that you’re getting along with in your team, but that there are men saying to you, ask for help.

If you need this, ask and we’ll see if we can provide it. It gives you permission in some way. And I know that’s awful to say, like it’s not like you need permission, but I think sometimes we do because we just, it’s not how we’re conditioned to ask for help. We feel like we have to take everything on by ourselves. And going into business, the story of so many women who start businesses is that they are wearing all the hats, that they are doing everything and they have to upskill.

but they really don’t want to ask for help. And it’s not just about the money, it’s a block that we have, that we feel like we have to earn it and we have to burn ourselves out in order to do all the things to make this a success. And I think that that fact that you had that schooling so early on must have stood you in such good stead that you felt able.

to kind of outsource as you went further along into your business and to give the things that you didn’t want to do or that you felt weren’t your strength to other people, which is a lesson that often it takes as far too long to learn when we’re going into business.

Ekaterina (11:42)
I agree and this takes me to the, I love that you quoted my Instagram post, I’ve forgotten about that one, I need to go and read it again. It brings me back to something which is so obvious in the field, the feminine field, and that is that addiction to cortisol, which I described in my post, The Suffering. ⁓ We are addicted, well, it’s not.

It’s not our fault, but it is our responsibility to do something about it. It’s almost like we run around dysregulated and accept or tolerate that as the norm. coming back to this corporate environment actually taught me that there are lots of very challenging situations, lots of money and people’s deaths in this iron hole.

tolerating kind of, it has to be hard, it has to be hard. It’s the male version of it, of what I have observed and that I was much younger was, okay, let’s take a step back. Let’s ⁓ look at what it is that we have here, what it is that we actually want, what is the gap? How can we ask for what we need? ⁓ What resources do we need to pull in? What structure do we need to build around that?

It’s almost like the emotional response ⁓ is kind of the, I would like to say is the power of the emotional response is taken away. So yes, you do feel stress, but it’s almost like, okay, I feel stress. All of this kind of cortisol is pumping. That is my side to take a step back and to look at the landscape and to regroup and to refocus.

and to throw my resources or to kind of narrow my vision and throw the resources at where they need to be or ask for the resources as opposed to I can run on empty, I can be everywhere, I can be everyone to everything ⁓ and not having that strategic kind of ⁓ step back and regroup and refocus. I think this is what I was, yeah.

Victoria (14:05)
Yeah,

do you? I was just going to say, do you think that that is a gendered response? That a man is more likely to see a challenge and consider all the elements and take a pragmatic view and make a plan which involves a lot of other people and bringing people in to

use their skills and their talents to solve the challenge. Whereas the instinctive response for a woman is more likely to be, need to work harder and plow through this alone.

Ekaterina (14:50)
So if we look, well, do you know what? I think it is a bit of both to be honest. Obviously patriarchy doesn’t help ⁓ in telling you, ⁓ you can do it all. You can do it all. You can be this corporate successful woman or you can just smash it in business and also be the nurturing mother. Don’t ask for just…

Victoria (14:51)
Or do you think it’s just taught? Go on.

Yeah.

Ekaterina (15:18)
Wear this as your badge of honor, you can do it also. That messaging, that programming does not help. ⁓ But also I think if you look at evolutionary, ⁓ what were the males doing? The males would go and hunt and solve problems and do, and the female would be more emotion driven. You know, the gatherers, the collaborators, the nurturers. Now, what do you think?

is ⁓ obviously we’ve passed that time. So first of all, really, I think to me the solution really is being very mindful of that patriarchal messaging and the distortion in that and catching yourself when you say, I can be everything to everyone. I can do this and I can be proud of me. No, this is where you know you’ve fallen a victim to a ⁓ very detrimental messaging. But secondly,

Victoria (16:06)
Hmm.

Ekaterina (16:15)
I think this is what I working with every day, Victoria, is almost bringing that sacred union of my masculine and my feminine in my everyday. So yes, I can feel, I can have these emotional responses to whatever challenges life throws at me and I will not let these emotional responses detour me. I would also catch myself when I am

reacting because of an emotional response and I’ll take a step back and I would bring my masculine. Okay, let’s put the structure in here. Let’s analyze the terrain. Let’s see what is the gap between where we’re really going here. Who do I need to ask? Who can help me? What do I need to outsource? What do I need to delegate? Or where do I just need to and hug myself and love my inner child and give myself some grace. So

can’t stress enough and this is my own evolution and where I am. Bigger part of my work is today working with female founders and women in employment is in bringing this mastery and this mastery is ⁓ really tuning into their own masculine and tuning into their own feminine and knowing which one to switch and when.

That’s how makes sense.

Victoria (17:44)
Yeah,

no it does. And I can see that that is definitely something that a lot of women would need help in because it takes a lot just to recognize that and distinguish between the emotional response, which can just without much thought very quickly lead into action, which can then lead to kind of a self-sabotage where you are on the road to burnout.

Ekaterina (18:13)
Absolutely. This is the cycle. Exactly.

Victoria (18:18)
And okay, how do you train? I’m gonna say train. How do you advise that women identify these two elements? Because, you know, obviously it’s all gray and it’s all nuanced. We all have a capacity to kind of lean into our masculine responses. It’s not like all women are feminine and that’s that and that’s done.

but there’s a time and a space for both. Same with men, they will have an opportunity to kind of lean into a more emotionally driven and feminine response when it’s appropriate. So how do you teach people how to harness each aspect of their response and when? Like that’s quite a lot, isn’t it?

Ekaterina (19:10)
It is quite a lot. It really is. And it all starts with understanding. So one of the beauties of being 50 is really understanding myself quite well and understanding your own patterns. And to flip that onto the people that I work with is you start there.

you understand your predominant patterns, the things that keep happening. Then you go into inquiry under my guidance into why that could be, because there is always a root cause of it. Why is it that you keep having and coming into this pattern?

And the root cause, and surprisingly, is something to do with your first seven years, your upbringing, but also your kind of transgenerational beliefs. So some beliefs were passed on to you via your parents, but also via teachers. So always at the root of it is it’s an understanding. It’s a belief about something.

And then as you understand what the belief is, you start questioning and very often you start seeing that awareness brings you an understanding of your own ways of self-sabotage. And then you come to the understanding that a self-sabotage is actually a misguided self-care. You are protecting yourself from something. And so to bring this into more practical level,

By now, I believe between our corporate careers, our being a founder, being a mother, we know when we sell sabotage. We know. You know when you procrastinate or you scroll or you’re being, or you’re not taking the actions when you shoot or you’re not putting yourself forward. So the understanding is really there. And then once you have the awareness, which most of the time my clients,

have, the question really I ask them is, what is the fear? The fact that you’re not doing the thing or you’re not putting yourself, there is a fear there. You’re protecting yourself from something. What is it really? What is the fear? And the answer comes so quickly. ⁓ very often for me earlier on in my career, let’s say when I was building my business, when my child was little, I knew

Well, I came to the realization that my self-sabotage was that I didn’t take the action or didn’t put myself forward or actually I’ll procrastinate it is because I thought there is a cost to expand in my business and the cost was not being present with my child, not being here for my husband. ⁓ so success at that time, I very quickly came to the realization it was actually the same for most of my clients.

very often success equals struggle or loss or sacrifice. That is at the bottom. And when success and business expansion means struggle or loss or sacrifice because of distorted beliefs, then you are not gonna do it. You’re gonna self-sabotage doing it. And so again, to come back to the cycle, you really catch yourself in the self-sabotage.

Victoria (22:32)
So interesting, yeah, yeah.

Ekaterina (22:57)
Go to the road, what is the fear? ⁓ What is the belief attached to it? Can I, you’re not going to dissolve a belief overnight, but by just it being aware, I know what this is. And by keep asking yourself the question, well, is that true? For example, in this situation, is it true that if Ekaterina business or let’s say Victoria’s business really grows?

She would neglect her child. She would never have ⁓ quality time with her husband. And she would suffer constantly. She would work, work, work. Yes, the answer could be, it really feels like that. But then when you dig deeper, it feels like that because of the beliefs associated with it. And it’s hard to detach yourself from the belief because if you sit down and have a discussion,

having a business growth means that you can have more choice. You can have more freedom. can design your business in whatever way you wish. And then as you start challenging disbelief, you keep looking and seeing at examples of women who do exactly that, who have a growing business, have a young family, have a great relationship with their spouse.

and are designing it on their terms. It is possible as opposed to before when you’ve only seen the burnout, the broken marriages, the women who regret looking back that they’ve missed this milestones with their children. Because yes, if that belief is guiding your perception, then your reality will bring these examples. I know it’s very layered and I know it’s a lot, but tell me.

Victoria (24:29)
Mm.

No,

it’s really, really interesting and fear of success. I think it’s so interesting to kind of hear that from your perspective. I’m not sure I’ve ever had it because I don’t think I’ve been close enough to success, but I imagine that it’s something that will sort of be triggered as you feel a growing speed and velocity of

of kind of business expansion and you’re trying to keep up with it. And that’s kind of a moment I think when that must kick in because you’re thinking about your own capacity and how many hours you have in the day and you care about all these things so deeply. And it feels like you’re almost having to choose between them. Whereas what you’re saying is it’s about putting the systems in place. And then it comes back to what we were saying earlier about outsourcing and delegating and trusting other people.

which I think as well is difficult for women who do start out in their business doing absolutely everything because their business becomes like another child that they are raising and they know every single facet of it. And so to actually take those steps to start to bring on other team members to support you can feel like quite ⁓ a sort of psychological leap in itself, I imagine, but that is what’s necessary.

if your business is growing in order for you to still have that time with your child or to still be able to crash on the sofa in the evening with your partner. And do you feel like that’s quite a common, mean, how was your experience of it then? Because you said that you had this sensation when your little girl was small and you had to those conversations with yourself. So what was that like for you? What did you decide to do? How did you?

strategize for that.

Ekaterina (26:51)
Well, for me, this is definitely my line of self-sabotage and this is definitely my fear, I think. I would like to invite everyone who is listening, if you got that far, is think about a recurring pattern. You know that you could have done the thing, but you didn’t do the thing because you know, you have a feeling, I know you have a feeling this is self-sabotage. Then ask yourself, okay.

And what am I protecting myself from? So think about this protection mechanism that worked. But you are in a line of inquiry now. You want to question it a little bit. What am I protecting myself from?

I promise you the answer will come. And so to answer your question, my answer has always been, when I get too successful, I will be so busy and I can tell you all my fears. I will lose myself. My relationship with my husband will suffer. I will not be there for my child when she needs me more. ⁓ I will not have time to do the things that I want to do in my life because my business is not my…

main interest, my only, it is a big interest in my life, but it’s not the only interest in my life. ⁓ I am really big on fitness and nutrition and this is really important. So for example, one of my protection mechanism was like, you will not have time to eat good food. You will not have time to go to the gym, ⁓ literally.

Victoria (28:23)
Yeah, but that is a reality. That’s a reality. And

I can completely relate to this because as I am sort of trying to sort of not pivot, but like I’m kind of trying new things in my photography business, sort of going into the education space, which I have had so much imposter syndrome and so much self-sabotage about for years. Like it’s ridiculous, but I’m finally doing it. And then with this podcast, I absolutely love it.

but it’s not monetized and it costs me money and it also costs me an awful amount of time, a lot of time. And so I don’t look after myself and it’s so standard and even women who are staying at home, moms will feel this. You you’re so ready to kind of put everybody else first and this is all kind of patriarchal messaging perhaps but.

you want to look after everybody else and you put your business in that as well. So I need to look after my children. I need to make sure the house is in good order and the family is running. And I need to make sure my partner’s okay and not too pissed off with me because I’m just ignoring him or her. And I need to also look after my business because that’s because one it fuels me and it fills my cup in a sense, but that’s going to bring in money and we need money. And so then by the time you’ve done all those things.

Ekaterina (29:46)
Yes.

Victoria (29:53)
you’re thinking, okay, I probably should, you you grab a piece of toast. I’ve I think a week or so now, I’ve just had a piece of toast at lunch and a cup of tea, and then I go again. And I’m not normally like that. I normally eat really, really well, but I have just, it’s noticing, isn’t it? And the exercise has fallen by the wayside entirely. And I think a lot of women will relate to that, especially mothers, because you’re catering for everyone else. And when your children are little, you feel so time poor.

And so building a business at the same time just kind of exaggerates that because you always feel like if you have a moment, you should go and just reply to that email or you should go and like draft your next social media post. There’s always something that you can put above you in the hierarchy of importance. And it’s sad, isn’t it?

Ekaterina (30:44)
It is. And I think we… Here is the deal. By us running around dysregulated, because imagine if you were running on cortisol, right? You are probably under-slept, your body, ⁓ you are underfed. ⁓ Some women are telling me, this was me when my child was little. They haven’t even gone to the toilet to…

we, you know, because that like your body is on the huge amount of stress. And so you are dysregulated. You are running on cortisol. There is only one way this is going to go. You’re going to run on cortisol. You’re going to run dysregulated. This is the cycle. And again, bringing this strategic view, because I think we are capable women. You have the choice to stop.

Victoria (31:13)
yeah.

Yeah.

Ekaterina (31:43)
and to say, okay, no, I know, I know I’m speaking like a coach, but hear me out. Speak, speak, no. Stop and actually say, ⁓ okay, the most important thing, and there is so much messaging around it, I think women are fed up of hearing, protect the asset, protect the assets, you’re the asset, protect the golden goose, you’re the golden goose to protect, protect, protect self-care. But.

Victoria (31:47)
No, it’s fine. Coach me, Katerina.

Ekaterina (32:11)
The understanding is that by running in the same cycle, you’ll create more of it. The only way to get out of that vicious cycle is if you stop strategically, as you were talking about this, the skill through the corporate strategically, ⁓ become a conscious observer and look at the terrain and look at the landscape. Okay. And what is the landscape? The landscape is probably that.

you could, there is a time in a day but because of that, that dysregulation you are doing things. don’t know. Some of my clients telling me that they scroll a lot. Sometimes I do that. feel like it just kind of relaxes me. ⁓ there are times in the day where you are doing things that, ⁓ it’s almost like wasting your time. So take the step back and first of all,

By looking at the terrain I’m in, what season of life are you in? Okay, it’s different if your kids are little, it’s different when my child is now in secondary school. Okay, what season of life am I in?

For me to actually really enjoy that, how do I want this to look? Okay, you’re not committing to anything. And if I really streamline, if I streamline and simplify everything, how would it look?

And start getting some ideas around that. think that in any season of life, if you have the desire to create something, and I have some mothers that I’m working with at the beginning where the very intense season, they are very creative. They have young children, they are growing companies, but it’s working for them. And I have others like me. I was a complete mess at that time. It was not for me. So I think being

Very honest. So first of all, look at the season of life you’re in. Being very honest, tell yourself the truth of how it feels because Victoria is different to Ekaterina is different to Sara. If you feel creative and brimming with ideas and you want to throw yourself in, absolutely. But if it feels overwhelming and too much, every single time, if you feel the overwhelm, that means stop, take stock. What can you?

simplify and what can you streamline? Who can you ask for help? It’s really as simple as that. ⁓ It does sound very simple. isn’t, it isn’t, listen, I think it’s, for me, I think the major ⁓ piece was ⁓ starting with thinking about the season of life you’re in. Very often, I think, ⁓

Victoria (34:49)
It does sound very simple.

Ekaterina (35:10)
clients that come to me have these ideas of where they should be in their business or where they should be in their life, but that’s amount of time. And I think sitting down and being really honest with yourself, what is my season of life? Like, what is the capacity that I have? How do I actually feel about growing and doing a business? I be really, would it be really simple? I have people who have.

who make a ton of money by just one person, not even a VA, because they have one product ⁓ and ⁓ they have a very good kind of lead generation system that works for them. And they have one channel of visibility and the word of mouth does the sales. Okay. So it works. But what you say, that’s great. It doesn’t very often happen that.

Victoria (35:58)
Yeah, great.

Ekaterina (36:03)
But that is not, there are different ways of doing this. But I think being first of all, very open and honest about where you really submitting yourself where you are. And the difference between the women who feel overwhelmed and those who are going at it. I mean, of course they feel the plate is full, but they are feeling fulfilled and they’re going for it is that those, the second ⁓ type of woman is just.

Learning, I’m not going to say really good because we are all learning all the time, is really learning to simplify, to streamline, to strategic, to actually be very flexible. Because sometimes, and I’ve certainly done this in the wrong way, I’m upset in my way, so I’m doing this and I’m doing, but actually being flexible and assessing as you go. Okay, I’ve streamlined, I’ve simplified, this is a simple system.

I will give it a go, but no, I will give it a go for two weeks. I will really do rinse and repeat, and then I will get the feedback and I will tweak. I will get the feedback and I’ll as opposed to starting hundreds of different things and all of them going nowhere. ⁓ But the answer really is season of life, streamline, simplify. What is the gap? Ask for help.

⁓ Have a simple system of business is actually really simple. You need to have very simple system of lead generation, which means bring people who’ve never heard of you before. Very simple way of visibility. And by that I do not mean social media. ⁓ Always. I don’t mean I have people who are clients who are very, very successful through either one platform, let’s say LinkedIn, or I have clients who are very, very successful who are not on social media.

They are just do email marketing. Okay, so they just do email marketing. So again, the simplicity is this simple lead generation. So be in front of people almost kind of daily. You need to tweak and repeat to see what works. So people have never heard of you before visibility or kind of nourishing an audience in one way that works for you. And then you need to have a way of

having these offers and selling themselves, inviting people onto something. Is it a product? Is it a service? So, lead generation, visibility and sales. I know it sounds very simple, but what if, just a question, and everything I might be saying might be really triggering because it isn’t simple. The fact that the finding your way of the simplicity needs excavating. This is what I want to pause and say.

It’s not that Katrina comes here and say, actually, this is two and two equals four. It’s not. We excavate ease. And I always say this to my clients. It takes time to excavate ease. It takes time to excavate flow. So give yourself, but actually the system, the formula of successful business that I acquired from my corporate days from this very successful man was lead generation visibility.

people who want to buy from you know that you exist and sales. ⁓ And yeah.

Victoria (39:29)
Yeah,

it is that simple, you’re right. And I think we can get really bogged down in the weeds and lose sight of that simplicity. And we can get really, like you say, set in our ways and quite intense about a direction that we’re going in or something that we’re trialing and actually flog it to death before accepting that that’s not quite worked. And you kind of get stuck in it. But what do you say, you know, as you say, it does take time to excavate that, which is a really good way of putting it.

Ekaterina (39:54)
Yes. Yes.

Victoria (39:58)
And what do you say to women that are struggling with patience? Because as you said, in these seasons of life, we have, and this comes from, perhaps it comes from school, it comes from our childhood when we kind of have this path laid out for us and we get into a habit of thinking that certain things are going to have happened and we have to tick these boxes by certain times, whether it be, you you’re going to meet the love of your life by the time you’re 28 and then you’re going to get married maybe, and then you’re going to have children and then you’re going to…

you know, whatever it might be in your career. And so inevitably, and social media doesn’t help with this, there is some comparison. Even in our immediate social circle, we’re looking at women and friends that we love and admire, but we’re also, as women, kind of thinking, well, she’s doing so well. And it’s not that you don’t wish her well, whoever she is, but you can’t help but feel like you’re behind in some way. And this could happen in your personal life as well.

What do you say to women that are falling into the trap of really hustling? And I mean that in the most toxic and masculine way, because they feel impatient and they feel frustrated that it’s not happening. Where does that come from and what do we do with that?

Ekaterina (41:08)
Mmm.

Okay, so first of all, I would like to say that ⁓ please hear this from a wise woman, I call myself, that I have been behind, so personally, obviously, 50 years of living, have been behind many relationships, I have been behind the doors of many businesses to know that every

Victoria (41:29)
Hahaha

Ekaterina (41:45)
body has challenges, everybody suffers. mean, this is the human condition and not to fall in the trap of the highlight reel. think there’s so many conversations about that, yet we do it to ourselves. And it’s interesting in social media, I am observing trends. So back in the time there was a trend of ⁓ highlight reel. Everything is great. I’m nailing it, the seven figure business, da da. Now,

observing there is this trend of vulnerability. So everybody’s coming. don’t know if all my timeline on Instagram or even in LinkedIn is about you see this, but do you really see that? Which is great. But I almost see it like from a researcher point of view, these are, these are trends. The matter of the fact is a bit behind so many businesses, behind so many relationships to know that.

Everybody has this is the human condition. There is polarity. There is contrast. One area of your life will be okay. Two area of your lives will be really challenging. Okay. This is just you live and learn and I’ve lived and I’ve learned this. So I’m not really falling. The second thing I’d like to say, something that really helped me earlier on when I actually was setting up my business. think Marie Forleo said that.

It’s such a good mantra. Create before you consume. Create more than you consume. And every time I do use ⁓ LinkedIn mainly, I’m on LinkedIn and I’m on ⁓ Instagram. I love them both for areas of inspiration and keeping in touch with of trends and stuff. But I also know when to catch myself. Again, this moment of choice point is really important. I catch myself when I’m like, okay.

My mind is getting too saturated now. I need to leave this and I need to stay in my own channel. And I’m saying recently, I’ve been hearing from people and it’s hard. It’s hard. Lots of things are moving in the world. Lots of things are moving. It’s not that there are so many challenges ⁓ in every area of life. And this is my best advice. Just create, stay in your own channel.

Victoria (43:47)
Yeah

Ekaterina (44:13)
go on social media when you need to check this or that or get an inspiration, but ⁓ be very mindful of how you stay, ⁓ how you consume and let that pollute your own soul and your own vitality because it does in some way. And so your question was about ⁓ hustling. Well, I’m going to come down to…

catching yourself again. So I want everyone to think of it this way. In every moment and every time of every day, we have a choice point. It’s almost like if you’ve seen sliding doors, if you take that, you if you do this, that will happen. If you do this, that happen. And I want you kind of take the drama out of it, but just to think.

Victoria (44:57)
Mm-hmm, yeah.

Ekaterina (45:09)
that there is a cycle that could be quite predictable. This cycle is emotional response. I feel a certain emotion, then I take action, then I get a result. Now underneath the emotional response is all of that beautiful underneath the iceberg of conditioning, transgenerational traumas because we are humans, ⁓ limiting beliefs. ⁓

conditioning, patriarchy, like everything. There’s a lot of load of being a human and there is a lot of load of being a woman. So that’s the underneath the iceberg. So think about it. So each time you feel something, I want you to think, ⁓ okay, there is something underneath that. And that something usually is so mechanical in me that it just gets triggered. I feel like that because I saw something

Victoria (45:49)
Mm-hmm, yeah.

Ekaterina (46:09)
And that activated this old trauma, this old belief of this kind of, not good enough. Or she can do it, I can’t. Or success will mean I will lose myself and I’ll lose my family and I’ll die alone. ⁓ So, and then kind of become really curious. It’s like, okay, I know I feel this way because of something which I might not completely understand right now, but there is a reason.

Victoria (46:24)
Yeah.

Ekaterina (46:36)
And this is mine. I feel like that. Victoria would not feel like that when faced with this challenge because she would have her own underneath of things to deal with. But then let’s come to the emotions. It’s easy to catch that emotion and just understand this emotion is a choice point. Okay, I can be really angry and go and snap at that person. Or I can.

do something else. There is a choice point here. I can do something else. I cannot react. I can respond. And I think even if you don’t do it, just know that there is always a way of, ⁓ yeah, there is always a choice point. And it’s very difficult in the moment. But if we are only driven by the fact that the action we will take will give us different results.

It’s almost like, as you say, seeing the sliding door. I feel really triggered about something that happened. Let’s say I’m going to be passive aggressive to my partner, which means that he will react as well, which means that the kids will pick up on this energy. I might shout at them, has it happened before? Yes, it did. Would it happen again? Yes, it did. But also, yes, it would.

but also knowing that, okay, so ⁓ I have this emotion. How about before I go and snap at my husband, I take the potency of this choice point and just really take a breather, go outside, do something else and just give myself the moment of asking, what is this really about?

I don’t feel good enough. I come back to be underneath. okay. Can I give myself some love? ⁓ this is a good idea. can go and tell my husband I actually had a really bad day and I would do with a hug or I would do with you do the dishes or do the dishwasher. I don’t know. Now we can’t be in exactly, it’s a service week. can’t be, we don’t know what his response would be, but I think it’s, I think catching yourself.

Victoria (48:48)
I could do with some acts of service.

Ekaterina (48:59)
is my short answer to this. Catching yourself when you are ⁓ driven by a reaction and triggered reaction rather than, okay, let me just ⁓ regroup and take a deep breath. can still go and shout at whoever I want to shout and do that thing, but let me just ⁓ really catch myself.

and see if there is anything I want to do with that. think, you know, you’re not going to start acting differently waking up tomorrow. But my only ask here is the awareness. Catch yourself. Do you know? Because I believe we are intelligent women when we catch ourselves and when we catch the mechanical reaction.

I think something else might happen down the line. So just catch yourself. That’s my answer to that.

Victoria (50:00)
Yeah, it’s all about self-awareness and that I think is a muscle that you train and you can become better at. But listening to you talk, it really sort of emphasizes to me the sort of overlap between life and business because it’s the same process, right? That you will practice these skills of kind of regulation and…

communication, you know, how do you express a disappointment or a frustration? And it is exactly the same tool that you’re going to implement in order to ensure you make the best business decision, as it is to ensure you make the best decision about how you’re then going to engage with your children, or with your partner, when you have a blow, whatever that might be a disappointment.

that might come from business, but then you take it home with you, or it might be something at home that then you take into your work. And we all are gonna have days, especially as mothers, and in that early season of motherhood where we are frustrated with our children because they’re taking three hours to put their shoes on. And if we then sit down at our desk having finally got them to school and it just feels like it’s been frantic, you then have to try and find a way to kind of bring yourself down.

and kind of reset before you start making decisions in your business and vice versa. But I really, what I do really wanna, go on, you say, what you’re gonna say.

Ekaterina (51:33)
just really wanted to say, just to make this really practical, you are absolutely right. think a bigger part of our challenges and our suffering, I’m going to use this word in Buddhist kind of way, ⁓ is that we, as I said, we walk around dysregulated. So ⁓ if you have ever seen, just to simplify nervous system, there’s so much on the internet, people talk about it all the time, but just to make this really easy,

So imagine that you have this window of tolerance and even actually if you go and Google like window of tolerance, a nervous system, ⁓ you can bring up a really good visual. And I want you to see that there is this window of tolerance ⁓ where we are optimal. We respond to challenges in ⁓ a great way. Our thinking brain is connected. We are calm and we are actually quite effective.

Above that, so if we go into dysregulation, above that, that is hyper arousal. That is the very famous fight for flight. And this is where we start snapping at our husband or overthinking or overworking or people pleasing. Now, underneath the window of tolerance, it’s hypo arousal. This is where we are in a shutdown on freeze. Has it happened to you? It happened to me. Sometimes I’m just in bed. I don’t want to do anything.

Or scrolling is a way of freezing. You just don’t want to deal with that moment in time, lying in bed, procrastinating. And so when you see this visual, it’s so helpful during the day to say, where am I? Where am I on this scale? Am I in my window of tolerance? Am I hyper or am I hypo? And then

You don’t need to go into deeper inquiry, although this is the type of work that I do, but what will bring me? What will bring me into the window of tolerance? Very often when you ask yourself the question you know, for me is going to the gym. This is my therapy. It’s also washing my hair. And for some strange reason, if I wash my hair, I’m just in home fix. ⁓

Victoria (53:44)
Well, you do have fabulous hair, so I get that.

Ekaterina (53:47)
Thank you. Or actually

even if something as simple as putting makeup on, I really feel like, you know, I’m ready to face the day. So everybody will have the answer. So this is what I really wanted to say. Any teaching or any work I do with everyone starts right there. Are you in your window of tolerance? Because when you are, do you know how yourself to bring yourself back in when life throws challenges? Because here in that window,

Victoria (53:51)
Yeah.

Ekaterina (54:15)
you are effective to everyone and to yourself in your business, in your relationships. The second thing I wanted to say, just to make it really practical about the relationships, I want everyone to think that, and actually this has been really helpful to my clients. Every day I would send them reminders. So first of all, I would give them this teaching that relationship, every relationship has a giving and receiving.

for you to be in optimal relationship in business with your partner, with your children. There needs to be a giving, there needs to be a receiving. So without going into too much detail, ⁓ each day I would actually ask my client, okay, tell me three things you have done today to give in the relationship, let’s say with your husband or with your business and tell me three things.

you let yourself receive in that relationship. Do you know which is the most surprising one that women very often overlook? Victoria?

Victoria (55:25)
God, this feels like therapy, Katerina. I’m literally thinking, and it’s about definition and this kind of ties into, I mean, in a relationship, it ties into love language, because you could give and give and give what you perceive to have value, but actually the person receiving it does not value it at all. And so you’re not, it’s not landing. And also they can give to you, but if they’re not giving the things that you value, it doesn’t land either. So it’s, again, it’s not, it’s not

Ekaterina (55:43)
Exactly.

Victoria (55:55)
I mean, it’s easier with children because children, you know, it’s not like you give them food and that counts, but you give them attention. You know, what they want is so simple and adorable actually when they’re little. They just kind of want your undivided attention more than anything else. But with relationships in terms of your romantic relationships and your business relationships, I imagine you really have to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.

Ekaterina (56:21)
How about asking them? Because these are the surprises. So very often, yeah, ⁓ I mean, I don’t know, but sometimes I think it requires you absolutely right. This is such a great point because you cannot answer a question of how you’ve given and how you’ve received if you don’t know what are your terms and conditions of giving and receiving and what is the other person, what they perceive as giving and receiving. And this is where mainly the surprises of my clients come.

Victoria (56:23)
Or doing that, yeah. ⁓

Ekaterina (56:49)
I didn’t know when he does that, he thinks he’s giving, but I don’t see it as such. ⁓ I didn’t know that that’s what he wants to receive. I didn’t have an idea. It’s so simple. So absolutely knowing your own giving and receiving and knowing your partner and your business partner and your children. I mean, I am so perfectly in tune of exactly as you say, my child’s.

⁓ given and receiving. It’s very easy, it’s very predictable. And of course your partners, business partners and also ⁓ partners in life and clients, absolutely. So this is so important. And very often I just like to wrap this up by saying the receiving bit, has been a bit of a challenge for my clients. They are kind of okay with, yep, yep, I know giving, giving good.

Victoria (57:27)
and clients, I suppose, as well.

Ekaterina (57:46)
How can I receive from my business today? ⁓ How can I receive from my husband today? It again takes time and excavating, but when you know it, then you can ask for it. ⁓

Victoria (57:56)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, but then you have to get over the block of actually asking for it. And that comes down to all sorts of issues of like self-worth and like how you value yourself. It’s so complex and it all, when you describe it so eloquently, it all feels simple, but actually putting it into practice and kind of unpicking the conditioning that leads to resistance to you actually doing that. And I often have cited, you know, in early motherhood, you can feel so overwhelmed that you really forget.

how to please yourself. kind of, you spend so much time thinking about the needs of your children and someone can say, what do you want to do? And you literally cannot come up with an answer because you’ve got out of practice of actually thinking about what you like and what brings you joy. And I think a lot of women might find that they kind of carry that through these seasons of life. And then when their children leave, they’re so

out of touch with themselves. And this is what brings us on to talking about this stage of midlife, because I really appreciate, I’m kind of at the beginning of midlife, so I just turned 40. And I really appreciate what you say about this reframing of what historically has been considered a time for women to kind of disappear. know, nobody talks historically, I’m saying.

Traditionally, people aren’t talking openly about menopause. People aren’t talking openly about the value that women can bring in their mid and older age. So what is your take on this in terms of specifically, I suppose, going into a different chapter of motherhood when your children aren’t entirely dependent on you, and also kind of rediscovering yourself, having…

transitioned out of that really heavy, intense phase of motherhood when you are giving so much and kind of recalibrating and coming back to you, I suppose. That’s a long-winded question, but I’m good at those.

Ekaterina (1:00:07)
I

think you were really good at saying it was so important what you said Victoria about ⁓ not knowing and losing the understanding of what pleases you and it is understandable. I want everyone to remember because we all know this on some level that ⁓ when you become a mother, know, people speak, matressens, your identity shifts.

And what used to please you before pleases you no more. And so the understanding that as you’re moving from the maiden to the mother to the wise woman, your identity shifts. I’ve got goosebumps, which means I’ve said something really profound. But it’s just a simple understanding. I know we know it on deeply subconscious level, but

Victoria (1:00:45)
you

It was so profound. It was brilliant. I’m going to use that.

Ekaterina (1:01:02)
just reminding ourselves that I’m my identity ships. How about I go on a bit of an inquiry? Who am I now? And the only advice I have here is tell yourself the truth. Whether you pick up your phone or record yourself or whether you write some people like to journal or whether you have some clients who literally go open, shut, cheap, E.T. They have this ⁓

kind of self-enquiry chamber in the, you know, I might have advised a few of them to do that. And then just riff, is this, this is that, and just group it for me in themes, in understanding, so it’s easy for me to organize. And just go in an exploration on self-discovery to what is it now? Because your identity would shift. And coming back to…

15. So I am fully menopausal now. I am 50. And I, there is a lot of talk about women shrinking and women being invisible. I see things have changed and that’s not necessarily the norm. Women have awareness now that that is such a powerful chapter, but I feel a lot more work needs to be done there.

in us actually not hearing it, not saying it, but living it. Living it. And what does it mean to live that this is an empowering chapter? Well, for me every day it means that I know myself. I’m in tune with myself. I tell myself the truth. I catch myself when I self-sabotage.

Victoria (1:02:30)
you

Ekaterina (1:02:56)
I ask for what I want. I find the time to have a strong body and mind. That is my responsibility because this is a very, very important point in the motherhood, the previous identity. Sometimes you have to put your children’s or your family’s needs above your own. You just have to. It’s that season sometimes.

But now you’ve become a little bit more clued up. Now you have the understanding that it’s not either or. You can have it both with the capacity that you have in that day. So every day I give myself time to work on my body, to work on my mind. And it’s non-negotiable to work on my energy, to keep my energy clean. ⁓ because you pick up so much from the environment and so much from the state of the world and everybody’s bringing their own.

⁓ energetic charge and so this is what it means to me ⁓ and I can talk about this for ages but for me I think this season of The Wise Woman which is you know I love it I feel finally I feel like you know what I’m gonna own this ⁓ sorry my thing fell finally I felt like I’m gonna own this and again

Victoria (1:04:05)
Bye.

I love it.

Yes.

Ekaterina (1:04:24)
I’ve been saying it before, don’t get me wrong, as a coach I’ve been saying it and I felt it land in me like never before. And this way of living and living this mantra of if not now then when? Or if I say I want something, well, why not me having this thing or doing this thing? Why not now? Why not now? Why not now? Give me a good reason, Katerina, why not now? And everyone is listening.

Victoria (1:04:39)
Hmm.

Ekaterina (1:04:54)
And I think this is the difference to me, Victoria. I’ve said the things, I’ve understood the things, I have had the outlook on the things, but now I leave them. They just become visceral. I don’t know how to explain this. It means that I don’t have to drag myself to… ⁓

do something which I know will shift my energy because before would be like, I feel this way. I really want to feel something. What could they do? Now it’s like, again, it’s a, it’s a mechanism.

Victoria (1:05:30)
Do you feel like you’re sort of, it sounds really beautiful. Do you feel like you’re sort of coming home? Like you’ve been distracted from yourself for a long time, perhaps since childhood, and now you’ve kind of got that, and it is wisdom, also experience to kind of just become yourself again.

Ekaterina (1:05:52)
Absolutely, I couldn’t have said it better than that. Absolutely. I come back to and we’ve had this conversation. Well, big, big things like soul when some days I ask myself, I even ask my clients, if my soul could speak, what would she say? ⁓ If she could whisper, what is she whispering that I’m not hearing? And when I say that, I actually hear the whisper. ⁓

Absolutely. I feel like now I feel opportunity. It’s almost like when you have this approach

If not now, then when? When you know yourself really well, when you understand yourself, Sabdaj, because we’ll have it always. When you believe that it’s a powerful season you’re entering and you really want to seize it. feel, I don’t know how, I feel that, yeah, I feel it’s a huge, huge opportunity and

The difference is that well, before I said I will seize it. Now I feel like ⁓ there is no option not to seize it. If you know what I mean, it means that I am here. I’ve arrived more myself than ever. look at, ⁓ it’s also when I, and I invite everyone to see, I don’t know how ⁓ your listeners would be of different ages, but it doesn’t matter what age you are.

Victoria (1:07:13)
Yeah.

Ekaterina (1:07:32)
If you really sit down and look and actually give yourself the space and time to look at ⁓ the landscape, look at where you started, look at where you are now, see the patterns, see the strengths, see the things you found challenging, see the relationships you form. You’re starting to see how everything makes sense. I don’t know if you understand that when my daughter, for example, was little,

And I remember myself walking disheveled, like in a playground and seeing this mother with more grown up girls and going to her. I mean, my daughter by that time was probably one or two or something, like really little. And I would go to her and I remember that time I went to this woman and I said, please tell me it gets easier. You know, I don’t know where I am. I haven’t slept. I haven’t slept. I don’t know who I am. I can’t do this anymore.

Victoria (1:08:25)
Yeah, yeah, I think we’ve all done that.

Ekaterina (1:08:31)
And then she said, well, it doesn’t get easier, it gets different. However, what is really cool is like when she is 11, 12, 13, 14, all of it will make sense of who she is now. And I’m like, now my daughter is 11, that character right there, it all makes sense of who she is now. It’s just the same personality, isn’t it? And so to come back to the midwife.

midwife, midlife, it all makes sense if you see it because somewhere along the line you forgot, somewhere along the line exactly as you said Victoria you got distracted, but now you almost have this like, ⁓ okay, that made sense and that made sense and how I feel now and when I really want to do who I am or what I’m into, it really makes sense to that time or to that thing. So yeah.

Victoria (1:09:02)
you

you’re making it sound like something to look forward to, which is not often the case. And I love that because I hate the idea that there’s a season of life that is kind of limiting, but in its nature, I just don’t buy into that at all. And actually it sounds like there is deep satisfaction to be had in that time, to be able to reflect back over all the versions of yourself that you were, but also to take all of that learning and to still continue to grow and evolve.

but just from a place of a little bit more peace and kind of contentment. I just love it. I love all of it. But I’m going to ask you one last question before I let you go. And this is kind of ties in your daughter’s 11 and you are becoming a wise woman. I mean, you’re already a very wise woman. So looking back now, having experienced all of those seasons of your own womanhood, what would you say to eight year old Katerina? Hey Katerina.

Ekaterina (1:10:29)
oooo

Can I say something very quickly before the eight year old? So I know we’ve spoken about the perimenopause and the menopause as these very positive and really empowering chapter. I know on a practical aspect, a lot of things are happening in the female body. So I would just like to offer one piece of my history that has really helped me. When I was 44, I have noticed

Victoria (1:10:35)
Mm, yeah.

Ekaterina (1:11:03)
things I have noticed not being myself. I have noticed and probably the main thing for me which I’ve shared in our conversation was I noticed this levels of anxiety for no particular reason. And this for me was a really good ⁓ point to remember something I’ve read some somewhere. And so I went to my GP and I have asked

for a test, I didn’t even know what it was called, but I said, I’d like to see where am I perimenopausally? ⁓ I’d to see how my hormones are because somewhere I read that and heightened anxiety could be a really, ⁓ you know, it could be this, an old set of perimenopause. And, and I love that I did that because I know that there are women out there who think that something is wrong with them and it’s not.

And perimenopause and a lot of bunch of very weird symptoms are coming with it. And I’m going to list very quickly some of them just because women might think, okay, something is wrong with me, but it’s not. So this is my first advice. If you feel anything, just go and ask for this test, a blood test privately or a blood test by your GP to hear, to see, to understand where you are perimenopausally. They’re kind of checking where your estrogen is. For me.

the results came in and they were like, yes, your estrogen is really low. You are definitely perimenopause or not far from menopause. ⁓ And for me, interestingly, I know for some women, ⁓ perimenopause or complete menopause, the menopause ⁓ was sometimes takes for some women a really long time, 10 years more. For me, it was six years. So, actually it was probably four years I actually forgotten. ⁓ But ⁓

But that is my advice. So please, if you see some ⁓ things that are not right, go and see yourself where you are. just want to say the bunch of, there are lots of symptoms that women talk about on a practical level, the window we associate with perimenopause, like hot flashes, this disturbance of sleep. ⁓ Anxiety is quite spoken about now. It’s very, very typical as estrogen drops.

but there are some other interesting ones. again, go and Google them. There are some which you wouldn’t be like, oh, I didn’t actually even think. Problems with your eyes for some reason, not in terms of like not being able to see, but like eye problems, skin problems. I had that out of the sudden. I’ve never had dermatitis in my whole entire life. I started having some skin conditions around my neck.

Victoria (1:13:56)
Mm.

Ekaterina (1:13:57)
I feel it’s really important to say because I didn’t know they were related at the time. Frozen shoulder for me definitely had it and now it’s really linked to perimenopause. that, so basically yes, if you have any of those, ⁓ nothing is wrong with you. Go and understand where you are on perimenopausal journey and there are various ways that ⁓ you can seek either with functional.

medicine or if you want to go on the HRT or whatever, there are different ways, start the journey by having a diagnosis, not a diagnosis, but understanding where you are. So.

Victoria (1:14:34)
like that fits in really beautifully with your messaging about self-inquiry and I think just to take away from that self you are worthy of the inquiry it’s not something that is not necessary or is not urgent or you can put to the bottom of the pile if you feel out of sync or if you feel ill at ease in your own body or that something has changed take the time and go and ask for the test and ask

to find out where you are and ask those questions because you deserve that. And I think sometimes it’s something that women might suffer again, might suffer with because they’re just like, well, it’s not important. I’ll deal with the kids first and I’ll do it next week or I’ll do it. And suddenly, you know, a year could have gone by. So I think just this message of self-inquiry and taking the time, it’s the theme of everything that you’ve talked about in this conversation. And I love it because I feel like sometimes we just need to be told that that is a priority.

and it can be so helpful for us.

Ekaterina (1:15:35)
I would like to say, this is really important, but I feel someone needs to hear this, that blood tests, whether to check ⁓ inflammation markers or to check general well-being, I really recommend. Obviously, I’m not a doctor, but for me, body and mind and soul are really, really connected. I really recommend once a year to check.

your blood levels for inflammation markers, check your thyroid as well. Because very often I actually have clients who, ⁓ so let’s say checking their thyroid, it’s undiagnosed condition, and then they actually bring a real, what we can regard as mindset or personality ⁓ kind of disturbances. They bring anxiety, they bring… ⁓

palpitations or really low mood. ⁓ So yeah, so I just really felt that get your blood done once a year. Yes, I think so. If you can. ⁓

Ekaterina (00:01)
So ⁓ what would I say to my eight year old? Eight year old Katerina in communist Bulgaria. You know, what I would probably say to her is just take the next step and trust the next step and they all lead to the path that you need to be walking on. And it all makes sense when you

get to the end and you kind of see the masterpiece looking back. I think that’s what I would say, yes.

Victoria (00:35)
Yeah, yeah,

and keep asking yourself questions, but I don’t think you need to tell yourself that. I feel like that’s intuitive for you. I love it.

Ekaterina (00:44)
Yeah, Yeah, grow and evolve.

think what you said, Victoria, is really, really, yeah, just grow, just evolve and trust your next step.

Victoria (00:55)
Amazing. Thank you so much, Katarina. I’ve really loved this conversation. Tell everybody where they can find you.

Ekaterina (01:02)
So please come and find me on Instagram, first of all, also on LinkedIn. And let’s connect. Tell me if anything resonated here. And I believe, Victoria, we are sharing the ⁓ Midlife Mayhem or ⁓ Magic ⁓ workbook with everyone. If they, yeah, okay. Yeah, absolutely. So ⁓ if you’d like to go on your own journey of self-discovery,

Victoria (01:23)
Yes, that would be brilliant. Absolutely.

Ekaterina (01:32)
to redefine midlife as this powerful season that is really meant to be, ⁓ then I have this workbook that you can come. You will need to input your email address, but absolutely if you only want the workbook and you don’t want to be on my mailing list, then you can leave after that. So it’s absolutely not a problem. But come and take this. I’ve spent a lot of time putting that together and it’s based on my work with hundreds of women.

So I would love it if you benefit from it.

Victoria (02:05)
Yes, I will put the link in the show notes. And did you say you’re on LinkedIn as well?

Ekaterina (02:10)
Absolutely, yes. LinkedIn and Instagram at Ekaterina Ward. Yeah, come and say hi and what resonated in this conversation with Victoria.

Victoria (02:19)
my gosh, so much. I’m sure everybody will feel seen at some point during this conversation. It was so insightful. You are indeed a wise woman, a Katerina. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

Ekaterina (02:33)
Thank you for this platform, Victoria, and you are brilliant. ⁓ I really loved having this conversation.

Victoria (02:36)
No? gosh, I will

try to receive that Ekaterina as gracefully as I can, but thank you.

Ekaterina (02:42)
So definitely

share this episode and share the podcast. Victoria is building something really, really amazing, ⁓ giving platform for women like me to share. So share.

Victoria (02:58)
Yes, I echo that.

Definitely share. Thank you. ⁓ Katerina, thank you so much.

Ekaterina (03:03)
brilliant.