What the Job Doesn't Define: Katie Erickson on Faith, Flexibility, and Starting Over

Episode Description

Katie Erickson spent a decade as a journalist-turned-content marketer inside the Microsoft Business Central and Biz Apps world. She survived a revolving door of bosses, watched AI move into her lane, and kept showing up. Then her position was eliminated after ten years. In this conversation, Katie talks honestly about what it means to build your identity around something that can go away and what it looks like to actually live the belief that your job does not define you. She shares what a year of near-constant family crisis taught her about vulnerability and trust, how faith has been the thread that holds everything together, and why flexibility is a skill you build through the hard stuff, not something you either have or you don't. Real, grounded, and exactly the kind of conversation Coffey Talk is for.

Takeaways

• Your job title is not your identity. And when the job goes away, you find out if you really believed that.
• Flexibility is a skill, not a personality type. It is something you learn through the hard chapters, not something you were born with.
• Know your priorities before the hard thing happens. Faith, family, and knowing what you will not let go of are what keep you grounded when everything else shifts.
• Vulnerability is not weakness. Some of Katie's closest friendships came from a year when her family was in crisis and she had to let people in.
• Being behind the scenes is a real role with real value. The work that makes everything flow does not always get the credit, but it is what holds things together.

👉🏻Contact information for Katie Erikson

https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-erickson-42371383/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome back to Coffee Talk. I'm Kay Coffee Bacon, and this is the show where real conversations happen. My guest today is someone that has spent her career as the person behind the scenes. The one who set up the interview, wrote the description, and made sure everything was ready before anyone else walked in the room. She started as a journalist, found her way into content marketing, and built a decade-long career inside the Microsoft Business Central and BizApps ecosystem, doing exactly that work. Good, quiet, essential work. She has navigated a revolving door of bosses, constant change, and a world that keeps shifting underneath her feet. And through all of it, she has held on to something that most of us say we believe, but rarely have to prove. That who you are is not the same thing as what you do for a living. She's the mom of four boys, a woman of faith, and someone who has learned that the ground shifts repeatedly and that you stay rooted anyway. This conversation is about identity, flexibility, and what it actually means to know your priorities when life asks you to prove it. Katie Erickson, welcome to Coffee Talk.

SPEAKER_00 1:19

Thank you. I'm so glad to be here today.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

I'm really thrilled to have you here and to have this conversation. I think that the things that we're going to talk about today are going to resonate with so many of the listeners. So let's jump in. Let's get into it. You said that you had 10 years at in the same company in this industry. That's almost a novelty. So I want to start right there. Take me back. What does year one look like for you?

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Also, year one at that company. That was interesting because, you know, like you mentioned, I was a journalist. And so kind of getting into marketing, I had done some part-time marketing articles. And then a friend told me, hey, this company is looking for someone to help with their marketing. And so I did an interview and wasn't really sure what to expect. But they said, yeah, we'd like to hire you and started doing some work for them part-time. And then after a couple of months, I'm like, hey, I feel like you've got enough work. Can I work here full-time? And he's like, oh yeah, I thought you just didn't want to do full-time. We definitely have enough for you. So kind of just kept doing whatever marketing work they had to do. And that's just grown and grown since then.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

So you said you started out as a journalist. How did you end up in content marketing?

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Man, yeah. So that's a good question. So I went to college for journalism and then I worked at a local newspaper in the kind of suburbs of the Minneapolis area for five years. Then I had my oldest kid. Journalism lifestyle, late hours, random hours doesn't work well with little ones. So I took a break from work for a while. When I would decide I want to get back into it, I'm trying to remember who even said it to be. Someone knew of someone who needed some part-time work, just writing articles for actually car accident attorneys. And it was kind of a marketing part-time position thing. And just because of my journalism background, I kind of had a grain in my head, oh, that's the dark side. Marketing is sensational. You know, it's it's to know no truth journalist wants to do that. But the more I talked to them and the more, you know, I said yes to a couple articles, then I said yes to a few more. And I kind of realized, oh, okay, so marketing actually lets me do two things. It lets me tell a story based on facts, but it also lets me promote, you know, a company, an organization, a product, something that hopefully I believe in and think is good for someone else to know about. So it's sort of like, hey, I gotta be a journalist and a cheerleader, which I had been in high school. So it was sort of a both things in one. It was kind of fun.

SPEAKER_01 3:49

Yeah, I'll tell you a an interesting story. I think this will resonate with you. When I was, I'll say a teenager, 15, 16 years old, I wrote all the time. I wrote stories. I wrote, I was in a local theater group, I wrote like the article that would go in the newspaper for the show that was coming up. I did tons of writing. And so I thought that I wanted to be a journalist. And I my parents knew friends that were in marketing and journalism, and they had, you know, conversations with me, and they both, hands down, said, You're actually a marketer. You're actually not a journalist for all the reasons that you just mentioned. And so I went into marketing and um I think it was the right move because to your point, it still gave me opportunity to write. When I worked at a marketing agency, I marketed attorneys primarily, and I wrote the content for those attorneys. And so when you said that, I was like, man, we are sort of birds of a feather. Yeah. So you mentioned having a new boss almost every year for a decade. What does that feel like from the inside in expectations and uh accountability? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_00 5:08

A little crazy for sure. You know, every boss who comes in is gonna have their own agenda, their only I, their own idea of what Boyer should look like, what the company should be. I learned to work with a lot of different personalities for sure. You discover in the first, probably the first month at least, you've got a good feel for, okay, this person, you know, prefers email or this one prefers Teams messages, or, you know, they they want to be more hands-on or they want to be more hands-off. You kind of have to learn how to work with what they want. But also at the same time, a lot of the bosses I had, it I felt I felt a little like the redheaded stepchild because it was like the operations guy is in charge of me. Okay, now it's a finance person in charge of me. Now it's, you know, it wasn't necessarily someone with a marketing background. It was someone who was in a leadership position at the business and they had their own background, their own mindset coming into marketing then and trying to do that as well. So I kind of had to be to some extent the marketing background person who says, okay, yes, that's a good idea, but coming at it from a marketing perspective, maybe we need to twist it this little bit to make sure that it's still telling the right message. That's, you know, that core message from our company that we want to stay the same about all these different changes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

That's tough because I would imagine you had bosses that maybe didn't put the emphasis on marketing that it needs to be. I've seen so many memes and and cartoons that are coming up of marketers trying to find our place. And so having a a revolving door of different bosses and, as you said, personalities. That was quite a challenge that you had to rise up to. Was there ever a moment where you thought, okay, this might not work out?

SPEAKER_00 6:53

Yeah, that's actually an easy one. I it was, I want to say summer of 2019. So our president showed me this resume of this guy. He's like, this guy's gonna come and he's gonna get a new sales guy. I looked at the guy's resume, I'm like, really, because he's got 10 years of marketing experience. And I've been here for four. He's gonna take my job. Oh my goodness. Sure enough, two days later, the president is like, you know, he's actually really better at marketing. I wonder if maybe he can do our marketing and you want to be a sales assistant for me. And I'm thinking, yeah, no, I have little kids at home. I'm, you know, like little, little, I'm still breastfeeding. There's no way I can come be in the office that many days and do that. Long story short, we ended up keeping both positions. And that's the guy who stayed for three years, had him as a boss for the longest. And I learned so much from him. He taught me a a lot about, you know, how to do marketing and how to think more strategically about marketing as opposed to just going through the motions and doing all the little tasks that are in front of you day to day.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Yeah, there's that uh I call it working in the business and working on the business. Yes. And I do the early morning hours working on the business in that strategy, because once the inbox starts dinging, then you are in it. And it is, it does. And it's harder to get out then. Well, I think I, you know, it's kind of knowing, knowing when you can think best and and most clearly. But you said at that strategic thinking, that zooming out and being able to see uh see the big picture, that can be quite a challenge when all those tasks become bigger, sometimes bigger than we are.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

Yeah. Well, and even as a journalist, I always loved going in very early and writing early, early morning because it was quiet and I could think better.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I think it's just knowing your knowing your prime time for that.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

Yeah. And knowing too when it's time to step away. Like, okay, my brain is working up now, time to go do something else.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

You said something in your bio that I I really love. It sounds so simple, but I don't really think it is. You said, um, I'm more than my job. I want to pull on that thread a little bit because I think it's uh it's all balance, right? When did you first have to remind yourself that you were more than your job?

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Ooh, that is a really good question. I feel like I've had to do that all my life, even when I was younger and more than, you know, whatever my identity. I think, you know, as as a teen, I was a high school cheerleader and I was the oldest of five kids. And even that, you transition, right? Life is all about transitioning and moving into different um areas and different parts of your life. And you kind of have to hold loosely to whatever your identity is at the time because it's very likely to change. Same was true when I was a journalist. So I did that for five years, but even during that time, I had in the back of my head, someday I'm gonna want to have kids. And this type of work, at least for me, isn't gonna work very well with that just because the hours are a little crazy. I know I need to hold loosely to this and and not let it define me a hundred percent, because otherwise, when I go do something else, I'm not gonna know how to make that transition. And I think I've had to do that throughout work as well. Probably one of the ones that sticks out to me the most. It was very heartbreaking at the time. I was just working part-time, doing some marketing articles. And I remember when I I was sitting at the kitchen table writing an article and trying to get it done for my deadline. And my oldest was, I want to say like six or seven at the time. And, you know, he he liked to talk. He came up to me and he was chatting about something or other. And I was probably a little bit tense and a little terse with him, said, you know, I'm sorry, I'm working right now. And he just started crying. He's like, But mom, I just want to talk to you. And that moment has stuck with me ever since because, like, okay, priorities, right? Your work cannot be your priority, especially if you're a mom. You've got children who are gonna grow up and be gone. Work is still gonna be there. You need to be able to invest in your children, invest in the people around you more. Even, you know, that might be work as well. That might be investing in your coworkers and just talking about life and not just, you know, our next deadline, because there's so much more to life than your job. And I guess that was one moment that definitely stood out.

SPEAKER_01 11:25

We had a little pre-chat before I hit record, and I was saying that, you know, my daughter is home from from college. She's a rising senior, and I know that my time is short. I know my time is short with her. She's gonna graduate, she's gonna move into career. So she's home this morning this this summer and has an internship. She's done at noon every day. And there are some days about two o'clock, she comes in and she's like, I'm going to the pool. And I say, Well, I'm going with you because for that very reason. Because the time is so short and the work will always be there. On the flip side of that, when she's my youngest, when she left for school, I kind of looked around and was like, Well, what am I supposed to do now? Right. Because my weird right, it's so weird. Being a mother was my identity, it still is my identity. And so there is that adjusting and re-adjusting in all of those transitions in life and grounding back down into into who you are and realizing that you are more than your job. What a great lesson, Katie. I I I love that. And I know that resonates as a frequent conversation that I have with people is is finding out what what and who you are outside of your business card. Yeah. And and digging into that for that personal enrichment. You've also described yourself as a good second. And I'm curious about that. I'm gonna ask you two questions in one. What does that mean to be a good second? Has ever being a good second cost you anything?

SPEAKER_00 13:05

So I think what it means is I'm the one who does a lot of the behind-the-scenes work. You know, uh, when you're a journalist, you write an article, you have a byline, it's published, there you go, right? End of story done. Uh, with marketing, it's a lot more nuanced. There's a lot of things that go on behind the scenes that need to get done before that final product even hits the website or the marketing collateral or whatever, whatever is. And so I've discovered kind of slowly throughout my career that where I tend to excel is doing a lot of those behind the scenes pieces that quite honestly a leadership might not know is even getting done. So it might be, you know, setting up the interview with the person that's gonna eventually be that amazing customer story. It might be the description for the webinar because the person who's presenting is a little better at talking than writing, if that makes sense. It's it's kind of all those little behind-the-scenes, but behind the scenes things that people don't always see. As far as if that's cost me something, probably. If I'm being honest, there's probably been promotions or recognition, I guess, that maybe I didn't get because that was the work that was sort of behind the scenes. You don't necessarily know it's gone until it's or I'm sorry, you don't necessarily know the importance of it until it's gone, right? And honestly, I think that's that's a good thing. You don't want the the person who's the second. You don't want those behind the scenes to shout, here I am, here I am, because well, then they're not doing their job. They're supposed to help everything just flow better and so that people can focus on whatever the star of the show might be, if that's you know, your your finished demo or your finished great piece of marketing collateral that everyone's coming and visiting and seeing.

SPEAKER_01 14:51

One of the things that I really love about this conversation and a feeling that I'm getting from you is the confidence that you know who you are and you know the role that you fill, and you know the good work that you do. Some of your, you know, some of your statements again going back to I'm more than my job, and I'm a good second. Like you've also talked about your faith and how you describe yourself. You're very centered. And that, Katie, that is contagious. And I'm I'm I'm certainly feeling that from you right now. You're very uh assured in who you are and where you're going. And and that's refreshing. How does the the faith factor into how you've navigated all of the changes that you've been through?

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Oh my goodness, it's everything. If I did not have my faith, I think I would be a very insecure person. You know, I think most women do struggle with insecurity in some shape or form. I definitely did when I was younger. And I, you know, I still do some, but every time I do, I remind myself, like you mentioned, I'm more than my job. I any other thing that might try to define me, I'm a child of God. I am his daughter, and really that's what matters. It doesn't matter what job I have, it doesn't matter what house I live in or where what car I drive or any of those things really pale when you consider the one whole thing that can actually keep me centered. You know, our family has been through a lot. My my husband has had PTSD. We've had times where we've moved cross-country several times, actually, and you know, just all sorts of different changes. We've got to have that one center, otherwise you're never gonna be able to manage life if you've just everything is everywhere all the time.

SPEAKER_01 16:43

Uh the faith is the connective tissue that holds it all together and keeps everything moving and um 100%. Yeah, it's very important. So, what does putting the most important things first look like for you on a Tuesday on just a regular day?

SPEAKER_00 17:03

Well, thing is that uh on my work calendar, I blocked off three through five. So it doesn't mean I'm not gonna do any work at all after three on the workday, but what it does mean is I'm gonna try to steer away from meetings, mostly because that's about the time my kids come home. And I have four boys, three of them are teens. And if you don't catch them when they're ready to talk to you, you've lost your chance. I'm sure you know that as well. It's you got to get them when they are ready to chat because you know, they they might come home and all of a sudden they want to tell me about their day, and I've got five minutes to listen and hear about their day and, you know, see what challenges they have or what exciting things happen to them. And if, you know, I'm on a work call and I want to try to go talk to them at, you know, 5 30 or 6. No, by then they're off in video land world, right? So that's that's one thing that I've done that has actually been very helpful for me to make sure that I'm prioritizing the people around me.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

That's a that's a that's a great tip for someone that may be just entering into parenthood. I had a conversation with somebody not too long ago and she asked me, you know, what's one piece of advice you would have for me, you know, about to have my first baby. And uh that that's a that's a good one. You know, my I mentioned my my kids are big, but if they are home and they come into my office, I do everything I can to step away from the computer and just sit down with them and make eye contact and and have a conversation. That conversation might be 10 minutes, but chances are if I go to them later echoing what you said, the moment has passed. And who knows what they wanted to tell me in that in that 10 minutes. And I kick myself every time if I don't put it down.

SPEAKER_00 18:47

That eye contact is huge. It's one of those tiny little things you don't think about. But if I'm trying to sit here and write while also, uh-huh, uh-huh. No, they get that. They're like, okay, mom's not making me priority. I'm gonna quit talking. You have to actually stop, turn away from your chair, look at them, and focus on them.

SPEAKER_01 19:05

I want to go back a minute ago because you said something about some of the transitions that you've been in in your personal life, um, going through some job changes, some health, health scares. Is there one chapter that was harder than the than the others?

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Um well, I think there were a couple that were more difficult for me. So I grew up in Minnesota and my whole family is there. And I want to say 2010, I think my family my husband and I decided that we were gonna move to Washington State. At the time, he was he was gonna be a missionary pilot. So we moved cross-country with at the time a three-year-old and a one-year-old. So first time I had ever lived away from my family. And we didn't really have a whole lot of money because, like I said, we were trying to do sort of a little bit of a missionary training type of thing. So that was very difficult because I didn't have all my, you know, support system that was at home. And I also didn't know where the next paycheck was coming from. So talk about stress when you've got two little ones and you're trying to determine can I buy diapers this week or am I buying laundry soap or am I buying, you know, cheese sticks? It was extremely stressful. But at the same time, it taught us very clearly to rely on God because we would randomly get a check in the mail from somebody who just happened to know what we were doing, and you know, it'd be just enough to go get those few essentials that we'd been holding off on. Or my husband would get a few extra days' work at the US Air Force base there, something like that, would just kind of pop up right when we needed it. Never earlier. I like stability, so it just unnerved me to no end that it was not, okay, I know what's coming, I know what's coming. It was always kind of, oh, well, now you need it. You know, today's the day you were gonna be over, but now it's just in the nick of time. So that was a huge one. And then there was a time a couple years later where uh our whole family was in the hospital for one point or another. I had given birth to my third child. Um, my husband was in the hospital with a gallbladder that went septic. Our kindergartner had pneumonia. He was in the hospital for a couple weeks. Our three-year-old accident broke his femur bone. He was in a spike cast for six six weeks. That was all in the same year. And it was a very rough year, but I also met some of my closest friends who I still talk to frequently because they were there for me when I needed them. They let me be vulnerable, which is not an easy thing. It's you know, you kind of have to force yourself to to be vulnerable and accept help. But they were the ones who were there to help us and encourage us through through those areas. And I and uh yeah, so I think those are a couple.

SPEAKER_01 21:44

Yeah. Yeah, those are those are big life changes. Those are big life pivots. Um, if you had to say during this season, I learned this lesson, what would what would that lesson be?

SPEAKER_00 21:58

To be patient. I hate that word. So much, but it's true. You have to be patient and you have to trust and you have to be willing to go with the flow sometimes. But you can't do much about it, you know. Sometimes you're in situations that are out of your control and you just gotta let it sit and wait and do what you can, which usually is just trust.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

Then I mean just the the pattern of life, you can go from those pivots and those those difficult times to, you know, mountaintop experiences, and there's lessons in those too. What would the lesson be from the top as well?

SPEAKER_00 22:38

I think don't take it for granted. It's very easy to get to that top and get really comfortable and just sort of take it all for granted that you know our our family's all gonna be healthy, we're all gonna, we're gonna have stable income, all these things that, you know, we're used to. And it can fall just as easily and actually quite a bit easier and faster than than building it up. And so just not even being prepared for the worst, I wouldn't say that, but just knowing that, you know, don't take it for granted, it could all go away and know who you are if when it does all go away.

SPEAKER_01 23:12

Yeah. My son just taught me this really great lesson not too long ago. He I was talking to him about some some things that he's been going through, and he came through it and now is you know, is sailing. And he was like, you know, I just in in everything that that I've been through, I've just learned to stay humble through it all. Because, you know, he said, this he's so wise. He's 25 years old, he's so wise. And he was like, you know, I'm the consistent in all of it. Whether, you know, whether something bad happens tomorrow or something good happens tomorrow, it doesn't change who I am or the value that I bring. Oh man, let's put that on a t-shirt. Love that, right? Right? Like at 25 years old, he's already learned that lesson and that will carry him far, I think. And uh and that's what one smart son. That's awesome. One smart kiddo. I'm sorry that he's had the ups and the downs. You know, we don't want that for our children, but the fact that he can learn that and and hold on to that and put words around that too, and say just stay humble because the good happens, the bad happens, but we're we're the same, you know. It we're the same through it all. Hopefully, we we come out the other side changing a little better, right? Right. Yeah, lessons. Right. So you are a mom of four boys. How has that changed how you think about your career?

SPEAKER_00 24:44

I think anytime I'm thinking about any sort of career change, I have to think through okay, how is this gonna affect the rest of the family? There was a time where I was there was a position that that was created that was for uh more or less a promotion. And so I had to think really hard. First of all, do I want this? Is this gonna mean more hours? Is this gonna mean more travel? Is this something that I can do that will affect our family? Okay. Uh I did apply for it. I did not end up getting it. And honestly, we kind of felt like, well, okay, there's our answer. Maybe I needed to stay where I was because that would have taken up too much time.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Yeah. Katie, again, I see you as someone that's just so steadfast and so rooted and and strong in who you are. Um, you've been through a lot and you're still standing. You're still curious, you're still asking questions, you're still showing up. I can't help but think about someone that might be listening right now that is in the middle of one of those really hard chapters. What do you want them to hear in in your story?

SPEAKER_00 25:49

I am actually back in one of those chapters myself a little bit. My position was eliminated after 10 years. So I am kind of back to, okay, wait. Like I said, my job doesn't define me. Now I'm having to put that in action, right? Remind myself that, okay, it doesn't define me. I need to find something new now. And what do I even want that to be? Do I still want it to be marketing? Do I still want it to be in the Microsoft eco-space? Still figuring that out a little bit. But a few things that I've had to keep reminding myself are again, I'm not my job. That's not what defines me. It can't because number one, I don't have it anymore. And number two, I I've got to be able to exist without that and be able to still know who I am and love who God made me. I think a part of that also is being flexible. You know, there's life happens. Life is always gonna happen. There's always gonna be good things and bad things, but the one constant is that there's always change. And that's a little bit difficult, but also means, you know, you gotta be flexible. You gotta be able to handle it when those curveballs come, be able to handle the ways that are jumping up and down and be willing to bend, not break, but then and then know your prior priorities. Know what of those things am I going to hold on and never let go? What of those things can I let go away or break or whatever? And what is gonna be most important for me? That's my faith and my family, and those are the two things. Any new job I get, that's gonna have to be what I focus on. Is this going to be compatible with my faith? Is this gonna be compatible with our family and our lifestyle and being able to still be there for my boys as their teens and starting to take that next step toward I need less of you, but I still need you when I need you. Right. I know.

SPEAKER_01 27:31

Okay, so what kind of role are you looking for right now? What do you envision yourself stepping into next?

SPEAKER_00 27:38

I think I still want to do marketing. And I think the part of it I like the most is content. You mentioned writing earlier. I love writing. I love writing so much, and I love being able to tell people's stories. For me, that was always the most fun part was I've got a customer who's happy and willing to tell me their story. I want to shout it from the rooftops and tell why our company is so amazing and why this customer chose us and why they love working with us. And I want to be able to do more of that, uh, whether it's for another Microsoft company, whether it's for, you know, I don't know, maybe I'll end up doing my own thing and work for a few different companies, doing a little writing here and there. Um, maybe even for my husband. He started an apparel business earlier this year. And so we're starting to talk through a little bit how that might look if I were to do more marketing for that and just even telling the stories of the people whose shirts he's made has been really fun. This silly little thing, but he's been able to put shirts together for our little neighbor girl who has a disability and kind of an awareness campaign shirt. And so I was able to then tell her story a little bit, and that was super fun and exciting.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

So now I'm curious.

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Tell me more about that and and what he's doing. So he got it, it's called a DTF printer, and it's he got a commercial grade printer in oh, right around Christmas time. And he's been doing shirts for a few different organizations, nonprofits, um, causes in the Springfield, Missouri area. Oh, actually, I think I'm wearing am I wearing the shirt? I am look, it's Dell Supply Company. There you go. That's his company. But yeah, it's it's one of those things where it started out as a hobby and then he started doing it. Could actually become a business, and he's really enjoying it. Um, he's done some shirts for a few churches around. He's done some some shirts for uh BBS. It's uh basically a church's one-week big kids ministry thing. And he's just been able to have a lot of fun with helping bring someone's vision to life, create a design for them that they love, and then you know, we can give that to them, and then they can go tell their story with that. And it's a fun way to be a part of their unique story because I think every person, every organization has their own story to tell. It could be as simple as, you know, we deliver on time, or it could be as um poignant as for our little neighbor girl. It's believing in Blakely, believing that she can get or overcome the adversities with this disability that she has. It's really fun to be able to be a part of each of those little stories.

SPEAKER_01 30:04

Yeah. Well, it sounds like you're uh drafting up a marketing campaign right now. I can already hear it. I can already hear the threads of it. So exciting. I know that is so exciting. And, you know, I love entrepreneurism. So I love that journey of having an idea and putting a plan around it and executing, and then seeing the customer stories come in, seeing that little girl's face light up when you've met a need of hers and and then retelling that stories. I I think you're a perfect person to do that. I'm holding on to a couple of things from our conversation today. What's really sitting with me is that your job is not your identity, knowing the difference between something that you do for a living, you know, from your nine to five or ten to seven or whatever those hours look like, versus versus your personal fulfillment. And those things might not always be uh be the same thing. And then also flexibility. Flexibility is a skill. It's not necessarily a personality type, it's definitely something that we learn through the hard stuff that happens.

SPEAKER_00 31:15

For me, it's one of those things where I've I've learned a lot from my husband. He's a lot more flexible and spontaneous than I am. I like a schedule, I like to know things. I'm a planner. Like I the uncertainty or unknown is not my cup of tea. And so I've definitely had to learn how to kind of let go, take a breath, and kind of go with the flow a little more than I might actually want to.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

Yeah. Well, Katie, thank you for showing up today and sharing so much of your story, being so, so authentic. I think the things that you shared are commonalities of things that we all go through, especially in our hardships and the things that we can learn and and how if we lean into it, we can let those things change us and make us better. Um, and I really think you put some good words around some things that people might not have words for while in the midst of hard times. I'm really glad you came on to Coffee Top. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate it. To everyone that is listening, thank you for pulling up a chair. If today's conversation resonated with you, share it with someone that might need it. And I'll see you next time on Coffee Talk. Thank you again, Katie, for coming on today. I'll see you soon. Thank you for joining us today on Coffee Talk. A special thanks to my guests for sharing their story and to you, the listener, for being a part of this conversation. If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a Monday morning chat. Until next time, I'm Kate Coffee Bacon, and this has been Coffee Talk.