Reignite Your Life

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T his is When Spirit Calls and you on your journey are in the right place. This show is about magic miracles and meaning shared through stories, interviews and channeled messages. We have so much to share about who you are and your divine mission here on the earth. Let's get to it when Spirit calls is right now.

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Our guest today Cathy Derksen is a wealth and success coach as well as a fat the founder of her company Inspired Tenacity. Her passion is dedicated to helping women tap into their own brilliance to create lives filled with genuine joy and fulfillment. Cathy's mission is to create a cycle of wealth and success among women around the world. After working as a financial planner for over a decade, she left her corporate job and started inspired tenacity to focus on helping women create wealth and success on their own terms. Cathy is an international speaker, a five time best selling author, with stories that inspire the readers to take a leap of faith into reaching for their big goals. Please help me in welcoming Cathy today.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:01:18

Oh, hello, everyone. And welcome back to another episode of When Spirit Calls. As you've heard, I've got the lovely guest Cathy Derksen with me today. And we're going to just get the ball rolling right away. Because I am so eager to learn a bit more about this woman I know a little bit, but I know that she's got some incredible stories to share with you. So welcome, Cathy.

Cathy Derksen: 00:01:40

Thank you for having me.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:01:42

I'm so happy to have you. So I'm going to ask that you start us off by telling us a bit more about yourself. You know, the BIOS tell us a little bit. But I know there's more backstory here. And I'd love for the audience to get to know you a bit more will you start us off with telling us a bit about your journey and where you are now?

Cathy Derksen: 00:01:59

Sure. And I love the title of your podcast. The Spirit calls because so much of my journey over the last decade really has been following my intuition and follow really what my heart tells me. And not not much logic, if people will tell you logic doesn't fit. So, so yeah, so most of it kind of goes back, I guess about 12 years now, when I really kind of set out on a kind of reinvent myself. And at that time, I was in a very toxic marriage, I had two teenagers that were both, you know, suffering from the consequences of living in a toxic family. And just suddenly, we were a very tragic car accident. I mean, they thought my family was fine, but someone else was not. And it was just one of those those things in life, it's like a slap in the face Mark kind of really gets you thinking, okay, you know, what are you doing with life? And is that what you're supposed to be doing? And it was really what kind of shocked me into the whole realization of the toxic world I was living in at the time as a, what kind of role model and my be my kids. And you know, what am I? What kind of life am I creating for myself even. So at that time, I kind of describe it, like I threw my life up in the air and reinvented it on the way back down.

Cathy Derksen: 00:03:19

At that time, I had been working in medical genetics I had about a 25 year career, but also working in a very toxic environment there as well. And like I said, I came to this realization of what am I doing? And so I set to figuring out what it was what am I supposed to be doing. And that was the first time so that was really listening to my intuition what it was telling me. And of course, my previous career had been very, in that type of work, you're very isolated, you're just kind of in hospital labs, and you know, no real people contact. And I realized that I was a people person that I needed that contact I needed to the people and I felt okay, how can I be of service and actually be sharing what I can do and help people. And at that time I have a lot of my friends were going through divorce as well. And I realized so many women were struggling without having the information or the support they needed financially. And so that's when I set out on the journey into financial planning, thinking, this is how I can help women change their life by changing their understanding and their confidence and their finances. Versus after about 10 years of working in the corporate role. I just it really occurred to me and just hit me upside the head, especially during the whole pandemic thing and all the changes that have been going on and I realized that having that impact I'm not having I'm kind of following that corporate agenda but not having the impact that came here to have and again, listening to my intuition saying you go okay, your mission is bigger than this. Your mission is not sitting in an office in a branch and doing paperwork and doing transact shins, it's a bigger thing. And so I left my corporate job over a year ago now. And, again, a lot of people will say, What are you doing? You know, why would you do that? Yeah. And so much of it was just knowing that I had a bigger calling that there was something else I was supposed to be doing. Yeah. And this whole time I the mission that I'm working on, or with is creating a cycle of wealth and success among women around the world. And really, you know, that's when I first started going into financial planning, that was the mission that it again, it just came to me that this what you're supposed to be doing. And so realizing that working in corporate did was in fitting that so now, my company is called inspired tenacity. And so really, what that is, to me is that that's what we need to make big change in our life, we need that inspiration, and the tenacity to just get doing it and stick with it. And, again, follow your passions and follow that intuition, where you're supposed to be going. So now I'm able to highlight this, I'm helping women now really still focusing on their own success, but really on their own terms, and in ways that the way they need it, not the way some corporation is telling them, this is the information you need. And this is how you do it. ABCs. Now women don't, we tend to do things more like a web, like information in information out, it's a flow, you know, it's not this kind of masculine system that we're used to living in, really address a lot of the ways that most women absorb information and use information and adjust their life. So now I can do things the way I feel, or what women want to see and feel and experience. And if we get to numbers, that's fine. But to me, there's so much that has to come before any of that so much i A lot of my work, I'm labeled at around like reignite your life. And a lot of it is focused on really rediscovering those brilliant says that we're not using and yes, yes, so many of us are doing life, you know, going through the motions today, but not not really feeling excited, or inspired, or, or really motivated to do anything.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:07:23

Yes, I love that you were doing this work. And I love that you called it inspired to inspire tenacity, that that's right, right. Yeah. Okay, good. Because I wrote down tenacious and I was gonna say tenacious, but, you know, I think there's something to be said about being willing to keep going to take those steps. And, Cathy, I have a very similar story to you, you know, I, I was in a marriage that wasn't healthy. And I chose to leave my marriage. And that was very difficult. And then it was like having to be reinspired. And starting again, and feel that I couldn't start again. And so you what you do is you create this beautiful kind of sacred container for the Divine Feminine to come out, like, let's be honest, like, it really is the divine feminine energy. And you're right, you know, we've been blasted with, here's the system, follow this system, and you'll have it mean, but the truth is, is that we all need our own formula. And it's taken me 40 years to figure out my own formula, but to have someone to guide us and help us to trust that we can create our own formula is such a big piece to all of this, isn't it? Yeah, yeah.

Cathy Derksen: 00:08:44

And one of my big focuses is on mid life, women. And part of that being that I find that many of us have spent so many years looking after everybody else, whether it's their you know, kids and spouses or even a careers and looking after our parents now. And then so many women have really lost track of who they are, what they wanted to do. And if we think about it, we've got a plan to live into our 90s. And to do that in a healthy, productive way. We have to be doing things that excite us, we need to be continuing to create new social connections, new learning new, you know, just living in the world where we're feeling like we're part of a community that we're there's a reason why we're getting up in the morning, not just get up, go to work, come home, make dinner, get up and go. That's not we're here.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:09:40

Zombie mode. You know, we're moving through the motions of life, but we're not living. And I think there's a lot of us that have done that for many years and some of the listeners might still be doing that. But this is a wonderful reminder that you can re ignite anytime that you can start again anytime. You know

Cathy Derksen: 00:10:01

And I never tooled, never too old.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:10:03

No, no, that is for sure. So, so it's so beautiful, because I just, I love this message that, that we can design our own formula. And if we have the right community and the right people in place to support us in that, it helps us to, to trust more to have that confidence that, you know, this is my formula. This is what I get to create for myself and what works for me, it doesn't need to look like that that other person's over there. And in fact, it's not supposed to, right. It's that idea of fitting, you know, the square peg in the round hole, right? It's like, we're weren't meant to fit there. And so now we're finding our place with this divine feminine energy and really coming to the surface, which I really, really love. Yeah, fantastically.

Cathy Derksen: 00:10:51

Exactly.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:10:52

So, Kathy, I want to kind of move into I mean, you talked about your car accident, and that it was fatal for somebody else that was involved in that accident. But thankfully, your family was okay. Now, that's definitely one of those when Spirit calls moments, you know, redirecting and saying, hey, you know, if you keep pushing, this isn't going to be good. As that happened to you in quite a few other times, because I know that you're quite intuitive. And I think that you've probably had a lot of calls from spirit. Can you share with us a few other times when maybe you had some profound spirit calling?

Cathy Derksen: 00:11:29

Yeah, no, there's, I've definitely learned to trust that. And I think, you know, in the past, I think I had, you know, before that kind of real shocking experience, I think I had been ignoring it quite a lot. Yeah. And so since then, I've really learned to step into acknowledging it. And I think one of the biggest ones, though, really was this idea of, like, right, in this last couple years, when I've left my corporate job to start my business. Because, I mean, when you really think of it logically, that's nuts.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:12:04

Oh, yeah, you know, I too, left a six figure paying career to start a business. Okay, making $0. So I heard it all.

Cathy Derksen: 00:12:15

Exactly, exactly. And even just in the last few months to since I have started this whole adventure of doing my own thing, and allowing myself to step to, you know, okay, you need to speak up, your voice needs to be heard. And not just and again, my original thought was, Okay, I'll do like one on one coaching, I'll do some group coaching, you know, kind of still thinking small. And this little voice in my head kept saying no bigger, bigger, bigger, you know, you're not, you're not stepping into it. And so really, over the last few months, I've really been focusing more on stepping into speaking on bigger stages, and really taking it like, really internationally. And so that's another part that's, you know, I could have just, you know, left my job and started just doing my little bit of coaching and here on the side, but that, again, that intuition, and that calling that No, you need to stand up, you need to speak louder, you need to really push it out. And even your messages, like don't underestimate your impact. And just the idea that, that there are so many people that need to hear the message that in a way, you're doing a disservice by not standing up by not speaking out by and I think so many of us need to be hearing that. I mean, one of the quotes that I've been holding on to lately that just hit me when I heard it is Don't ask what the world needs from you. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because the world needs is more people who have come alive. That's and it's so true that you know, that we just need to, again, shine that light and let others shine their lights. Because I think that is contagious.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:14:02

It really is. Yeah.

Cathy Derksen: 00:14:04

So that's a big way my intuition really kind of been guiding me. I really made that big decision.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:14:10

Yeah, I love that you're listening in to that, you know, and you're hearing that go bigger, go bigger, and you're you're exactly right, the nail, you hit the nail on the head, because what happens is, you know, we've been conditioned to believe that our voice doesn't matter that we need to stay quiet. Many of us have even been told you know, that we're not important. So we've stayed invisible. And I do believe that we are doing a disservice when we stay in that framework. Because we know that when people stand out into the light, that it gives other permission for everyone to do the same, right? It gives everyone else permission. And you know, that's even correlates with my story about my near death with the angels. I wasn't going to tell People that I was I had a near death and I was surrounded by angels, that would be crazy of me to do that, right. And so you know, and once I started to just do it, even though it felt really vulnerable for me and terrifying, all of a sudden, people would just line up and they'd be like, Oh, my God, I had a similar experience. And I'm so glad you shared that. Because, again, when we are walking the talk, when we are speaking our truth, we give permission to other people to do the same. And this is how we change the world. Kathy, this is how we move ourselves from a state of fear into a state of love, is through this ability to be vulnerable to share those stories, and to recognize that storytelling is a form of medicine, too. And I think about that, you know, you think about back to the, in our ancestors, what would they do, they would sit around the fires, and they would tell stories, and these stories would have learning and messages within them. And so, so it reminds us and I want to just let that be a reminder for us the power in us stepping out and letting ourselves be seen and heard.

Cathy Derksen: 00:16:11

Exactly. And for the for this year. For 2022. I chose a word and my My word is courage. And so much of it is around that, for us to really step into that. There are so many points where there's fear hold us back. And there's so many times and so many learning opportunities and things that we have to adjust to. And there's so many times that we could be held back or stop ourselves or, or think, oh, no, this is too much, or Oh, this isn't what I'm supposed to be doing. But it's so to me, courage is the word that I just need to keep hanging on to, and pushing forward with.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:16:53

I love that courage is a theme for you this year. Because it does it stretches us out of our comfort zone when we start to, you know, express in this way and starting to speak more. And for a lot of people, it's a fear. But you know, we also recognize that fear can oftentimes keep keep us paralyzed or keep us stuck in a place that we don't want to be. And so, you know, we get to choose that courage when we're when we're willing. So, you know, Cathy, I'd love to just kind of get some of your insight or advice to people. So for the people that are out there that maybe maybe they're kind of listening to their intuition. Maybe they're, you know, maybe they're feeling a call to write a story about their life or speak a story about their life, but they're afraid, what are some things or some tips that you have for listeners out there.

Cathy Derksen: 00:17:45

One of my favorite is connecting with community, connecting with people outside of your normal circle. Yeah. And I find that whenever we're kind of trying to step into something bigger or braver or just different, that quite often the people in our immediate circle, tend to hold us back or talk us down or, and I don't think in general, they're trying to squash you, they're in a lot of trying to protect you, right, but they're not always as encouraging as what you really need. Whereas stepping into there's so many communities now, especially now that we're all online, yes. Just filled with other people who are making big moves, who are looking for big change, you are connecting with the positive that's going on around us. And I've just found that to be so valuable. I mean, for myself, and for a lot of my clients, is to step out into those communities that are doing what you want to be doing or are just supportive of big dreams and passion.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:18:49

I love that. That's one of your tips, because I think that is especially in the last couple years, you know, we've really moved into this social social isolation piece. And I've talked to numerous people and they're like, I have social anxiety now. Like I'm afraid to go out in public and eat restaurant with my friends. And I don't know about you, Cathy, but it's just weird now. It is. And even I was experiencing that I had, I had like all this anxiety when I was going to meet up with a friend the other day. And I was like, what's this about? You know, and it's because it hasn't been normal for us to do that for a couple years. So we do have to do a little recalibration on that. But even more than that, you know, you probably heard the saying, you know, you are the sum of the people you spend time with. And, and so I think you're right, as we continue to evolve or expand ourselves, there is a need or a desire that shows up that invites us to seek other people, other people who are either where we want to go or maybe they're on their way as well. And so I do want to stress that this is really important for those of you listening that are feeling alone or feeling out of place. There are tons of communities out there and you can find them, Google them, search them, they're there. And these communities are meant to be the platforms in which we can continue our evolution and feel supported in that process as well. And have that understanding so that we don't go back into the invisible, sir, we don't go back into hiding. And so I do want to encourage that. And one of the things that has come up quite a bit with me and clients as well, as you know, people are saying, well, I don't even know what I want to do, like, what's fun for me anymore. I'm like, well just try some things. Sometimes you just don't know until you try. And so one of the pieces of advice that I've given some pines is that if they're feeling like they do want to get out there, but they don't know where to find those communities, go and join like a hiking club, or maybe you want to go canoeing, or maybe you want to go paddleboarding, or maybe you want to try rock climbing, go and find those communities and do something that you haven't done, that's gonna stretch you a little bit. And Colin, maybe a little bit of courage, right to do those things, and you will feel so empowered. So I just wanted to add to that. Yeah,

Cathy Derksen: 00:21:14

Exactly. And, and I mean, you hear so many stories of people talking about my, like, social media is so negative, and there's so many, you know, haters. And once you stop responding to those people and stop, including those people in your conversation, they literally disappear.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:21:30

Yes, it's true. It's true.

Cathy Derksen: 00:21:33

We're not on mine, I don't see any of that.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:21:36

Either. I have positive uplifting quotes and messages all the time. And so it is community includes your social media people. And so if you're getting a lot of negative energy and posts that are causing fear in your system, going to invite you to maybe go on a diet, if you will, or consider removing some of those people because it really isn't worth it. Is it?

Cathy Derksen: 00:22:02

Yeah, exactly. And I actually consider only the one benefit that I see that has sort of come of this whole COVID Crazy stuff, is that we are all online. And now it is so easy to connect with people all over the world. I mean, once you figured out what timezone you're in.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:22:21

That's usually half the battle, isn't it? Yeah.

Cathy Derksen: 00:22:24

Exactly, exactly. And I've just been connecting with so many different communities. And even I've been doing a lot of collaborative book projects and things like that with, with women all over the world that I never would have met, if we weren't here on Zoom.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:22:41

Yeah, same here. It's just been amazing what it's opened up. And so you know, also leaning into that appreciation that we have this incredible tool of technology to be able to stay so connected and to see each other. You know, it's such a gift. And I had to switch that because I'll be honest, there was a bit of resistance around the technology, especially when COVID hit us like do I have to be on zoom all day. But I've just come to this place of deep appreciation for it because I get to be on zoom all day, right? And I don't have to be running in my car and dealing with traffic and gas money and all the things. You know, again, all perspective, right? Like we can share that perspective very quickly. What else do you have in your toolbox there, Cathy, for people to hear from you today in terms of tips or takeaways?

Cathy Derksen: 00:23:34

Well, one of the big ones I always start with is to really reflect on what you're stopping yourself from. And the idea to give yourself permission, allow yourself to actually think outside of your usual because I think that's part of it, especially as women I think we just don't even give ourselves permission to think outside of it to think outside of our little bubble that we've been in for so long. And and we're not going to come up with new ideas and new opportunities if we keep sticking in our little bubble. So just that permission and allowing, to me is the first step that we need to make progress.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:24:13

I love that because I think you're right. You know, the idea of reflecting that's part of our awareness, right of like, okay, what am I really stopping myself from doing and moving forward? And then giving yourself permission to think outside your usual is what you said? And I like that versus think outside the box? Because thinking outside the box, you know? Yeah, makes sense. But some of us are, you know, even the boxes that we've created around our own box. So think outside your usual, I think is really powerful because oftentimes we might think we're thinking outside the box and we're not really and so that's really a great tip for people to give themselves permission. As to why not throw it out there and see what happens even though people might think it's crazy.

Cathy Derksen: 00:25:05

Exactly, exactly.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:25:07

I think about when I decided I was going to do a contest and give away my company, your holistic Earth. And I had built this company for eight years, I had, you know, blood, sweat and tears in that company. And when I decided it was time for me to move on, the only clear message I had from spirit was to give it away.

Cathy Derksen: 00:25:28

Wow.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:25:29

And I had to step back and say, okay, ego, because my ego was coming in and saying, You're crazy. Nobody else would ever do this, like, this is law, whatever, you know, and I remember thinking like, okay, okay, maybe maybe I don't do that. But you know, once I made the decision, it felt so good Kathy. And the rest of it was it was and so the rest of my world became very abundant. Once I let go of that, and so I had to, I thought it was out the box, you know, something that I would have never considered before I considered, and it felt amazing. So I'd love that that's a piece of advice for those listeners out there. Think outside your usual, folks. Because you never know what magic you can create. If you do that is for sure. That's for sure. So Cathy, I want to give everyone an opportunity. I feel like our time just is really flying by here. But I do want to give everyone an opportunity to find you if you know if they want to ask you some questions about the work that you do, or any giveaways that you have. So now's a good time to kind of share that with everybody.

Cathy Derksen: 00:26:37

Perfect, perfect. Well, once again, about one of the programs I'm putting together right now I'm actually I'm calling it snap out of it. Oh, and using Snap. As an acronym of getting get out of being stuck and numb. Get back into taking action with purpose.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:26:55

I love it.

Cathy Derksen: 00:26:56

Because I've just again, feel so many of us are just treading water. So that's a new thing I've just got going on. And I'm really excited about

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:27:04

great acronym snap out of it. Yeah. And then you've seen snap. Yeah, that's right. Because you know, we are doing a lot of numbing or escaping right now, aren't we?

Cathy Derksen: 00:27:13

Exactly. Yeah, exactly. And I think a lot of us aren't recognizing how numb we are right now. Yeah. And again, getting back to that clarity and just reflecting on where we're at right now. And are we where we want to be or doing what we're supposed to be doing. And the easiest place to find me is on my main website is just inspiredtenacity.com. And on there, I've got links to my programs to my books to book a call, I've got the free one hour assessment that's on there as well add that in the gifts with the notes for the meeting today. I've got a gift right now I just had my sixth book come out. And to celebrate that I'm giving away a PDF copy of my fifth book that came out last summer, I felt the PDF available. So that's another goodie gift I've got going on. And yeah, just so much going on. And I would love to chat with people. And so just book, its time on my calendar, it links right there in my program. So

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:28:15

Wonderful. And we'll make sure those are in the show notes for all our listeners today as well. So thank you so much for those generous gifts. So Cathy, final words, is there anything that you, you know, didn't say so far that you'd like to share anything that you feel would be really inspirational for our audience.

Cathy Derksen: 00:28:33

Just reignite your life. Just allow, like, allow yourself to enjoy life and to not just do life, but really, really take it on. And you know, the whole idea that right now I think especially, we're so surrounded by negative things, that it's so easy to get sucked into. Yeah. But like we were saying earlier, the more we each as individuals take on creating a positive life of our own. It becomes that contagious positive energy that I was like to see as a ripple effect. Kind of like the old hair commercial. You know, she told you friends, and they told you friends and you know, the more we lift ourselves and lift the people in our communities, the more we we spread that energy to lift the world. And I think that's what's going to snap us out of all of this.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:29:25

I agree who is as mad as the way that he hit on girls. Yes, indeed. Yeah, you're absolutely right. You know, so keep choosing everybody. We get a choice here. We get to choose to live and we are meant to live with joy that joy is already innately given. It's already within us. It's just that we've been so clouded by all the other stuff, haven't we? And we've got lost in that. So really great opportunity for us to just step back and say, Hey, am I really living my life in a way that is inspired and to do do that check in. And then if you're not, you have a beautiful opportunity to say yes to changing to choosing something different. And I really do believe that we are the ones that get to choose whether or not we have that life full of joy or not. And so know that you have the power to decide that right here right now, everyone.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:30:23

Well, it has been such a joy to be with you, Kathy, I'd love to getting to know you a bit more today and such valuable takeaways as well to take home with us. So thank you so much for being with us. It's been a delight. And thank you to all of you listening as well. We will be with you next time on When Spirit Calls.

Cathy Derksen: 00:30:45

Thanks for having me.

DeeAnne Riendeau: 00:30:47

Thank you for being here, Cathy bye.