“Life is too short. You just have to do what truly makes you happy- We've said that for years but I think we finally discovered it truly at its core.” -Catherine Anaya
There’s so much going on that’s unsettling right now. A world Pandemic along with politics, protests and riots. Before this all hit, our fast-paced society gave us immeasurable anxiety and exhaustion. Everything passed by us so quickly. In today’s episode, Shirley and Catherine Anaya talk about the new normal, the challenges and blessings of being home, and current events. As a media personality, Catherine also shares how to cultivate reliable resources amidst the constant Media invasion. She reveals how to successfully pivot despite an abrupt change of circumstances and how to just sit, listen, and slow down. Sometimes letting your voice out into the world is not about how much you can say, but how much you can listen. Tune in to hear this very heartfelt episode with these two powerful women.
Highlights:
01:52 A Media Girl In A Media World
06:20 Cultivate Your Sources
10:38 Woman Power At Home
14:16 Established Priorities
19:37 Voice with Boundaries
23:14 Listen
27:30 Slow Down
34:29 Find New Purpose
Tweets:
Be a woman of power! Listen in as @SfbaldwinOwens and @CatherineAnaya discuss how to have a voice with boundaries!
#getwhatyouwant #pandemic #newnormal #mediaspace #fakenews #boundaries #listen #slowdown #womanpower
Quotes:
07:38 “We have to be mindful about what we are giving our attention to. We have a choice of who we want to follow and who we don't. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, don't follow.” -Catherine Anaya
22:54 “Those of us who have a voice in the world- it's so important that we are still here but with boundaries, which is something that we can show people that they can do. -Shirley Owens
25:02 “I want to be part of the conversation. But I don't need to be the one necessarily leading it.” -Catherine Anaya
27:22 “As much of an adjustment as the world has had coming INTO this, we're going to have just as much of an adjustment coming OUT of this.” -Shirley Owens
29:43 “Life is too short. You just have to do what truly makes you happy- We've said that for years but I think we finally discovered it truly at its core.” -Catherine Anaya
36:14 “You didn't get to where you are by accident, you got to where you are because you're smart, you're talented, and you have something to offer the world.” -Catherine Anaya
Connect With Catherine:
Catherine Anaya is a Journalist, Media Personality, Speaker, and Storyteller. She's the host and producer of my My Home Group TV, and host of The Women's Eye Podcast. She's a three-time Emmy Award-winning former television news anchor of more than 25 years, recently inducted into the prestigious National Academy of Television Arts and Science Silver Circle. Catherine has won numerous awards, including Anchor of the Year by the Arizona Associated Press Broadcasters Association. Her career highlights include interviewing President Obama at the White House and co-anchoring a post-presidential debate with the legendary Walter Cronkite. She serves as a member of the Make-A-Wish Arizona Board of Directors and was recently featured in the, 2019 KNOW Book+Tribe-Highlighting 100+ Women That You Should Know and Do Business With. Her journey stretches to making a difference in the world by helping to create life-changing experiences as long as she can.
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Transcriptions
Shirley Owens: My guest today is Catherine Anaya. Catherine is a journalist and media personality. She's the host and producer of My Home Group TV, host of The Women's Eye podcast, she's a three time Emmy award-winning former television news anchor of more than 25 years, recently inducted into the prestigious National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Silver Circle, for more than 25 years of broadcast excellence. Catherine recently anchored at CBS 5 News, here in Phoenix. Prior to that, she anchored reporters in Los Angeles, Indiana and Texas. Catherine has won numerous awards, including ‘Anchor of the Year’ by the Arizona Associated Press. Her career highlights include interviewing President Obama at the White House and co-anchoring a post-presidential debate with the legendary Walter Cronkite. Catherine serves as a member of the Make-A-Wish Arizona Board of Directors, and was recently featured in the KNOW Phoenix Book highlighting a 100 Women you must KNOW and do business with. She holds many awards in the Latino news media world, and I can just go on and on about you, Catherine. I'm just going to stop there so that we actually get time to visit. Thank you so much for being here.
Catherine Anaya: I appreciate it. It's good to be here.
Shirley Owens: You are amazing. It's been fun getting to know you a little bit, and I look forward to getting to know you more.
Catherine Anaya: Thank you.
Shirley Owens: We were talking before the show, and I had this whole idea of what I want to talk to you about. And this always happens to me that's why I usually don't plan. But just this week, we've been hit by so much. COVID, the media, now all the protests, and the elections, and everything that's going on. There's just so much media that I've actually had to turn off a lot of my social media and just back out of that so that I'm not just in this big confusion of feelings and emotions. And you were in that world, you were right in that world at the White House. Tell me, I just want to talk a little bit about that because I feel like it's super crucial right now. How was it being in it? And how do we navigate each day just trying to figure out where to be in it, and when to not be in there?
Catherine Anaya: Well, it's been five years since I've been out of it in mainstream news, and sometimes feels like 10 years because my life has shifted so much. Whereas news was 24/7 for me for 25 years, the last five years, it's a choice that I get to make every single day. I still like to stay on top of things, but it doesn't run my life the way it used to. And the biggest thing that I found was when you're in it, it consumes you. And it's everything you think about because of everything you hear and everything that you have to report, and it creates these mixed feelings within you. A lot of fear, I felt as a parent, worry and concern. And on the other hand, you come out of it and you realize that there's this whole big positive world, and it's not just death and destruction. You think it is when you're in that bubble. So I think that that was the biggest difference for me is that I could sort of inhale a lot of the positivity in the world and not see it through this one particular lens. But like you were saying with recent events, obviously, they're still that news part of me that in some instances wants to be a part of it. I still have a platform and a voice that I want to use to talk to people, to have conversations, to try to get messages out that may need to be gotten out in a certain way. I'm not sure exactly how to describe that feeling sometimes, but I look at it from both sides. There's a part of me that wants to be that conduit of information still. And then there's a part of me that, like you said, just wants to turn it off sometimes, and soak up family, and embrace the things that are important to us, and really give gratitude for what we have, because there was so much that people are dealing with right now who don't have. So it's a little bit of straddling sometimes.
Shirley Owens: I love that. So do you feel that being in that world, you're more able to kind of separate truth from just media hype and able to maybe have a calmer space because of it? I feel like that, my parents watched the news my whole life. 5:00 o'clock news, 10:00 o'clock news, and years and years growing up. And I remember it just being, like you said, it was just so much negativity, and death and destruction. So when I moved down to my house, I had decided that I would never watch the news again. And I managed to do that for like 20 years of raising kids and being on my own. It just wasn't something that I had any interest in. And I feel now, like you say, we have a voice, we're in the spotlight, we have to talk about these things, the good and the bad. So I'm trying to find that, what do I believe? What don't I believe? And then what is my place to even report on? And so trying to weed through all of this, and there's so much right now, there's not just one focus. There's like three or four different focuses right now to try to decide, what's the truth? What's media hype? And what's the purpose of everything that's going on?
Catherine Anaya: Well, I think you have to really cultivate your sources and decide by doing a little research, whether those are valid sources, and whether those sources fall in line with the way you believe in your value system. And there are some people who choose to watch, or listen to, or follow a certain person because that is in alignment with their views. It may not necessarily all be factual, but maybe particular people aren't interested in having all the facts. That's not how I function, that's not what I agree with. But unfortunately, fake news is a term that people are using quite often. And I still have brothers and sisters in the media, and I still consider myself a part of it. So I would implore people to please do your research and know where these quote unquote facts are coming from before you buy into something, because there is so much out there, like you said, anybody can get on social media and write whatever they want. And that's a scary thing. It's a scary thing right now because anybody can say whatever they want. We have to be really mindful about what we are giving our attention to, and we have a choice. We have a choice of who we want to follow, and nobody says we have to follow everybody on social media. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, don't follow.
“We have to be mindful about what we are giving our attention to. We have a choice of who we want to follow and who we don't. If that makes you feel uncomfortable, don't follow.” -Catherine Anaya
Shirley Owens: I agree. I think that's super huge. And I think that goes along with everything that we teach about being aligned with yourself and not allowing toxic relationships and all of that, that's also prevalent in my life right now. So I try to be really picky and choosy about that because I think it is super important.
Catherine Anaya: I think we realized that when we get older, so much that affects us. And from the inside out, how much that affects? How do we wake up every day? How do we go through every day? Our perceptions of reality. So we have to be very careful and create those borders and those limitations for ourselves.
Shirley Owens: So let's talk about that for a minute. You were in the limelight for a long time, a lot of years, you were rubbing shoulders with very famous people, and you were famous yourself on, you're on air, you were on the camera, people knew who you were. What were you like before that, was that a dream that you had? Was that something that you had always wanted to do until you finally did it? Or how did you get into that?
Catherine Anaya: Well, I initially started out wanting to be a print reporter. I always loved to write. A lot of people don't realize that the basic tenet of what we do, whether it's broadcast, radio, print journalism, is you love the art of writing, you love creativity, you love the word. So that was what I wanted to do. And it was in college that I started to pursue that. And then somebody suggested, maybe you should look at broadcast journalism. So that was how I was introduced. It was just a conversation with one of my daily Trojan editors, the newspaper for USC, where I went to college, and I was a reporter. And once I started researching it and really following the industry, took my first internship at a local news station in LA, they always say: "When the news bug bites, you're stuck." And it just hit me in a big way, and the light bulb just went off. I knew that was what I wanted to do for my career. So yes, it was a dream. It was a dream that I had, and it was something that I pursued very intently to make possible.
Shirley Owens: And very successfully.
Catherine Anaya: Yes, everybody's success is relative, but I would like to believe that it was successful because I achieved everything I wanted to achieve.
Shirley Owens: Yeah. So let's now talk about stepping out of it. Had you got to that place where it was no longer what you wanted, or whatever circumstance it was that had you stepped out of it? And how did you come to grips with that?
Catherine Anaya: Well, I didn't stop loving it, but I started getting pooled because my kids were older. My daughter will tell you that she feels like there were a number of years where she was raising herself. And my son, who is six years younger than her was at a really pivotal point when their father, my ex husband, passed away suddenly. So he was not quite 12. She was 18. She was getting ready to go to college and he was going to be by himself. And he was going to need a parent to be there full time. I couldn't parent from work anymore. It was becoming increasingly difficult. And I thought to myself, if I'm not there, I have a wonderful husband who will do his very best and has done his very best, but there needs to be somebody there to be there when he comes home and he doesn't have a good day, be there to take him to his grief counseling appointments and talk about it afterward. Sorry, I get so emotional. When you're a boy and you're faced with that situation at that age, I think you could go in any different direction. And so I wanted to make sure that I was present and able to raise him on the right path. It has had its challenges because overnight he had mom who was always working to now Mom is in my face and in my business.
Shirley Owens: And they loved that at that age,
Catherine Anaya: We've had our ups and downs. We still do, but I would not change that for the world.
Shirley Owens: I feel like that is so inspiring. I was able to stay home for a lot of years, and whenever I did try to step out and do something, there was a kid that was going through that, those exact years and stages. And I think that a lot of times in our society, women that step out of their careers to be home, they really kind of get a bad rap. And I feel like it was, it's so powerful, like we're raising another human in the world, we're creating something so beautiful. We already created them in our bodies, we are superhuman, we have super powers, and I love this conversation because seeing that you were powerful in the world, to be able to step into that power at home and know that it was where you needed to be, and you did it powerfully and happily. I feel like that's so inspiring for a lot of women because I know that, and even right now, I think there's a lot of change going on in the world because we're stepping out of this quarantine, maybe going back into the world, and I think some women that have been out in the world and haven't been other kids are getting a taste of what it feels like to actually be in that space. And I'm getting chills when I talk about that because this is super emotional for me too. And I just think that I didn't know that this is where this conversation was going to go today, but I would love for you to speak into that. I can imagine that you may have gone through some type of an emotional change during that time. And because I know that we feel so good when we're teaching, and leading, and in the limelight, and when you're at home, it really is selfless. It's a selfless job, and the rewards sometimes don't come for a lot of years. So speaking to that a little bit, maybe about what you went through as a woman coming from that world moving into this other world where you knew you needed to be.
Catherine Anaya: Right. Well, it's interesting because I knew that I would continue to work as an independent journalist in some capacity. I just didn't know what that looked like. I knew that I still had talents to offer. And I wanted to be able to do that, but I wanted to be able to do it at my pace so that my son would come first, that my family would come first. And so I think I've been able to do that the last five years in a very healthy way. He sees that I'm still working. He has seen me go off to work and come home, but he also has seen that I have had conversations with people that I have worked with. And for in these last five years where I've said, and this is before he was driving a course. I can work after I drop him off at school and before I have to pick him up in that timeframe, otherwise, I'm not available. That was really important for me to set those boundaries. Now that he's older and he's driving, he doesn't need me quite as much. So I've been able to be a little more flexible with my schedule, but I will never go back to full time working. Well, actually I shouldn't say never, never say never, but I don't have any desire to do that again. It is important for me to be here when my husband comes home from work, because we haven't seen each other all day, and that's important. So that was an easy adjustment to make to set my boundaries for myself, that's it.
You know what happened in the last 10 weeks, with COVID-19, I was furloughed. I'm still on furlough, and I have to tell you, I initially went through a period of feeling really down, but one of the strengths I have I think is that I'm able to pivot and adjust pretty quickly. So I immediately got myself out of that funk and I said, okay, I still have a voice. I still want to have conversations with people in this crisis. How are you dealing with it? How are you pivoting? What are some of the feelings you're having? How are you doing at home? How are you doing as a woman who's working from home and also homeschooling. So I created Conversations With Catherine, which is a YouTube series that I do, which you were a guest, and it's given me a purpose during this situation to still continue to use my talents. But again, I don't do this every day. I strategize it so that I have a couple of days during the week where I can just self care, where I can take advantage of the slow pace that we have been given. I know we've talked about this before. It has been difficult for so many people, myself included, in much smaller ways than a lot of other people, but I don't have an income, a regular income. That's been difficult for me because I have worked my entire life. And so to rely on somebody else for everything internally is not easy for me. But on the other hand, I am looking around and giving gratitude for all the things that I prayed for to be able to do that I never had time for. So it's funny that you asked that question because my daughter's here, she's 23 years old, she has her whole career in Northern California, but because she's able to work at home during this COVID-19 crisis, because she can't go to the office, she can really work from wherever. So she came home a couple of weeks ago, and I had the best time with her. We work all day, but we're in the same space. We do puzzles, we made today, we make a date at 2:00 o'clock, we're hitting the pool, we do take dog videos together. You know, this is valuable time for me with both of them, but more so with her because now that he's able to actually get out of the house, he doesn't want to hang around here. He's 17 years old, by the way. So I remember when I was 17, I was explaining to my mom last night, I didn't want to hang out with you when I was 17. Why should I expect him to want to hang out with me? Especially because he did break weeks. But anyhow, I fell asleep last night thinking, why do I have to do any of this? Why can't I just be okay with just being. It's not who I am. I realize that it's not in my DNA, but I'm becoming, I'm trying to become more and more comfortable with being okay with that. So last night I fell asleep thinking I'm just going to just chill out and enjoy whatever amount of time I have with my daughter and my son here. Then I woke up this morning and there were three pivotal interviews that were put in front of me.
Shirley Owens: Wow.
Catherine Anaya: Very important interviews. And so I thought, well, clearly God is telling me the time is not for you to completely turn away from it. Maybe it'll be a year from now, two years from now, but I think that whenever it happens, I will be okay with it because I'm practicing being okay with it in small steps.
Shirley Owens: Well, it's funny because I feel like we're in the same place. My almost 17 year old son, he'll be 17 in a month. When we first went into this, I felt fully equipped to handle it. I love being home. I love being with my kids. I've done a lot of my work online anyway. And the only difference was like, I was on a show in New York that was live in New York, but I didn't have to fly out there. And then they went to Florida to do the show, it was just kind of a funny thing because everything kind of shifted, but I was like, this is great. And even when I was on your show, I think we talked about the beautiful chaos and how wonderful it was. And my son has just been playing video games, playing his guitar, learning music on the piano. He's just like, this is the best life ever, no school, he can still communicate with his friends via headphones. But the last month, I would say the last few weeks, I've actually been feeling it. We've given up four trips, my husband comes home from the hospital and we have time together, but usually he had a really rough day and I want to talk a lot, you know? And I know we had also discussed this on your show, how being at home, it's hard because he comes home and I'm just like a jabber. I want to tell him everything that went on in my day, about all my interviews, about this and that. And then he's just like, ah, I just want to go to sleep. So we've really deliberately had to take time to do fun things together. I wouldn't say like, we don't spend time together, but like to do fun things together. I ordered this Hunt a Killer box and it's just like an escape room in a box. It comes every month. And I got a year, I thought I got a good deal in a year. We'll just make this our monthly date night. And last night we finally pulled it out. It's been a month since we've had it. So he hasn't been very excited. He seemed to just sound like so much work.
The three of us were home alone last night. So I went and asked my son and I'm like, I'm just going to ask him because I want them to feel like I want to be with him. He'll probably say, no, but I'm going to invite him anyway. And for the first time, he was just like: "Sure, that sounds like so much fun, Mom, I'll help you get snacks ready? Let's do this." And I thought, how weird is it that he wants to spend time with us? He's like, I don't want to get the coronavirus, I'm not coming out of my room. So he's just been just camping for so long, but it was just really fun because I think that I wanted to do it because I had paid for it. My husband wanted to do it because he felt bad that he hadn't done it. And then my son was just like: "I just want to hang out with you guys." We ended up having the best time together, but I've also gone through this. I was gonna pause my podcast for a few weeks and just stay home. I have grandbabies living here and all my kids, have 10 of us in the house, and I thought this would be the perfect time to just be without doing anything, just be here. And the same thing happened. All of a sudden I had all these requests for interviews and requests to be on my show. And I'm like, something's telling me I can't do this. And now at the end of this, I'm kind of seeing why? When you have a message, and you have something to say, and you have something to help the world, and I wouldn't be able to have you on my show if I was paused, and your inspiration and other people, and I think that those of us who have a voice in the world, and it's positive, and it's inspirational, and it can help someone get out of some kind of a low that they're in. I think it's so important that we are still here, but with boundaries, which is something else that we can show people that they can do. And I do the same thing. I only do interviews two days a week.
“Those of us who have a voice in the world- it's so important that we are still here but with boundaries, which is something that we can show people that they can do. -Shirley Owens
Catherine Anaya: Well, two things. Number one, I think the reason why I started feeling that way this week is because we have been asked not to push out our own personal content, and to really listen to the conversations that are happening about racial injustice, and to learn, and to educate, and to use our platforms, to shine a light on the movement and the people behind it, and the conversations are happening, the education. And so it's been a very positive learning experience for me. I've seen some sides of people that have had me conflicted. But for the most part, I think I felt like, you know what? It's okay for me to not be speaking right now. I think that's what made me think last night that maybe I don't need to speak as much as I think I do. And like I said, I got up this morning and there were these three interview possibilities. So I thought, okay, well maybe I'm not supposed to speak as often.
Shirley Owens: Yeah. Or maybe not your idea. Maybe, I think sometimes we do need to listen more. I know I need to listen more. You want to help or you want to change something. I have experienced just letting me help, and I know I'm not for right now. My voice would just be so confusing because I see something and I'm like, Oh, I see that side of it. Then I see something else that I'm like, wait, but I see that side of it. I don't even know what side so I'm just not taking a side. I'm just listening and being.
Catherine Anaya: I think that's what I love about what I've learned this week. Yes, I want to be part of the conversation, but I don't need to be the one necessarily leading it.
“I want to be part of the conversation. But I don't need to be the one necessarily leading it.” -Catherine Anaya
Shirley Owens: Yes. Which is probably huge for you.
Catherine Anaya: Yes. So it's a very good feeling to be able to come to that understanding within myself. The other conflict I have, and you tell me that you have it as well, is that I'm so now attached to what I've come to appreciate in the last 10 weeks, that I have mixed emotions about going back out into the real world. And when I say that, it doesn't mean that I haven't been out, but I'm talking about back to the routines that I used to have, whether that looks like going to a restaurant with a mask on, or going to an empty restaurant. I don't want any part of that right now. And I don't even want to give up my time with my family the way I have them right now to go hang out with friends because I may never get this again. She's going back to work in her life, eventually. He's going to be going off to college next year. This will never happen like this again.
Shirley Owens: Yeah. I have chills with you talking about this because, yes, I want to put everybody else on hold. Put the 'do not disturb' sign on. Yeah, I actually have, this is going to sound really funny, but I've gone to like five stores in four months. I'm not ready either. And I don't know, I think that as much of an adjustment as the world has had coming into this, I believe we're going to have just as much of an adjustment coming out of it.
“As much of an adjustment as the world has had coming INTO this, we're going to have just as much of an adjustment coming OUT of this.” -Shirley Owens
Catherine Anaya: Yes. I had a conversation briefly with a Transformational Coach the other day and she was talking about, we had all of this anxiety when it first started in letting go of everything that was normal to us. We adjusted, and we got used to the new normal here at home. Now we're being asked to go through it again and give up what we're created to go back into something that we don't even know what that looks like anymore. It's just very disconcerting sometimes.
Shirley Owens: I'm right there with you, and my son going into his senior year, I'm just like, wait, I've just loved having him home. We hang out, and we've had the best talks, and I just, yeah, I don't want him to leave. And he's like, mom, I saw three more months of summer, it's fine. But I'm like, but you're going to, you're driving yourself to school, and you're going to, you know, it just, yeah. I want everything to just slow down. My daughter's moving out next week because their house is finally done so I don't have those grandbabies jumping in my bed and I'm like, we not all leave at the same time. And I just slowly got used to this, slowly got used to being home all the time, but yeah.
Catherine Anaya: We've gotten used to this slower pace. I don't want to go back to the fast pace that I had before, I don't. Believe me, we were busy all the time. Every weekend we had something going on, I don't want that anymore. And so it's going to be a bit of a tap dance I think for awhile, figuring out how we're going to make this work for who we are now, because I personally don't feel like I'm the same person I was, 10 weeks ago.
Shirley Owens: For sure. For sure. I'm right there with you. And I really hope that the world, what's going on right now is just kind of hyping up things again. But I feel like I really hope that the world slows down and appreciates it. I hope that there's more people besides you and I are like, we're not leaving. I walked to my mailbox, that's it. I don't know that I'll ever go back to being super busy again. I don't want to leave.
Catherine Anaya: I agree. Life is too short. You just have to do what truly makes you happy. And I know we've said that for years, but I think we finally discovered it, like truly at its core.
“Life is too short. You just have to do what truly makes you happy- We've said that for years but I think we finally discovered it truly at its core.” -Catherine Anaya
Shirley Owens: Yes. And I think the busy takes away from our self discovery anyway, like the noise of all the busy days. We really don't have time to sit in it and enjoy, actually figuring out what it is that we love. And so I think this has been a time of deep self learning and growing. And so I'm right there with you. This is so great. I wish we could just have a private beach outside that we could all just, any of us can just go meet at.
Catherine Anaya: That would be nice.
Shirley Owens: Tell me about what you're doing now, your two shows, you have a podcast and a TV show.
Catherine Anaya: My Home Group TV is on furlough. I'm really not positive that I will even return. So I have pivoted to Conversations with Catherine via Zoom, which are conversations that really sprung out of what was happening with COVID-19 and how people were dealing with it in a positive way. I really wanted my conversations to be positive. And this week, I did have one conversation that was actually part of my podcast too, with someone where we did talk about sports and social justice, because I did want to talk about current events and not just ignore them. But that was really the only interview I did this week. I really wanted to stay quiet, and believe me, there were days where I thought I wanted to do this conversation and this, relating to this, and then I really dug deep. And I thought, you know, like we talked about, maybe my voice isn't the one that needs to be out there right now, and I shut it down. So moving forward, I think I'd still like to stay with that, and continue with those positive conversations about just life, not just with the nonprofits and how you're pivoting in businesses, but life, like we talked about, relationships and how they've evolved in the last 10 weeks. And I was talking to the Transformational Coach about how you get back into the real world when the world has changed for you both internally and externally. So I really love having those conversations. I think they are empowering a lot of times. I also have the podcast, which I host. However, we may do four episodes every quarter. So we're kind of on hiatus I think for the next couple of months. I just finished my last one the other day so I'm just kind of in a local situation right now, I'll continue with the Conversations with Catherine YouTube series, for sure. Where that goes, I'm sure. We'll just have to see. [inaudible] although now they're virtual, that's changed too. So that's a lot of what that looks like. It's going to change for me too, so I'm not sure. I'm not sure, I'm remaining open and positive to wherever this takes me, even if I fell asleep thinking last night, even if it means that I do nothing, that's going to be so hard for me.
Shirley Owens: It is. But then do you sometimes think, I wonder what it would feel like, because it seems like sometimes we're doing something and it's not maybe what we're wanting to be doing at the time, or we're just busy. And because I said to my daughter yesterday, I was like, I wonder what that would feel like to just not have anything to do, not feel pressure to get something done, or to edit something, or to speak somewhere. I do feel like I have a very blessed life and I don't have to do anything, but yeah, to not feel that maybe, just to not feel that I have anything to say, I love that.
Catherine Anaya: Well, I think as long as my daughter's here, I'm going to feel that way and feel good about it. I don't know what I'm going to do. I mean, my son lives here, but he plays lacrosse, and he has his friends, and he drives the car, and he'll be a senior and has his own thing. So it'll be interesting. It's a learning process for sure.
Shirley Owens: We'll have to have another conversation because I think they're leaving at the same time.
Catherine Anaya: Well, definitely.
Shirley Owens: Yeah, we just need to figure it out. We'll do that.
Catherine Anaya: We might have to figure out how to weave in a cocktail.
Shirley Owens: Yeah. Leave our house and drive somewhere. I don't know a little about anxiety. So if you were to give one piece of advice to our listeners today about maybe what you've learned over the last, I mean, you've learned a lot, you've grown a lot it sounds over the last so many years, but what is one thing that you would offer to somebody who might just be struggling right now with anything. I think we have, everyone has different struggles that we're all kind of in it together. What would be something that you could say to help them to get what they want? Whether it be going back to work, or staying home, or creating something new for themselves.
Catherine Anaya: Well, I think first of all, you have to have the ability to pivot. And I think sometimes we second guess ourselves and we look at whatever situation is presented to us. In my case of furlough, you sometimes get wrapped up in what we do as being our purpose. We're so much more than that. So I think it's sometimes taking a moment to just think about what my gifts are and really tapping into that and not allowing the situation to define who you are. So what are your contributions to the world? How can you tap into that and create something for yourself to be able to continue to use those? The other thing is to go with your instinct. So this week, my gut told me not to speak and I feel so good about that decision. I don't know what's going to happen with my future and my livelihood, but I also have faith. And I think faith is really important too, because you just have to know that you didn't get where you are by accident. You got where you are because you're smart, you're talented, you have something to offer the world. So whatever that looked like, and it's changing now because God has a different purpose. I think we all have a purpose. It just takes us down different roads to discovering what that is. And sometimes we have a purpose for a certain amount of time and then it's time to discover a new purpose for a new time. Maybe that's what's happening to me, but I think that's probably what's happening to a lot of people. We've been awakened in a very uncomfortable kind of way, but we're also learning to adapt and discover new things about ourselves. And I don't know, I don't remember who I was talking to. Somebody said: "We may come out of this discovery that we have been doing something that we didn't even like doing and decide to do something completely different, and that's okay."
“You didn't get to where you are by accident, you got to where you are because you're smart, you're talented, and you have something to offer the world.” -Catherine Anaya
Shirley Owens: Yeah. That's beautiful. Thank you. I felt that there are a lot of people that are going to be in that place from my understanding, there's a lot of people. The one question that I always ask my guests is, if you could go back and do something differently, or is there a regret that you have, what would that be?
Catherine Anaya: I was thinking about that just the other day. I probably have a number of small regrets, but in the big picture, I don't think anything that I've done has been a mistake. I just think that earlier in my career, I didn't have a lot of women mentors. They just were not available. It's not like it is now where women are always willing to offer a hand to other women, it's just, I love the way that has evolved in the last five, 10 years when I was starting out, that was not the case. There was a lot of competition, and I really could've used a strong female mentor in my career because there were some missteps that I made that I think if I would've had somebody to hold my hand and guide me a little bit, maybe I wouldn't have made it. So I think that I was too young to really go after those mentors, female mentors. But I also think that they weren't in abundance like they are now.
Shirley Owens: For sure. I think the women didn't know they could be.
Catherine Anaya: Yes, probably a lot to that too. Yeah. I know myself, I think we were conditioned that we needed to fight for every job that we got and then we needed to protect it because who's behind it trying to take it. And I don't really see that anymore. And that's very, very refreshing.
Shirley Owens: I feel like we're kind of all here to help each other, and it is such a much more enjoyable place to be, for sure.
Catherine Anaya: it is.
Shirley Owens: I feel super blessed that you came on my show, especially in the situation of you not wanting to necessarily be the voice or whatever, but you actually were such a powerful voice today.
Catherine Anaya: Well, thank you. Because I feel you were going to message me and say, can we postpone this for another time. And when you did, and I thought, okay, well.
Shirley Owens: I'm on there.
Catherine Anaya: I'm good with that.
Shirley Owens: It's just so funny because I really didn't know what it was that we're going to talk about today. And I just feel like the message was super powerful, and you're just amazing and wonderful. I'm so glad to know you, so thank you.
Catherine Anaya: Thank you. I feel the same because you actually tapped into a lot of the thoughts that I was having this week. So it's interesting that now it's Friday and you are having conversations with me that I was having conversations with myself about.
Shirley Owens: Tell us how we can listen to Conversations with Catherine.
Catherine Anaya: Yes. So Conversations with Catherine is on my YouTube channel, so please go there and subscribe, it's at Catherine Anaya, and then I'm all over social media. I make it really easy for people. And my website is catherineanaya.com. The podcast does not have my name, it's called The Women's Eye Podcast, you can find that on iTunes, Spotify, and Stitcher.
Shirley Owens: I will have all those links on my website and show notes as well. So thank you so much.
Catherine Anaya: Good to talk to you. So good to meet you first place because you were on an episode of Conversations with Catherine, I appreciate that. And I hope that when we both get over our anxiety about getting to the other side of this, that we can have a cocktail at some point.
Shirley Owens: All right, I will talk to you soon. Thank you so much.
Catherine Anaya: All right. Take care.
Shirley Owens: You too.
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