Kate Bown and I first met back in our teens when we worked as casual retail assistants in a local Hobart outdoor store. Since then we have both been on huge journeys, with Kate's being one of a heroine leaning into adversity and coming out the other side flourishing.
At 27 year's of age, having lived an incredibly active, healthy lifestyle as a young adult and with an impressive elite climbing career behind her, Kate began to develop severe headaches, only to find out that she had a large and aggressive brain tumour. Within 3 days she was wheeled into theatre and facing a whole new wall to climb.
With the support of her husband, Anders, an equally well credentialed individual and anaesthetist, Kate not only recovered with only a mild facial palsy, double vision and balance challenges, but found herself pregnant with their first child just nine months later. Leaning into this unexpected challenge, Kate and Anders adopted the lifestyle that they dreamed of living - spending time in the mountains with each of their 3 children soon after they were born. From overnight hiking to recently buying a tiny camper van to trip around Australia, Anders and Kate do not see parenthood as a reason to stop doing what they love the most.
I am blessed to now have Kate working in our team at Find Your Feet and it is her positivity that had me reaching out to her for this podcast episode. I know you are going to love her and find inspiration in her story!
I hope you enjoy this episode! I know that what I am taking away from it is that we all have challenges... they are part of our human experience. However, when they strike we have two choices - to lean in or to lean away. As Kate shows us, leaning in provides an opportunity for substantial personal growth, connection and reward. As a mother, she is still continuing to explore the things she loves the most and this is a great lesson for me that no matter how full or chaotic life can be, we must still all pursue and be grateful for the things we love the most in life.
