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Join Mel and guest, Catherine Grace O'Connell as she teaches you how to unleash your inner light. Catherine has embraced the journey of positive aging and finds her greatest joy in sharing her experiences. From battling near-death experiences to uplifting others with her empowering community, Catherine’s transformative journey will inspire you to create your own legacy of love, light, and authenticity.
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0:00
[Music]
0:06
hello everyone welcome to another
0:09
episode of life uncored and this week's
0:11
segment of your story aging like a fine
0:15
wine I'm really excited this week to
0:18
have a very dear friend Katherine Grace
0:21
oconnell welcome thank you so much I'm
0:25
delighted to be with you it's wonderful
0:28
to be on uncor and to talk about
0:30
anything related to you know positive
0:33
aging is right up my alley you've
0:35
created such a beautiful Sisterhood and
0:38
Community both um all across all social
0:41
platforms and I think that you sort of
0:44
set the tone for positive engagement
0:47
with everybody and connection and and
0:50
Community which we need so much now so
0:52
to that end thank you thank you cheers
0:55
Beauty to that yeah I I I mean that's
0:58
what we need right and that's what
1:00
uplifts us and I have to say when I
1:02
started it was summer of 2015 when I
1:05
started on social media there was
1:06
nothing like there was no Community
1:08
there was um nobody really lighting the
1:11
way for others it was it was hard to
1:13
join at that age without other people
1:16
saying hey let me you know share these
1:19
things with you let me you know connect
1:21
you with other people so I decided if
1:22
somebody else wasn't going to do it I
1:24
would do it and I didn't have a tribe so
1:27
I thought hey why not create one and you
1:29
n nurture it both just your spirit who
1:32
you are but encouraging everyone to
1:35
connect within your community which I
1:37
think is explains its longevity and its
1:39
strength and its growth but you just
1:41
said that started in 2015 roughly and as
1:46
I recall it's been about not quite a
1:49
decade you went through a life altering
1:51
experience and that's a huge part of
1:53
your story and I suspect what brought
1:55
you here will you share that with us
1:57
sure so it wasn't that long with report
2:00
was 111114 when I had a near-death
2:03
experience and um from late stage lime
2:05
disease I had been diagnosed the spring
2:08
before that so it happened really fast
2:10
and I was finally diagnosed by Spring in
2:13
March of 2014 positive lime test started
2:16
going under treatment which meant
2:18
massive doses of antibiotics by summer
2:21
my organs started shutting down
2:23
September in Cedar SI lastes and you
2:26
know near-death experience so it was it
2:29
happened really really fast and the
2:32
truth is I thought I was ready to go I
2:35
really I have no problem up there I'm
2:37
like okay it's pretty cool there you
2:39
guys are there's the angels and all that
2:41
I can hang up there down here you humans
2:43
are pretty nasty I mean I just like was
2:45
like I had suffered greatly and um the
2:49
only thing keeping me here were my kids
2:51
and other than that I really couldn't
2:53
think of any reason to be here so I was
2:56
pretty shocked to have survived it cuz I
2:59
really thought okay it's my time to go
3:02
but again it was at least from a
3:03
conscious standpoint it was my kids
3:05
keeping me here and once I made that
3:07
decision I also sat there thinking okay
3:10
there's obviously a bigger purpose for
3:12
me to be here I don't know what it is
3:14
but I'm going to start living my life
3:17
differently and I'm going to start
3:19
following the breadcrumbs the universe
3:21
lays in front of me and start trusting
3:24
that there's a bigger purpose for me to
3:26
be here than just you know little old me
3:28
to be you know pummeled around um
3:31
through trauma and abuse I thought well
3:33
let's let's see what this brings it's
3:35
actually one of the things I get more
3:36
questions on than anything I actually
3:38
had a post go viral recently about my
3:40
near-death experience in 114 a lot of
3:42
people either with chronic illness or
3:44
depression um they shared all kinds of
3:46
things and asking how do you do this
3:49
right I mean no matter what we're going
3:51
through if we want to change our reality
3:53
it feels like we're stuck right it
3:56
starts in here it's so important to
3:59
really look at what we're telling
4:01
ourselves you know um I know for me it
4:04
was I was so filled with negativity not
4:08
about anybody else so nobody would know
4:10
that but it was all about me in I find
4:13
that so hard to believe because as I
4:15
know you and clearly it's the work that
4:17
you've done you are the most positive
4:20
most inspiring most open person you
4:23
really do want everyone to succeed I
4:26
always had this poly positivity on the
4:28
outside while I was literally dying on
4:30
the inside cuz I'd stuffed it all in and
4:34
I'd been told so many horrible things
4:36
about myself for so long and when you
4:39
have really leaky boundaries all that
4:42
stuff starts seeping inside and over
4:44
time it becomes very confusing so it
4:46
took a lot to um go in and take
4:50
responsibility for that not for what was
4:52
done to me but basically for what I took
4:55
it to mean about me and that's really
4:58
where the work is not what happens to us
5:01
it's the stories we wrap around what
5:03
happens to us and we end up over time
5:06
believing it there's so much to unravel
5:09
to get back to a point where you truly
5:11
believe in yourself what inspires you to
5:13
keep going and to keep making this
5:15
positive impact in your world and
5:18
certainly in ours what keeps me um
5:21
moving forward on this sort of positive
5:23
trajectory is that I feel so good and I
5:26
know I'm 62 years young and I have many
5:30
days that I really feel like a
5:32
20-year-old um you know not every day
5:34
certainly but I I really have this
5:37
youthful spirit inside of me that is
5:40
just like let's
5:42
go you know what can we do now what can
5:44
we how can I make this world you know a
5:48
better place you do walk your talk every
5:51
thank you so much thank you so much and
5:53
and honestly let's be real being a human
5:56
being is really hard it's really hard
5:59
there's a a lot of really rough stuff
6:01
going on right now the antidote to that
6:03
is light and Love and You Know touching
6:08
people's hearts and opening your heart
6:10
right so and it's really not hard yeah
6:14
but it's it's it's so there and it's
6:17
right in front of us and yet we make it
6:18
hard by not just doing the steps one
6:22
step at a time and maybe it's the fact
6:24
that you went through what you went
6:25
through and you weren't hit with it all
6:28
at once and to get out of that Darkness
6:30
you had to just put one foot in front of
6:31
the other and it is those little steps
6:34
that got you moving and keep you going
6:37
the trick is to catch yourself before
6:39
you get in too deep when it's really
6:41
hard to get out um but again it's just
6:43
important to share our stories so we can
6:46
be vulnerable we can give others
6:48
permission also to say hey I'm over here
6:51
I'm hurting I'm in the mock help me
6:54
right Catherine how do you want to be
6:56
remembered I suppose a legacy of love
7:00
and light and positivity and
7:02
authenticity and vulnerability you know
7:06
uh all of those things I think they're
7:08
all connected compassion empathy those
7:11
are qualities qualities that I um I want
7:15
to embody it's a beautiful Legacy to
7:19
consider and I I would say you are well
7:21
on your way to establishing that what's
7:24
next for you I'm going to work on my
7:25
book I just put my ebook out and it's
7:28
actually really good so if you sign up
7:30
for my 30-day challenge you get my ebook
7:32
um that is becoming ageless um in mind
7:34
body and spirit so it's all obviously
7:37
the same theme but I'm going to be
7:38
working on my book and ideally fingers
7:42
crossed that I will be landing a TED
7:43
talk and then I have a couple challenges
7:45
I want to do a 10day uh silent
7:48
meditation I've never done that I don't
7:50
know Vish Vish Pasha is a special
7:52
meditation where you go somewhere you
7:54
meditate 10 hours a day no phones no
7:56
speaking 10 days they say it's profound
8:00
and your whole experience when you go
8:02
back into the world when you have
8:04
disconnected you're not allowed to bring
8:06
a phone like nothing goes with you I
8:08
know it's really challenging from what
8:10
they say but I also um it's a real deep
8:12
desire of mine to experience that and to
8:15
get myself you know sort of to the next
8:18
vibrational level I have a big challenge
8:20
that I may be doing it's more of a
8:22
physical challenge this year I'll let
8:24
you know how can we connect with you
8:26
where can we uh find out about all your
8:28
challenges and what's next for you sure
8:32
and my 30-day challenge is free
8:34
completely free so um you can find me on
8:36
Instagram at Katherine Gro if you Google
8:39
Katherine grao you can find me anywhere
8:41
I'm on Facebook as well I also have a
8:43
face Facebook Community which we know
8:45
you're part of which is wonderful it's
8:47
forever Fierce midlife matters and then
8:49
I've got my blog Katherine grao I'm on
8:52
Tik Tok I'm pretty much everywhere but I
8:54
honestly on Instagram I respond to all
8:56
my messages well we thank you so much
8:58
for joining us today and sharing your
9:00
story and and something you said earlier
9:02
really struck me your ability and
9:05
willingness to be vulnerable especially
9:08
in a media driven world and social media
9:10
you know there's always that grass is
9:11
greener and why isn't my life perfect
9:13
and and people can look at you and think
9:15
you have this perfect world and look how
9:16
beautiful you are and here you are 62
9:18
doing all these things life is perfect
9:20
no it's not and you're you walk in that
9:23
you honor that and you honor that those
9:25
imperfections so beautifully to bring it
9:27
down and dial it down for us that you
9:30
know it's okay to work through
9:32
everything and and actually there's
9:33
strength and power in that that's the
9:35
beauty and that's how we grow and if you
9:36
look at this this is why we're in a Tik
9:38
Tock world right now these youngsters
9:40
they don't want a perfectly Shiny World
9:43
they want people really opening up and
9:45
you know speaking from their hearts and
9:47
sharing the muck and the mess because
9:49
we're all experiencing it yeah so that
9:52
really is what connects us and if you
9:54
look at a vibrational scale the highest
9:57
vibration out there is authenticity
9:59
vulnerability and authenticity are hand
10:01
inand so if you really want to vibrate
10:03
at a high level you know bring your
10:05
guard down and um you know obviously
10:08
share when you're ready but it's really
10:10
important to share the mck and the mess
10:13
yeah I thank you so much for joining us
10:15
today we'll be watching you to see what
10:17
is next and staying up with you
10:19
everybody thank you take care stay safe
10:22
thank you for having me
10:24
[Music]
10:29
oh
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[Music]
#Aging & Geriatrics
#Seniors & Retirement
#Self-Help & Motivational