Let Them Shape You w/ Kate Lowpensky

Welcome back to another episode of the Happy Healthy Hustle podcast. Here we are, and we are actually moving into the two year anniversary of my podcast. I’m super thrilled and I have a super special guest. My name is Dr. Christiane Schroeter and I’m the host of this podcast. And why don’t we have our guest introduce herself? Welcome. Kate: Hi. This is so exciting for me because I host a podcast as well that you were a guest on, and I’ve never been the guest on a podcast before, so this is a first for me and I’m very excited. My name is Kate Lowpensky. I’m a graduating senior at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. I’m graduating in two weeks. And I’m a journalism student and I also have so many jobs and other things going on as well. I met Christiane through her barre classes that she teaches, and I’m there every Tuesday and Thursday as a faithful student. Dr. Christiane: Thank you, Kate. It’s kind of like a graduating gift for you, majoring in this area. You already hinted that you lead a busy life, so let’s get started with the first question. What is your superpower, Kate? Kate: I asked my friends and family just to confirm, and I would say in one word, my superpower is my determination, because no matter how much I have on my plate, I have passions and I wanna pursue them. I’m never willing to back down. Dr. Christiane: I love that word determination. Tying in with resilience and grit and really having that focus. Kate: Yeah, and my major allows for a lot of creativity and ability to pursue your passion. So I was able to add on two minors. I’m minoring in Italian studies and religious studies. I just get to learn about everything, which is really cool.

Dr. Christiane: Not just one minor, but two. Kate: I love learning. When I was in middle school, I definitely got made fun of for that. It was more so like, I just wanted to be there. I like learning new things. It has always been that way. Dr. Christiane: What was the biggest challenge when you look back? Kate: I hate calling it being a people pleaser, but I just wanna make sure that everyone’s happy, sacrificing my own happiness for other people’s feelings. And like almost every other 12, 13-year-old girl, I faced my fair share of middle school drama and then high school drama with a friend group. There were days that I didn’t wanna go to school because of things being said about me behind my back. It was a really interesting part of my life, but it made me who I am today. And also, I struggled a lot with self-confidence. I was never like the beautiful swan when I was younger. I was more so an ugly duckling situation. I had braces, I had acne. It was the whole shebang. But then I’ve learned to grow into myself and become more confident in who I am. Confidence is something that everyone pretty much struggles with. I’ve never met one person who’s absolutely secure in who they are. It takes time and learning and surrounding yourself with people that accept you for who you are, and then you can accept yourself for who you are as well. Dr. Christiane: I love that attitude. You’re better because there were some moments in my life that were really bitter.

Dr. Christiane: You’re better because things were bitter. And the other aspect I really want to point out is that you looked at things like they were there for a reason. They happened and they were there to path the way forward. This happened for me, and now I am looking at this as something that shaped who I am today. Kate: Absolutely. I don’t regret anything for the world. And can I just say, the way that I’m being so vulnerable right now, this is not something that I’ve just come out and said. So thanks for creating this environment. I feel like I can just talk to you, which is great. Dr. Christiane: By sharing who you authentically are, we all kind of feel like, oh yeah, I have experienced that too. Middle school was not fun for myself either. Kate: You have daughters around that age now, right? Any advice I can give to them. I have this younger cousin, and during all of that I was just like, it’s gonna get better, I promise. I didn’t really hit my stride until end of high school, got into college, so it just comes with patience. Dr. Christiane: It’s good to think about the experience you make as a learning moment, because you don’t wanna do the same things over and over again. That was my first attempt in learning something, and maybe next time I’m going to do it a little bit differently.

Dr. Christiane: So that you’re actually growing up. Your second time will be more educated because you figured it out. Sometimes you have a group of friends that might not be ideal and you’re learning something from it. Kate: But honestly, when it comes to those people, no bad blood. As your girl Taylor Swift would say, we don’t have any bad blood. It’s moving on, and I hope that everyone is doing well now because let’s face it, we were all insecure and weird in middle school. I don’t know why I keep talking about middle school. You asking me that question kind of probed me to think, where was that pivotal time in your life? And I think it was then. I kind of had that realization again my freshman year of college too. Moving away from high school, because I was a little bit shyer. I tell people I was shy back in high school and they were like, what? But I went into college saying, you can challenge yourself to meet new people and get involved in things and be a part of things that you would never expect yourself to be. The fact that I host a podcast, I work for a music festival company now where I’m constantly having to talk to people. It’s been an amazing experience, and I’m still my same self at my core, but I’m so much prouder of the person that I am today. Dr. Christiane: You just have to step into yourself. And there’s something I wanted to share with the audience that you created in your mind.

Dr. Christiane: You call it Christiane Bingo. Share with us, what is Christiane Bingo? Kate: I love going to your workout classes, because it’s just a way for me to step out of my busy life. But to keep myself entertained, I invented Christiane Bingo because you bring up the same themes every single class. As of recently, it’s been your daughters, Valentine’s Day, the color pink, Taylor Swift, sparkles, glitter. And I love it. It’s so fun. Dr. Christiane: And those themes help you push past any pain points? Kate: They do. Because sometimes it’s easy, when you’re in a workout class, to disassociate the instructor from being a real human being. And the fact that you talk about your life and what you’re interested in makes me come back for more. Every time I come to one of your classes, I get to learn more about Christiane. Dr. Christiane: And I actually build stories where I say, this is what I’m doing on the weekend. If you

wanna know how it ended up being, come back on Tuesday so you have something to look forward to. Kate: That’s why you’re an author. You’re a storyteller. Dr. Christiane: My new book, which is called The Petite Practice Planner, my trademarked small micro habits. We’re gonna share how Christiane Bingo could be a habit that you could all build. So what or who helped you come over these struggles? What was the catalyst that really got you out of this? Kate: I would absolutely say my parents. Every time I was insecure with myself, they were right behind me, backing me through everything. They have always encouraged me to be my true, authentic self. Even when it was embarrassing, I was a total theater kid in middle school. I would go on stage, wear my costumes and do my thing. I wasn’t good necessarily, but they were in the audience cheering for me every time. And when I decided to go the more athletic route and do high school sports, they’d be in the crowds again, cheering me on. Every time I doubt myself, I’ll have my panic attacks. I’ll be walking home from class and my person is my mom, I’ll call her. She’s very like, let’s make a list, let’s prioritize things and get them done in order. And then my dad is just the most fun person ever and so proud to be my dad. Just having them as my constant support system. Being an only child, I’ve had to rely on them very deeply for that kind of emotional support. And they’ve done more than a good job. Dr. Christiane: Oh, I love that. And it’s such a great way to wrap up the podcast episode too. How can we stay in touch with you? Where could we find you, Kate? Kate: I feel like I’m most active on my Instagram. It’s at katelowpensky.

Kate: You can put it in the link, because I have a long last name. I’m outta here, so anything that I’m doing at Cal Poly right now, I’m kind of closing those chapters and moving on. And honestly, I don’t know what’s next. I could be staying in California, I might be moving to Italy. There’s so many different possibilities. So to sum it up, you can’t find me in one place. You can watch me go wherever I am. I’m just going to keep exploring who I am and who I’m meant to be and keep growing into myself, and of course continue being inspired by amazing people like my parents and my friends and you. Dr. Christiane: Love it. I wanted to point out two different things. One, we can do a part two to this and we are going to label it, catching up with Kate. Kate: We can absolutely do that. Let’s do that after I graduate, when I’m working two or three jobs and figuring that all out. Dr. Christiane: And the second thing is my new book, Discover Your Superpower. That could be something that all of us might need. Superpowers. We tap into superpowers, we discover. I’m already telling you it might be one of my absolute favorite books that I ever wrote. Kate: I’m excited too. Dr. Christiane: We always feel we are growing, we are learning. And it sounds like this might be the overarching theme here for today, that life is a learning journey. We just need to be aware about that and stay open to possibilities and just go for it. I so appreciate having you on this podcast episode here today.

Dr. Christiane: Kate, thank you so much. Kate: Thanks for making me reflect on everything. I was really back in my psyche there. We got deep in a short amount of time. Dr. Christiane: And to the audience, if you have not reflected yet on what your superpower is or your defining moment in your life, was that middle school, was it high school? I would love to learn. Share that with me in the comments. Reach out with an email. If there was something that really resonated with you today, I would love to hear that. Otherwise, stay tuned for the next episode. Happy Healthy Hustle. I’m your host, Dr. Christiane Schroeter, and I can’t wait to connect more. Thank you.