Kathy Dempsey Episode - Shedding 2020

Kathy shares unique insights on SHEDDING 2020, and gives us a vulnerable look at the many ways she has repeatedly had to reclaim her own worthiness.  

To begin, she shares the story of a life-alternating diagnosis that led her to an incident in the late 80s where she experienced a blood-to-cut-exposure as a trauma nurse, resulting in her later testing HIV positive.

During this time, HIV was a death sentence. She was quickly taken off her job for fears of transmitting to others.  Even her friends and people at church were all afraid. No one wanted to touch her or get near her. Isolated from everyone, she was having a hard time coping. 

She ended up in a hotel parking lot. Not wanting to be the poster child for the CDC (Center for Disease Control) as someone dying from AIDS, and in a state of irrational thinking, she turned to a bottle of sleeping pills to take her life. Just as she was about to take the pills there was a knock on the car window. A woman asked if she was okay, then she sat with Kathy and helped get her through the night.

Shortly after that, Kathy received the results of new tests reporting she was now HIV negative. She decided to not live her life the same way again. She has no explanation to this day for the miraculous change in test results.  She then went onto to become a national speaker--a huge surprise for someone who was once afraid to speak in front of a small group of people.

Kathy explains the origin story of SHEDDING. She was talking with a coworker about a lizard. The coworker mentioned that if lizards don't shed their skin they will die. We humans can grow physically, mentally, and spiritually, but if we don't shed, we won't grow! It went off like a lightbulb in her mind and that was the birth of her "Shed or you're dead" revolution.

"It comes down to belief, a belief that I was called and I was placed on this earth to do this and that I had to step forward and take action. I was an instrument.  My mouth said the words and my body stepped on the stage. And I had to claim the worthiness of my self, in that I had been called to do something very important on this earth." - Kathy Dempsey

Tips for SHEDDING 2020:

Shedding is a two-part process. It's letting go of the old, all those things that are no longer serving you, and it's embracing the new, and taking on those new skills and knowledge that will help you move forward.

What happened with COVID-19 is many of us were forced to shed, instead of choosing what happens, according to Kathy.  And, now we can more proactively choose going forward by:

• Owning the challenge
• Asking for help
• Managing the "now" moment
• Taking care of yourself
• Revisiting your expectations
• Developing a plan
• Discovering the gifts

Last January Kathy co-authored a book with Dr. David C. Helgeson, a clinical psychologist called SHED HAPPENS 7 Ways to Overcome Challenges at Work and in Life! A few months later COVID hit and they needed to author a COVID edition. 

"When you're in a crisis like we have been on a daily basis, you don't have time to stop and reflect. And what is so important is the learning does not come from the event. It comes from the reflection." - Kathy Dempsey

In this episode, Kathy unpacks her view of 2021 as a change expert. 

She is also offering our listeners a free download of her book SHED HAPPENS for those who sign up on her website kathydempsey.com and she is providing a special sale price on the COVID edition of her book at kathydempsey.com/shedhappens.