[00:00:00] Kelly: All of these identities I had for myself, the mom, the business owner, and the wife were gone. I was in complete upheaval and that's where my new life began
[00:00:12] Aneta: We often hear people wishing us a long, happy, and healthy life, but what if the length isn't what matters most? What if instead, it's the breath depth and purpose of each day that matters most? Welcome to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My name is Aneta Ardelian Kuzma and join me weekly as I interview guests who made changes in their own lives to live more fully with intention, gratitude, and joy. Be prepared to be inspired by their stories of how they shifted their mindset, took courageous action, and designed the life that they always wanted to live.
I'm so excited to talk to you about an offer that I have going on right now until December 21st. I am bringing back my intensive coaching call offer at a highly discounted rate, 50 percent off the normal price. And if you are stuck on working on a goal, or maybe you just need a little extra support on a health and wellness or a career or a business, or perhaps just a life goal in general and want to work with a coach.
This is a perfect program for you. You get four 60-minute one-on-one coaching calls customized for you along with access to my morning meditation yoga and breathwork classes for one month. You can use these whenever you want, just need to claim them before December 21st. I'm only offering this to the first five people who sign up for it. Go to anetakuzma.com backslash intensive coaching to learn more and to register today. I hope to see you there.
Welcome back to the Live the Width of Your Life podcast. My guest this week is CK Collins aka Kelly Collins. She's an award-winning publisher and owner of a hyper-local news publishing company in the middle Tennessee area. She sold her company and retired from the industry in 2021. She believes that travel feeds the soul and grows the heart and mind.
Kelly embarked on a two-year travel sabbatical to write her book and other subsequent workbook. Her travels include Utah, the Grand Canyon, Buenos Aires, Patagonia, Portugal, Spain, Italy, and a 30-day sailing rally from Los Angeles to Las Paz, Mexico. And in 2018, Kelly hiked the 500-mile Camino de Santiago in France and Spain.
She hiked a portion of the Appalachian trail in New Hampshire in 2019 and then hiked her second Camino in 2022 in Portugal. Wow. We had the most amazing conversation and talked about how sometimes in life you have things and moments in life or setbacks or challenges that you weren't expecting. And out of that comes the most beautiful spiritual journey and experience and transformation.
I don't want to give too much away, but I think you'll enjoy the conversation I had with Kelly. Take a listen.
Kelly, welcome to the show. I'm so excited for our conversation.
[00:03:09] Kelly: Thank you so much. I've been excited about this.
[00:03:12] Aneta: Oh, I'm so excited to dig in because reading your bio and your background and just talking a little bit before we hit record, I just said, this is going to be so exciting because you are doing so many of the things that I also want to do. But I don't want to get ahead of myself. I would love for you to share just a little bit about Your background, because I know that you up until a certain point followed maybe a more traditional path in life.
And over the last several years, you have just embraced this new chapter. What would you like to share with us just about your background in general?
[00:03:51] Kelly: I love sharing my story because I think so many women have lived this life that we were brought up to think, this is how we do it. We graduate college, we get married, we have three beautiful daughters, or a combination thereof, 2. 5 kids as they used to say when we were growing up.
I started work, used my marketing degree, did all the things, quit work for a while, stayed home with my three girls, and then I started a company. I was always entrepreneurial, I was always doing something to make money when I was home with my kids, but I started a company, a news publishing business.
That grew over nine years and that kind of changed how I saw myself and how I was out in the community. And I loved my life, except there were problems at home. So in 2017, all of this normal life that I had built for myself, the traditional life that I built for myself, I just had a trifecta of change.
I found out I was getting a divorce which is what also led to my book. And my youngest daughter graduated college and as a result of the divorce, I sold my business. And so all of these identities that I had for myself, the mom, the business owner, and the wife were now gone. I was in complete upheaval and that's where my new life began and that's where it's still hard even now to say, and it's been six years, but that's where my life became about me.
And the first thing I did, in 2018, I went on the Camino de Santiago hike, which I've done three now because it was such a great experience. And that's where I started going what do I want? What do I need to be happy? How do I take all these things I had from my past and turn them into a joyful new life? And I was just searching. I was in search mode and that's where my new life began.
[00:05:51] Aneta: Wow. Were the things that happened in 2017, the divorce and some of these, obviously you knew your daughter was going to graduate, but did you have any inkling that these things were going to happen or were you just blindsided?
[00:06:03] Kelly: I was blindsided. My ex-husband came to light that he had been cheating on me for six years. I knew something was wrong. I had done everything I could to fight for it. I did everything, went to therapy, did all the things, but he never was telling the truth that there was someone else and there was a reason why.
He was gaslighting me and telling me all along that it was my fault. And so I was devastated. I was, I just didn't know. And in that process, over those six years, I had given up parts of myself that were my strongest. My desire to fight for the right thing and, I had just started slowly giving up things to try to make him happy, to try to make him love me again. And so I had to go back and find all those pieces of myself that I had given away.
[00:06:57] Aneta: Yeah. And it's so interesting that you said that you were starting to give things away. You're becoming less of yourself to try to maintain something that was there that In the end, couldn't be saved, anyway, and so did you always want to do the El Camino was it like it's on my bucket list? I've said the right time. I'm going to go. Was that something that was on your list or did you happen to find that in the process of the healing that you started that year?
[00:07:27] Kelly: I think it was five years before, maybe 2012. My husband's best friend since high school, he was the best man at our wedding. Bill had walked the Camino and he had walked another one since then because it made such a difference. So he was this person who was always like the practical joker, very sarcastic, you love him, right?
You love him, but he's always riding that line. And when he went on the Camino and came back, he came back this softer, more loving, seeking person. And so I already knew the power of the Camino. And when we were going through, do we get divorced? Do we not? All of that stuff. Bill came back around because he had told me I would love it. I was a big runner, a big hiker. And he kept saying, you'll love it.
And now he was saying, you need this. You need to do this for yourself. You deserve to do something for yourself. And because I owned my own business, I could take that time. I can look in the mirror and say, yes, you can have the time off.
But that in itself was also a growing experience because when you own a business, you think you're indispensable. And so I had to learn to be indispensable or believe in my head that I could be indispensable. And that ended up being a huge process for me and it prepared my business to sell.
So it was like all these things that were so hard and necessary ended up being all of the saving graces of what was to come, which is true in most people's lives.
[00:09:01] Aneta: It is right? We don't always see it at the moment. Did you have your business when you went to walk El Camino? You did. And did you do the full 500-plus miles? Okay. Because it's over 500 miles.
[00:09:13] Kelly: Yeah. It took 38 days. I was gone for seven weeks. I only checked in one time. I hired somebody to be me while I was gone and she was a friend. So she didn't charge me an exorbitant. I gave my mom power of attorney because we had put the house on the market. It was crazy. And in a lot of ways, but it was also the most sane thing I've done in my life, I think.
[00:09:37] Aneta: Okay. So as I think about El Camino, there's the physical aspect. You want to walk a certain amount of miles per day. Were you doing like 10 to 12 miles? Did you have a goal for every day that you were trying to maintain to finish within a certain amount of time?
[00:09:53] Kelly: Yeah, it's in stages, like 30 to 35 stages, depending on how fast you walk. And you are walking a half marathon every day. I think the least I ever walked was eight. And that was because I was sick. And the most I ever walked was 21, but it comes out to 13 to 15 miles a day. And it's not like you get on the road and you walk that far and you don't stop.
There are lots of beautiful little towns to stop at. There are little cafes. You stop for coffee in the morning, you stop for lunch and maybe you stop for beer in the afternoon, who knows, but it depends on the little villages. There's only a couple of days where you're just walking all day and you got to carry your food.
But the beautiful thing about the Camino is there's a system in place, and the Spaniards have a deep, inimitable respect for what the Camino represents. And for the most part, they have a deep respect for the people who are walking it because they know it's not easy.
It's very difficult. But there's just so much power in all the other hikers, which are called pilgrims. It's a pilgrimage. So pilgrims take care of each other, but then there's also this community along the trail of people, locals who help take care of you. And all the pilgrims know we're all there for a reason.
[00:11:13] Aneta: Yeah. Yeah. Everyone has a reason for walking and for traveling. I read The Pilgrimage by Paolo Coelho, and that's when I first was like, I need to do this. And it's been on my list forever. So you've done this now. You said a couple of times, have you always done it solo?
[00:11:30] Kelly: You leave solo, but you very rarely stay solo because you meet people and you come together with people for different reasons. It could be, they walk at the same speed as you. And so you keep seeing them or, you end up staying in the same hostel for three nights or, you just have something in common, like you've both got going through a divorce or been divorced, somebody who's been divorced.
So they were able to help me think through what my life was going to be like. So you just, you walk and you talk and you meet people. Some people do stay very solo, but I am type A, and very social. I thought I would be the person to be by myself because I was so sad, but it turned out I learned to laugh again.
I found that you have a Camino family by the end, usually people that, I still talk to every week. And that was a long, six years ago. Yeah. And then I did the Portuguese Camino and I met a group of women that we still stay in touch and they've all gone back to do other Caminos in addition and so have I. And then I had two friends who wanted to do the French way, which is the 500 mile. And so we did that and we left in April. I got back in June.
[00:12:39] Aneta: what are some of the biggest lessons that you learned about yourself or maybe just about humanity and people in general on your first trip? And maybe just in general as well.
[00:12:49] Kelly: On the first trip I felt like I went there to forgive my husband at the time. Which I did, it's one of those things you put down, pick up, put down, pick up 500 times. But I did begin that process of forgiving. That I will eventually get to the finality of forgiving, but I didn't expect to need to forgive myself as I mentioned earlier, all those ways I had betrayed myself.
I was being betrayed by my husband, but then I started seeing how I had betrayed myself. I had stayed in a place where I wasn't loved. I had beat myself up over it. I had given up parts of myself and I felt like I hadn't fought for myself. I fought for my marriage, but not for me. And so I had to learn that there's a process of forgiving yourself for things too.
And if you don't do that, then you stay right in here and you beat yourself up and it is the biggest energy vampire you can have to forgive yourself and not be able to. So I would say that was probably one of the biggest. I also learned I said those pilgrims would listen to me and talk to me about the divorce and all of that.
That was something I had never really seen. My family's very boisterous and they're all talking all over each other all the time. I hadn't seen a great example of making space, for someone. And these people did that for me, and then I learned to shut up and listen and make space for someone else and just try not to go oh, me too. And interject and interject you think you're being empathetic, but what you're doing is interrupting their process of speaking.
And that led to so many I was a better boss when I came back. I was a better mother. I was a better daughter sister, and friend. Learning to give safe space to someone is one of the largest gifts that you can give.
And it made me want to be a podcaster, to do what you're doing. You've made space for me to tell my story and that was important for me as part of having written a book and wanting women in midlife to understand that it's not over and there's a process and there's ways you can help yourself.
And I wanted to keep learning and so that's why I ended up with the podcast, that skill and that desire to listen goes back to the 2018 Walk in the Camino.
[00:15:18] Aneta: When did you sell your business and then after, so you walked the trail, you came back, what was the timeline then from selling the business to starting your podcast and writing your book and doing the healing work that you're doing with women today?
[00:15:36] Kelly: I decided on the Camino that I wanted to, there was a specific place that you go to on the Camino called the Cruz de Ferro, the fiery cross. It's a tradition you go and you leave something there, you leave a stone or a shell or something, but it's devoting your pilgrimage.
If you're religious to God, or it's also about leaving something behind. And that's when I decided that the business was something wonderful that I had created, but it also is an energy vampire. You're a business owner. It's just so consuming and I knew I couldn't heal and take care of myself and do that too.
So I went to the top of the mountain. I'm going to sell my business, is that okay? And I came back in June. By August, I had two offers on my business.
[00:16:30] Aneta: Wow. Of course, you did. You made your desire known, and there you go. What did it feel like to sell? Because now you're closing a lot of these doors. This one you intentionally closed, right? So some of the other stuff happened, and then you went on the trail, and you decided to close this.
Did you know what you were going to do next? Have you already thought okay, I want to do something different, or did you give yourself space to figure out what that looks like afterward?
[00:16:59] Kelly: That's a great question. Both companies that bought my company wanted me to stay. One was you have to stay two years and one was you have to stay three. And I didn't know what it was going to be like for somebody else to own what I had created and be making decisions. And so I thought probably pick the two, but then I thought this is going to be a process for me and to have a salary and benefits and to have a place together. I know these people respect me. They bought my business. They believe in me.
And to have that maybe 3 years isn't such a bad idea. And so I had a 3-year earn-out and bonuses along the way that would help. I built larger nest egg for when I did decide to make a change. And right after the year mark, I retired from the news business.
I decided this was also an upheaval of the media world that was going on while my life was growing up also had upheaval. And I just decided it wasn't a place I wanted to be anymore. And I wanted to go out on a high note, so I retired and I traveled for a year. And I went to South America.
I went to Buenos Aires and learned to tango. I hiked Patagonia. I went to Portugal where you're getting ready to go on your retreat and fell in love with Portugal. Did the Portuguese Camino, came home, got my oldest daughter married, went back out onto the road, and went to Italy for a month.
And that's when everything came together for the book idea. I had a whole different book I was going to write about the Camino. But then all that year of retrospection and seeing all the ways that people had helped me that is when the book started coming together, because it started saying I need to pay this forward.
Because why didn't I know that? Why didn't somebody say that to me before I was 52, and so, that's where the book came from. But yeah, that year of travel was life-changing for me. And that's the book I'm working on now is solo travel for women over 50.
[00:19:03] Aneta: I love that you traveled because I just find when I travel that I just reconnect to myself and it's just an opportunity to put yourself in situations where you're immersing yourself in language and culture and food and it just feels like everything is more vivid. Do you find that when you travel? So the book that you wrote was the Swipe Right Effect. Can you tell us a little bit more? And that's the title of your podcast too, right?
[00:19:31] Kelly: Yes. Swipe Right Effect: The Power To Get Unstuck.
[00:19:34] Aneta: Yeah. Tell us a little bit more about the book why you wrote it, and what the central themes are of the book.
[00:19:40] Kelly: While I was traveling in Italy, I was traveling with someone, my friend, Angie, for the first time. She had just retired and she said will you show me how to do solo travel and I was like it's hard when there's two of us, but so yeah, so we went to Italy for a month and it was very different traveling with someone, but it was also wonderful to have someone to share a sunset with and all that.
But we just did a lot of talking, I had so much time by myself. My talking was up here with me and my ego, I guess. and we started talking about the turning points in our lives. She had also had a divorce around the same time I had. And, we were a couple of, three, four years out from the divorce.
And what we were talking about was gratitude because I had started a gratitude practice over the year, I had tried to double down on my gratitude practice. I had already had one, but it didn't feel like enough. So I tried doing all these different things and it was fun and it did make me happy.
And because of that, I was like, I'm thankful for my friend Kelly. And when she told me this, and I'm so grateful to Angie, when she helped introduce me to a community of single women and she taught me this and so it turned out to be each chapter is a piece of advice that a woman gave me.
How it affected my life and then I interview them and they tell their story and how that piece of advice helped their life. And so it's us just sharing our stories and sharing the advice that changed our lives.
[00:21:13] Aneta: It's another book I need to get. This is awesome. I can't wait to read it. How many chapters, and how many stories?
[00:21:20] Kelly: It's 12 chapters. And I named it Swipe Right Effect because when you're single, you swipe right on dating apps. Most people know that it's also when you're shopping, you swipe if you like something. So the 10 chapters are about the advice. And then I have two chapters about dating but that is like the end, like that.
So it's about swiping right for yourself, fusing yourself. And each chapter after the chapter, there's an empowerment practice. So it's okay, here's the advice you were given. Here's a way you can practice this in your life. This is a way that you can easily implement this strategy into your life.
And so there are 12 chapters, 12 empowerment practices. And I turned that into a workbook. And then I turned it into a six-month program for women and a retreat for women to come together to do these exercises in a supported atmosphere where you meet once or twice a month.
And yeah, so I've taken a break because I was hiking the other Camino, my 3rd Camino. But yeah, that book and that just practice of gratitude led to all of these things and having all these new amazing women in my life that I've been able to help through tough times.
[00:22:30] Aneta: What are some of the themes that come through in terms of lessons that women have shared with you? Are there a couple that just seem to come through more often than others?
[00:22:41] Kelly: I think, I believe it's important to have a vision for yourself. Whether you're a planner, you like to be free for all, or whatever, you still need to have a vision for where you want to go in your life. I would never have gotten to a year of travel. I could never have foreseen that I could do that six years ago. The Camino taught me that and gave me the vision that I need to keep doing solo travel. Look what happened. Look at the exponential amount of things that happened in six weeks. What if I could do this for a year? So it gave me that dream. And the first person I met on the Camino and the first day on the Camino, said to me, have you ever done a vision board?
And I was like, no, that's not my thing. I don't know. No, I don't happen to have any poster board markers and magazines with me. I was like even sarcastic about it. Like, No, that's not me. I don't do those things. And she said you need to, and she was the first person you met to psychotherapist on the cabin couldn't believe it.
But at woman to woman, she said, you need to have a vision for your life or you're going to stay stuck right where you are. And that hit home. And I was like, okay. I just always had gone go. There's a natural progress you go through with raising a child. There's a natural progress you go through in starting a business.
And I had never done that for me. Yes. I built a five-year strategy for my business. But I didn't do it for my life. So she had me take out my phone and she said, you're a writer. So why don't you just start listing words of things that feel good to you, things that you would like to have in your life?
Then she said, list places you want to go, and list who you want to do that with. And that was the beginning of my vision board. And it was so impactful. I started sharing it with everybody over the next six weeks. I had so many people doing vision boards on their phones because I was so excited and being able to talk about it gave me hope for my future.
It gave me excitement for my future. So chapter one of my book is that silly little thing, that one little conversation, and it led to that. And she's from Sweden. So I interviewed her for the book. She talked about how it's changed her life and where she is now. And so that's pretty fun.
And I think that there's a phrase that my in-laws taught me that, and it's, you could be right. And, I think that some people are so stuck in their ways of doing things that they can't see or accept other people's ways of doing things. And that keeps you here too. And getting out of your head, if you're sitting there going, I can't believe they think that, or I wish them to think about politics right now with the election coming, can you say you could be right and just back off from your war stance of being right.
I think that was a really important lesson that was shared and I had shared it with a friend and then she came back and taught me lessons from it. I had just shared with her that my in-laws told me that, and I thought it was awesome. Years later, she came back and taught me how she had implemented that in her life and what she learned. So pretty awesome.
[00:26:08] Aneta: It is awesome. Do you feel like podcasting has helped you also with that? Because I find that with just talking to so many people, everyone has their own life experience and as a host, we're here to listen and to share and ask questions and extract it. And so I feel for myself, it's helped me to become even a better listener as I connect with people. And do you find that to be your experience as well?
[00:26:34] Kelly: Absolutely. And I hope this comes out right, but I like to be a little selfish about it too. So like my last season was all about self-love and it was something I was interested in.
What are all the different ways? That we can love ourselves I haven't thought of yet. And so I just started looking for people who talk about that and have implemented that or written about that or podcasts about that.
And that's who I had on my whole second season was about self-love. And then I did a five-part series. where I gave tips from my book and each one was a tip and kind of went into depth about that. And I'd like to do a little more of that too, just this is what I've learned. I definitely will probably do a five-part series on what I learned this time on the Camino.
And I found another author who's writing about solo travel. So she was a big inspiration to me. She likes just road trip travel. I like. International travel. So we're saying, but different. So she was my last guest. As I was leaving for the Camino in April, and so that was fun to go into that self-love mindset. What am I going to learn by being open to what the universe is going to show me while I walk down this path, literally?
[00:27:47] Aneta: I can't wait to read about solo travel because it's fascinating to me that there are people who don't even feel comfortable going and sitting at a coffee shop by themselves or going to dinner by themselves or going to a movie, let alone traveling, domestically or internationally, so did you do any of this before 2017 or 2018 or was this all after the divorce and after your world was shaken?
[00:28:16] Kelly: I hated being alone. Hated it. I didn't want to be the person in the coffee shop by myself. I didn't want to go to a movie by myself because I had never been alone. I started dating my ex-husband at 19, got married at 21, and had my first child at 24. I never lived alone had my apartment or had my own house until I was 52 years old.
And that was a liberating experience. It's like, wow, my house doesn't get dirty when it's just me living here. But anyway, it was all something that the Camino gave me the confidence to do. And my friend, Bill gave me the confidence and you can do this. You can go to the Camino. I believe in you. You can do it. And that was somewhat out of desperation to find myself again. And I watched a movie called The Way, and that's what most people are, get introduced to the Camino from that.
And then I was a voracious reader of everything Camino. And that taught me a lot, too, about, yeah, there's going to be things that happen, and you're going to have to deal with it. And this last Camino, I learned that lesson. The day after I finished, I fell and broke my ankle in two places. So, you don't see that coming, right?
[00:29:41] Aneta: Wait, okay. And this one was over 500 miles, right? French Pyrenees all the way through.
[00:29:46] Kelly: Yes. Through to, all of Northwest Spain and to Santiago, we finished on the 28th and we're celebrating. We went shopping and bought fresh clothes. Because you wear the same clothes for six weeks. You do wash them, but you're tired of those clothes by the end of six weeks. So we went shopping, we had a nice dinner and the next morning we got on a bus to go to the coast.
It's about an hour away and that's where a lot of pilgrims keep walking. It's another three days and we didn't have that much time, so we took a bus over to the coast and we're exploring all the little beach towns. And I just slipped on some gravel and broke my ankle. So after all that time, I was just so grateful. It sounds silly, but I was grateful that I had just finished walking those.
Because I was strong and so I thought, I kept thinking, okay, my recovery is going to be okay because I'm strong right now, really strong. But yeah, it was scary and I was very thankful I was with my friend because she got in the ambulance with me and she was at the hospital with me.
If I'd been alone, that would have been hard, but the lessons I learned from that are you're going to have to trust. You're going to have to trust in the people that are speaking Spanish and you don't know what they're saying. You have to trust. It was interesting and it was a deepening experience in my relationship with my boyfriend or my partner.
He came over and got me. And brought me back to the States and got me to my doctor's appointment. And the next day I had surgery and I was like, I can trust him. Like I really can trust him. This man is there for me. And so there's I am sorry. I broke my ankle, but I'm not sorry for the lessons I learned about myself my partner, and my friend, Karen.
And the general whatever that is that healthcare providers have. It's magical. They're all business, but they are also all about you and healing and getting you better. And they could see the fear on my face because I didn't know what they were saying.
They went and found somebody in the hospital who spoke English and brought them to the emergency room bed so that he could tell me, yes, your ankle's broken and yes, they're going to have to straighten it, and all of these things. And he sat there and held my hand and then Karen found a place for us to go.
We were already going to a post-Camino retreat two days from now, she called them and they let us come early and they took care of us and fed us. And until I could get on a plane which was a couple of days. So it was amazing. I think just the beauty within people if you'll allow them to show you because that takes vulnerability and the belief in yourself that you are going to get through this and you do know what to do boy, that yoga and breathing exercises came in handy.
[00:32:26] Aneta: I'm so glad you talked a little bit about humanity there because I think that we don't always see the best in people. That's not what's represented. When we turn on the news or even if we're looking at our phone, it's in those moments where, as you said, you need someone else's help.
You have to trust that someone else is going to do their job and take care of you. And so how has that changed you in terms, like now that you're healing, you are probably still on the path of healing. What is the prognosis of your recovery right now with your ankle?
[00:33:03] Kelly: I had to learn to slow down. I don't think I've slowed down in my 50-plus years. I don't think I've ever stopped. I love to be a person on the go. I love to be emotional. I'm very social. I love to see people, and I had to be still. I was supposed to spend the summer up in Newport, Rhode Island, and that couldn't happen because my house was not accessible.
It was still a little bit about trust, but I think learning to be still and finding the joy in that and just being with a friend who would come visit and just being with my partner in the same room, reading and relaxing and letting it happen. I had zero control. I couldn't even get up and get myself a glass of water because I could go over on the crutches, but I couldn't bring water back.
It's that's how simple my life had to be. I had to let people bring me things. I had to let people help me shower. That was awful at first, I had no control over my life other than to decide to let people help me. And yeah, so the slowing down has been so good for me and has given me time to think about, What's next?
Because I had to cancel the retreat I had planned in the fall. And, so there was no way to prepare for that in the situation I'm in. Yeah, so it's been really beautiful to slow down.
[00:34:34] Aneta: And always in those moments when something happens that we don't expect or when our plans that we are so connected or excited about change. That's where the breakthroughs are going to happen. So I can't wait for a follow-up here, what happened this summer is you are healing and you slow down Kelly. That just seems right now that probably things are percolating.
[00:34:55] Kelly: Yes. I kept saying that the Newport summer, music festivals going out on sailboats, and all of that stuff was something I was looking forward to, but it was like, how was I going to write my book? There was no time. I was like, so now it's oh, time to write my book.
[00:35:11] Aneta: Well, you asked the question, and you were shown an answer.
[00:35:14] Kelly: That's what Karen said, if you question whether you're in the relationship with the right person and something like this happens, they show you one way or the other. And then you say, I don't have time to write my book, but I want to write my book. Here's time to write your book.
[00:35:27] Aneta: Oh well, if people want to work with you learn more about you, your books, your programs that you are doing. When you reschedule your retreat. Where can they best find you? Where you're most active?
[00:35:40] Kelly: My website is www.ckcollins.co and that's my pen name. But my, I go by Kelly. That's what the K stands for. So www.ckcollins.co there's all kinds of information about the retreats and what they're like, and that's where I will announce that you can sign up for my newsletter, I do a weekly newsletter, which I am going to begin again.
And I'm also on LinkedIn. I found that a lot of the people that I connect with who want to be at the retreats are on LinkedIn. So I also do my weekly newsletter there. So it's easy to follow that there.
[00:36:14] Aneta: Wonderful. That's so good. And there's a final question I ask everyone that's tied to the title of the podcast. What does it mean to you to live the width of your life?
[00:36:24] Kelly: I believe travel has given me the width. I have a beautiful family and that normal part was living that pipeline of a life. And the travel helped me find myself to where I could have that width and that's why I want to write the book, or why I am writing the book about solo travel, because of the effect of that. What is the effect of traveling? And the effect for me was a whole new life. A whole new me. And so I'm all about travel.
[00:36:56] Aneta: Absolutely. Kelly, I've just enjoyed our conversation immensely. I wish you continued success with everything that you're doing. And I can't wait to read your first and your second book whenever it's ready. Let us know. And all the details will be in the show notes. Thank you so much for giving me your time today.
[00:37:14] Kelly: Thank you.
[00:37:15] Aneta: Thank you for listening to today's episode. If today's conversation inspired you to dream again, break out of your comfort zones, or reflect on what it means to you to live more fully, then please follow this podcast because every week you'll hear more stories from people just like you who took imperfect action towards their goals, created more joy and are living the life that they always dreamt of living.