70 Annie McCarty on Feminine Reclamation and Healing Generational Exhaustion

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Cherie Lindberg

Hi, I'm Cherie, and welcome to Elevated Life Academy, where we share real stories of healing, hope, and transformation. Tune in to hear how everyday people are rising above and lighting the way for others. Welcome to another episode of Elevated Life Academy and I am your host, Cherie Lindberg. And today we have a guest. Her name is Annie, and I'm going to let her introduce herself.

00;00;30;20 - 00;00;57;04

Annie McCarthy

And as you all know, we have these enlightened conversations and we'll see where we go today. Hi, Annie. Thanks for coming. Hi. Thank you so much for having me. So, yeah, my name is Annie. I am a mom of three kiddos, and I have I like to call myself a serial entrepreneur. I have been a business owner since I graduated from college.

00;00;57;04 - 00;01;30;23

Annie McCarthy

I had, like, real 9 to 5 jobs through high school and college. But ever since graduating I have worked for myself or my husband also has a small business, so I still work in that business as a CFO and I. It's been an amazing journey of just finding myself, reinventing myself, moving on to the next thing that is my passion, and really just uncovering those layers of who I really am in the process.

00;01;30;23 - 00;02;00;26

Annie McCarthy

So my most recent focus is I was feeling a very strong pole to work with women in the sandwich generation who are taking care of elderly parents, helping them in the aging process all at the same time, raising kids. And I think this is a pretty unique situation that a lot of us find ourselves in, that we we might not have had in previous generations.

00;02;01;01 - 00;02;35;08

Annie McCarthy

Also, just with women being a lot more isolated, like we used to live in community and have the support of our fellow women in our villages and towns. And I think women find themselves very isolated right now. We're often trying to do all of that caretaking and raising kids all on our own. And so I have been leaning heavily into how to support moms, how to support that sandwich generation in navigating this unique experience without losing themselves.

00;02;35;08 - 00;03;03;29

Annie McCarthy

And also, how do we leave this world a better place for our future generations and specifically for our daughters? Because I think we're in a place right now, like there's a lot of feminine power rising to the surface right now, but we're also facing a lot of backlash against that as well. And so how do we make sure that our daughters can really stand in their power, be those strong women?

00;03;03;29 - 00;03;26;29

Cherie Lindberg

How do we raise them to be those strong women who can go out into the world and not get kind of run over and lost in all of the the mayhem that is happening? So, yeah, that that's a little bit about what I do now. Yeah. Well, Annie it's quite interesting because I actually have parents that are moving here.

00;03;27;02 - 00;03;47;17

Cherie Lindberg

I'm in Wisconsin, they're in Illinois. They're moving here this summer, actually, and I'm very fortunate. I have sons that are in their 30s, so I'm not raising little ones. Yeah, I'm going to be having to make some changes so that I can be more available. So tell me a little bit more about what you are doing in this new venture that you have.

00;03;47;20 - 00;04;25;08

Annie McCarthy

Absolutely. So a lot of it is. So I am releasing a bunch of mini courses because I have done a lot of kind of in-person work, like group programs in one on one in the past, and I still am doing some one on one with people when that is is important. But I find that especially for women in that situation where they have so much going on in their lives and like you said, with having parents move back into the area, there is going to be some time and definitely a lot of energy that's taken by that.

00;04;25;08 - 00;05;12;15

Cherie Lindberg

So allowing a platform where women can kind of consume at their own pace and learn at their own pace, and then there's that further support. But for example, I'm in the middle of releasing a course called Raising Her Regulated, which is for moms of teen girls who probably also have aging parents as well, and just how to how to navigate those situations with our teen daughters, where it's a time where there could be more arguments, more disagreements, more pushbacks, how do we raise them in an environment where we're not just setting strict rules and we don't have that tension in the house?

00;05;12;15 - 00;05;37;29

Cherie Lindberg

How can we how can we get through that? And so I, I do a lot of teaching on women's natural cycles, both hormonal cycle, but then the lunar cycle and the seasonal cycle and how that really affects us as women. So yeah, just a lot of a lot of support around all of that and helping make those topics that are very taboo.

00;05;38;02 - 00;06;05;28

Cherie Lindberg

Like, we don't want to talk about our menstrual cycle or our hormones or perimenopause or menopause, like all of that is so like, you shouldn't you shouldn't be talking about it. It's so important. Like, that's us, that's our bodies, that's things that every single woman experiences. And so by being more open and vocal and raising our voices and talking about these things, it it helps lift all women up.

00;06;05;28 - 00;06;31;24

Cherie Lindberg

It helps us normalize what we've been told is bad and shameful and we shouldn't talk about and really, you know, again, kind of returning to that community that we used to have, there has been so much wounding between women. And how do we heal those bonds and create that sisterhood that brings us back into that community? Yeah. Community, I think is so important.

00;06;31;26 - 00;06;58;16

Annie McCarthy

Yeah. And I think there's like you said, there's been quite a bit of isolating going on just because the way our world is set up. So it sounds like you're encouraging people to come together and learn together and how they can in their busy lives. Yes, exactly. So tell me about some of your other adventures that you've had, because it sounds like you, you have been evolving, and just as you evolve, you shift your business based on how you're evolving.

00;06;58;16 - 00;07;22;16

Annie McCarthy

Am I getting that? Yeah. For sure. So I think part of it has been a process of self-discovery. So yeah, my husband and I started he started an automotive shop right out of college, and I came in very quickly. Like I said, is CFO help with the bookkeeping. And I've done literally every job there at one point or another.

00;07;22;19 - 00;07;44;19

Annie McCarthy

And in that process, I had gotten my degree in web design. And so I launched my own web design business, and I had that business for at least ten years. It was quite a while, and I just realized that it wasn't, even though that's what I thought I wanted to do. It wasn't quite it, like there was something missing there.

00;07;44;19 - 00;08;07;05

Annie McCarthy

And so I as I was kind of winding that business down and, you know, just when a client would, the work would come to an end, just not take on new clients. I started to build a health and wellness business because I was I was on my own personal wellness journey and I was like, this is so amazing.

00;08;07;06 - 00;08;34;13

Annie McCarthy

Like, this is so needed in the world. And looking at health from a perspective that was not wait, right? Like how much our body ways but really internal wellness. And that brought me to life coaching. So I got certified. I ran into this place where I was like, can tell people what to do to take care of themselves, but we usually end up in this situation.

00;08;34;13 - 00;08;58;25

Annie McCarthy

They're not doing it. There's something holding them back. And women in particular, like, why is it so hard to prioritize ourselves? But also what are those limiting beliefs that are holding us back in that process? And so life coaching really gave me the tools to help people dive into those subconscious beliefs of where that self-sabotage was coming from.

00;08;58;25 - 00;09;26;13

Annie McCarthy

And it was amazing. I loved being able to offer those tools to people, but I realized my heart was really with entrepreneurs at that time because I was an entrepreneur, I loved working with people who were so motivated and ambitious and building something of their own. So I started to work with a lot of entrepreneurs, and the web design kind of came back around.

00;09;26;13 - 00;09;51;01

Annie McCarthy

So I was supporting entrepreneurs with their business systems, both helping them build them and teach them how to build them. And there came this point in time where I sat down with a friend of mine and we were having a conversation, and she I mentioned something about I was like, I just feel like I'm not including all of me in my business.

00;09;51;07 - 00;10;10;05

Annie McCarthy

She was like, what do you mean? And I was like, I mean, I'm Reiki certified. Like, I have all these things of my own practice that I would love to bring into my business. And we had we had worked together for a while and known each other for a long time. She was like, what do you mean you're Reiki certified?

00;10;10;06 - 00;10;41;11

Annie McCarthy

Like, I did not even know that. And I realized that I had very much separated, like myself and my person and all of the things that helped me be successful from my business venture. And so that's where I started to actually marry the two. I was in the process of getting certified as a Kundalini practitioner. So really working with our body, mind and energy all together.

00;10;41;11 - 00;11;17;00

Annie McCarthy

And so I started bringing a lot of the nervous system support into the business systems, because I realized so many entrepreneurs get very dysregulated. If tech is not their thing, that is something that is very unapproachable. So marrying those to and from there, I, I just started really having this poll that, you know, especially as my daughters are coming into their teenage years, my son is going to be up in his teenage years soon, preteens.

00;11;17;02 - 00;11;55;03

Annie McCarthy

And there was just this very strong pole to really lean into more of this, like reclamation work I stole, very proud of what I built with the business system stuff. I still am doing a little bit of work in that area, but I just kept feeling like what the world needs right now and what how I can best support people, is really helping to pass on to the next generation and helping to support women through this phase we're in and bring that feminine power, that divine feminine, back into the forefront.

00;11;55;05 - 00;12;09;14

Cherie Lindberg

Wow, you've been on quite a journey just listening to everything, but it sounds like all these are transferable skills and that you've taken them and you're using them and and every single business that you've created.

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Annie McCarthy

Yeah, absolutely.

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Cherie Lindberg

So is this the one that you're doing now with teaching? You know, is that are you just creating a bunch of mini courses for parents or is it got multiple different levels?

00;12;26;03 - 00;12;55;17

Annie McCarthy

Yeah. So there there are multiple levels that I'm creating. A lot of it is parent focused. But there I am, I have I have a million ideas as usual. So you know, again, really helping women understand their cycles. That's something I've actually been teaching for years and years and years. I had done a cycles course for entrepreneurs probably 8 or 9 years ago at this point.

00;12;55;17 - 00;13;31;14

Annie McCarthy

And so basically, just like how to build your business with your natural energy cycles and hormonal cycle. So that obviously will not be only for parents. So yeah, I have a bunch of just like energy courses, like how to harness your natural energy and really amplify that. So there, there is that. And then again, I do one on one sessions as well, especially for, for people who are really interested in breaking those cycles, like those generational cycles that they feel so stuck in.

00;13;31;14 - 00;13;40;12

Annie McCarthy

So really working with them and their nervous system and understanding why they keep repeating those patterns over and over again.

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Cherie Lindberg

You're moving into an educator, it sounds like.

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Annie McCarthy

Yeah, yeah for sure. Yeah.

00;13;46;02 - 00;13;56;27

Cherie Lindberg

And the fact that you understand how to build a website and how to create the courses and all that, I mean, that's what I mean by transferable skills.

00;13;57;00 - 00;14;21;16

Annie McCarthy

Yeah for sure. Yeah. And I yeah I still I've always taught a lot like and that's where I kind of had that pole with the systems. Like I felt kind of torn because I really people wanted me to build the stuff for them. But what I love doing was teaching them how to do it right. And so it was always that pole of like, which direction do I go?

00;14;21;18 - 00;14;41;23

Annie McCarthy

I really, I really like teaching people. I mean, the old saying like, you can teach, you can teach a man to fish and they'll feed himself forever. Like I would rather teach people how to do it than just me do it for them. Make makes a lot of sense. Yeah. So do you with this next evolution of your of your teaching.

00;14;41;25 - 00;15;09;18

Annie McCarthy

What classes do you have around the sandwich generation or what are you building around that. Yeah. So I, I, I have courses launching next week called Raising Her regulated which again that's for moms of teens. So so often women find themselves in these cycles with their teens where it's, you know, there's just tension in the house. They're yelling, they can't break out of that cycle.

00;15;09;18 - 00;15;42;17

Annie McCarthy

Their team is yelling at them. Right. And so we want most women like we want to have that unbreakable bond with our daughters. And I think especially during the teenage years, we can feel a little bit lost, maybe a little bit like, is this ever going to happen? And how how can we have that household that we want where it's not the tension all the time that we're moving through life, like we're always going to have disagreements, we're always going to have boundaries, right, that need to be set.

00;15;42;17 - 00;16;21;19

Annie McCarthy

But how can how can we have it be more of that environment that we feel comfortable in and our kids feel comfortable in? How can we create that, and how can we break those patterns that we learn during childhood so we don't pass them down? So yeah, that's something I'm working on right now. I am offering the cycle breaker sessions as well, with people to really identify those patterns that continue to repeat that we picked up either early in childhood or even in past generations, and really stop that cycle, see how it's manifesting in our life and how do we stop that?

00;16;21;20 - 00;16;48;29

Annie McCarthy

I'm doing some in-person sister circles as well to bring community together. And yeah, have plans on very short order. I'm going to create a boundaries course. It's called Draw the Line How to Create Boundaries and where your you might not have boundaries in place that you don't realize. So how to put up healthy boundaries without shutting ourselves off either.

00;16;48;29 - 00;17;11;20

Annie McCarthy

So yeah. Yeah. Well, you're going to be really busy now. Where are you located, Annie? I'm in Maryland. Maryland? Yeah. Okay. Well, we will definitely make sure that we have all of your social media and your links and all of that up when we when we put up the podcast so that people can connect with you. So, yeah, this information could be very valuable.

00;17;11;22 - 00;17;42;18

Annie McCarthy

Is there anything that you would want our listeners to know that I haven't asked you today on the podcast? I would just say, I think remembering, you know, we we often and again, going back like as women, we were often told like, you're too much, too loud, too big, too energetic, you know, all of these things. And that can create so many ripples throughout our life.

00;17;42;18 - 00;18;14;21

Annie McCarthy

And it's just it's very important to go back, just to become aware, number one, of how that is manifesting in your life, how that's impacting you in your life and starting to starting to work with your nervous system. On speaking a little bit more, on breaking those patterns a little bit more. The world really needs us right now to affect the change that we want to see.

00;18;14;22 - 00;18;38;25

Annie McCarthy

And the more I feel like the more we can get into our bodies, the more that we can allow ourselves to feel the emotions that we've been told or not. Okay? Right. Don't don't be an angry woman. Like all these messages that we've absorbed, none of that is bad. Like you are not bad. Your emotions are not bad.

00;18;38;25 - 00;19;11;01

Annie McCarthy

Every single emotion and thing, you feel it. It's fully accepted. And the more that we can go out there and practice it and little by little, speak a little bit louder, speak a little bit more. E the example of what we want to see in the world, it a lot of the time I find people are like, but it's so much right, like it's such a big thing that we need to change and they don't even know where to start.

00;19;11;01 - 00;19;48;00

Annie McCarthy

And so they don't do anything. And sometimes it looks like your kid comes home and you give them a big hug and you just pour your love into them. That is helping change the next generation so it doesn't have to look like massive action. But those little tiny things added up over time. Talking about the things that we've been told should be shameful, having those open conversations with our kids, raising our sons, how we to show them that emotions are not bad, like all of those things add up.

00;19;48;00 - 00;20;06;27

Annie McCarthy

And that's how you're going to matter. That's how you're going to make that difference. Well, I think there are so many people. I'm in this line of work, too, that we don't realize how much the past is running the present. And so to re to revisit and I even hear people say, I don't want to go back there or don't think about that.

00;20;06;27 - 00;20;35;02

Cherie Lindberg

And I'll say to them, well, that isn't back there. It's here because it's showing up right now. So I, I really hear you and examining that so that we can let go so that we can be the fullest potential we can be. So thank you so much for coming on the podcast today. And I just want to say to everyone out there that if you're listening to this podcast and you feel moved by it, I mean, look up Annie's classes, share it with a friend.

00;20;35;02 - 00;20;56;16

Cherie Lindberg

That's what we're trying to do here at Elevated Life is to share out there and help as many people as possible. So get the information out there. So thank you so much for being with us today. Thank you so much. Sherry. This was this was an amazing conversation. I appreciate you so much. Thank you.

00;20;56;18 - 00;21;20;24

Cherie Lindberg

Thank you for joining us today on Elevated Life Academy. Stories of hope and healing. As you move back into your world, I invite you to take a breath and hold on to whatever stirred something in you from our podcast today. Healing isn't always loud, but it is always sacred. Whether today's story opened your heart, gave you a new perspective, or just reminded you that you are not alone, it matters.

00;21;20;24 - 00;21;41;05

Cherie Lindberg

And so do you. Keep choosing alignment. Keep trusting your becoming. And remember the elevated life isn't perfect. It's present. If this episode resonated, share it with someone who needs a little more light. And if you're ready to go deeper in your own journey, you know where to find me. Until next time, stay ready, stay rising and stay you.