Finding Your Purpose in Doing Good | Stop Wasting Your Life

Description

In this episode of Stop Wasting Your Life, Ava sits down with her producer, Kate Kruse, to talk about how volunteering can help you find purpose, community, and connection. Kate shares how moving to Kansas City with almost no friends led her to volunteering, and also tells the unforgettable story of Halo, an eight-year-old rescue dog she once found on the side of the highway and who is now looking for her forever home. Together, Ava and Kate break down simple ways anyone can start volunteering—even if you’re short on time or money—and how giving back can change your life in the best possible way.

Ava's Instagram | STYL Instagram

Stop Wasting Your Life is produced by KK Media Co.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
Hello and welcome to Stop Wasting Your Life, the podcast. I'm Ava Heimbach, your host and founder, and today I'm here with the wonderful Kate Cruz, my producer who knows all things podcast, dog lover and mom, and avid volunteer, which is what we're going to be talking about today. With the holidays coming up, I want you guys to learn how you can give back to others. And like I mentioned before, Kate is an avid volunteer. who believes that purpose is found in doing good for others. And she'll explain to us her journey with volunteering, how it has shaped her as a person, how you can get involved in volunteering if you aren't already. And we're going to hear all about Halo, a dog who is currently up for adoption at the KC Pet Project. Just a little reminder that that giveaway is still going on. $500 gift card of your choice. How could you literally not want that? So if you do want that, go to www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, click on the giveaways tab, and there you will find all the ways that you can enter to win that gift card. Are you interested in donating or sponsoring our podcast? You can go to our website, www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, and click on either the sponsor or donate tab. This podcast runs on the support of our listeners. So if you do enjoy listening, please consider donating or sponsoring us. And I say this before every episode, and I'm going to say it again. I want everyone to know that there is no right or wrong way to live your life. The definition of a fulfilling life is unique to each person. It's unique to me. It's unique to Kate. And we aren't here to tell you how to live your life. We just want to give you ideas. knowledge, and inspiration to help create a life that you think is beautiful. Little side note, I do have a really bad cold. So if I sound like I can't breathe, I can't breathe actually. And if there's a long pause, I probably had to blow my nose. So don't mind that. Make that two of us because I also have a bad cold. Yeah, look at us. We both have colds and we're in different states, thousands of miles apart, But yet we can. We can bond over the fact that we both have colds.
Speaker #1
So excuse our voices. Yes. Okay,
Speaker #0
you sound better than me, though.
Speaker #1
And also to clarify, I am a dog mom,
Speaker #0
not a human mom. Dog lover and dog mom, just to say that. There's a big difference. I do call my dogs my kids, but there's a big difference between the two. Okay, yes.
Speaker #1
There are no children running around your house. Just dogs. And a boyfriend. Four-legged kind.
Speaker #0
Welcome to Stop Wasting Your Life. the podcast that helps you break free from a life of self-doubt and distraction and inspires you to create a fulfilling and purposeful life. Each week, we dive into actionable advice, meaningful conversation, and insightful interviews to empower you to prioritize your well-being, pursue your passions, and become the best version of yourself. It's time to stop wasting your life and start building one that you are excited to wake up to.
Speaker #1
Once again,
Speaker #0
I'm Ava Heimbach, your host, and I'm here with the wonderful Kate Cruz, and this is Stop Wasting Your Life. So, Kate, it's weird welcoming you on my podcast because you literally on every single episode, we just don't ever hear from you.
Speaker #1
I know. It's funny being on this one. I'm not on mute, and I'm going to, like,
Speaker #0
have to resist the urge to just habitually put myself on mute after I talk. I know. I'm like, wait, I'm looking at you, and I'm talking to you, and this is... weird but like this is weird i'm usually just the figment of everyone's imagination and now they actually exist i know so everybody she is real i have not been lying to you about kate my producer she she is real and she is here so which now we're gonna throw everyone off because we're gonna not talk about podcasting i know exactly you and i we're a team though like it's not even just my podcast it's our podcast let's be real i know everything
Speaker #1
I know more than everyone else does.
Speaker #0
You probably know a little more than I do, not even going to lie. So before we begin, tell me, well, I guess I know a little bit about you, but tell our audience a little bit about yourself.
Speaker #1
Yeah. So I, like you said, my name is Kate. I have been in media production, specifically podcasting, since 2019. And so that has been my career, but I moved to Kansas City from Iowa in 2022. I was working remote, and this will kind of segue into what we're going to be talking about today, but I was working remote, knew a total of three people in Kansas City when I moved here, two of them which were cousins. So that's kind of like built-in friends. I don't know if they fully count, but I knew three people.
Speaker #0
They totally count. Cousins are literally my best friends.
Speaker #1
Perfect. So I knew, yeah, three people here working remote. So I wasn't like getting out of my house to go see coworkers and talk to people. And I realized I needed to do something to like socialize. And so in a very sane trail of thought, I was like, let's go socialize with dogs instead of people. And I looked up volunteer opportunities at KC Pet Project. So as you said, I'm a crazy dog person. I was like volunteering as a way to do some good and get me out of the house. And I'll probably meet some like-minded dog lovers while I'm at it. And you know, what's terrible about that? So I started volunteering with KC Pet Project in 2023. and started as every volunteer does, just kind of dipping your toes in the water, some dog walking and stuff. But as I'm sure we'll talk about today, have gotten a lot more involved with it since then to the point of realizing I want to make a career out of dogs and kind of pivoting to dog training in addition to podcasting. And so, yeah, that's what volunteering has kind of where it's taken me. And yeah, excited to talk more about it today.
Speaker #0
So would you say that?
Speaker #1
you feeling lonely motivated you to start volunteering or what would you say like motivated that i mean i it was definitely the social aspect was a big part of it and then there's the knowing that i was going to be doing some good in the world was like okay bonus um yeah it was definitely to kind it was to meet people and meet like-minded people for sure i like i said i was kind of isolated working from home stuck in my house for at least eight hours a day and then wasn't. going and doing anything after. So it was a way to get me out of my house and meet people that were also passionate about the same things I was.
Speaker #0
So what is the only role, volunteer role you're in right now working at KC Pet Project?
Speaker #1
Yep. That's the only place I volunteer, but really volunteering. And so like, obviously my passion is dogs. What I care about is animal welfare and helping people understand how to take care of their pets, how to be a good pet parent and helping our dogs find homes. but as we'll kind of dive into today what I found with volunteering. I'm 27 years old post-college and I was like I said kind of finding it really hard to make new friends post-grad like you don't have that kind of built-in social life that I had in college and in school before that. I have a cause that I care a lot about and wanted to get more involved with that. That's kind of part two of how I got involved volunteering. As I've gotten more involved, I realize how valuable it's been to me. Like I said, it kind of made me realize a passion that I can turn into a career. It's helped me make all of these lifelong friends that are also incredible people and love giving back. But I think it's really important as an able-bodied 20-something-year-old who, again, doesn't have kids. It's like, what else do I have to do? For me, I have the time more than I have money. And so I give time instead of money. That's the position that a lot of people in like our age group are in where we have more time than we have money.
Speaker #0
Or maybe we do want to spend our money on going on trips and stuff. It just doesn't really align with us to give all of our money to nonprofits, but there's other options than that. So what would you say to someone who doesn't necessarily have a lot of time or money? How do you think they could get involved in volunteering? I would say, cause I mean, and I even started really small. And when I tell people all that I do as a volunteer, they're kind of like, I have to do that much. And it's like, absolutely not. That is just Kate and she is built different. I'm a little loco. I sometimes forget that I still have to pay bills and that like, they don't pay me to be there. So like, again, make sure that your bills are paid.
Speaker #1
If you don't, if you really don't have a lot of time or money, I would still, it's important to know what you're passionate about. And I think that's one of the things that we kind of figure out. in our early 20s is what is a cause that I'm actually really passionate about? We start to see and experience all the problems in the world. And so this is an opportunity to maybe you don't like people being hungry. You don't like the fact that again, I don't either. I've just chosen where to put my time. But like, say that's something you're really passionate about. Maybe it's kids who have parents who struggle with addiction, maybe whatever you're passionate about, there's a way to help. And at the point in our life that we're in. we're able to do something about it just by showing up. So again, using World Hunger as an example, all you have to do is look up organizations near me that help the cause I'm passionate about, and you'll be able to find ways to help the problem you're passionate about. A lot of times that's a great way to start small is getting involved in their Facebook groups where they share announcements and stuff. That's where you'll find a lot of volunteer opportunities, just kind of like one-offs, whether it's like a food drive or just like events that they're doing that you can get involved with. Or it's like, oh, maybe I do have that Saturday from three to four free to go hand out food or whatever it is. But even just if all you can do is once you've looked at different options to help, if all you really can do is share the word, then that's still you're sharing. that organization to your network and getting other people involved, getting more eyes on it. We all know how powerful social media is. And so just kind of utilizing that is a way to help these organizations and causes that you're passionate about.
Speaker #0
So how would you say volunteering has changed you personally?
Speaker #1
Well, not to get too deep into my problems. No,
Speaker #0
get deep into your problems. Are you kidding me? That is what we do here. We get deep into our problems.
Speaker #1
That is kind of what we go into on this podcast. But I always kind of struggled with a lot of vulnerability. I had an older brother growing up. And so if I showed any bit of weakness, that was hijacked and exploited to full extent. And so that made me really like, even if I wanted to sob my eyes out. I learned through all of that, that hold it in, kind of shove it down and all that. And so that was something that all of my friends just kind of joked, Kate, you're heartless. Like they knew I cared, but I just never really showed it. And volunteering is hard, especially animal welfare. You're usually helping people who can't really help themselves. And it can be hard to see. I won't ever sugarcoat that. It's not working in an animal shelter clinic is not for everyone. There's still ways to help. But all I'm saying is. Going through those hard things that I've gone through through volunteering has really helped me realize that being vulnerable is okay and like the benefits to it and how necessary it is to just kind of feel your feelings, process it, but also just kind of be able to set that aside. There's more that needs to be tackled.
Speaker #0
Yeah.
Speaker #1
There'll be more hard days, but you would have never caught me walking around a public building with tears coming down my face. three, four years ago. Now it's like, yeah, I just did some shit and that sucked and whatever. That was hard. I can be okay with that. So it's really helped me. That's obviously seeped over into just kind of my life in general of when something bad or hard happens, I can sit with that for a minute, tell people I'm struggling, but also know that I'm going to be okay after. So that's volunteering put me in hard situations, which taught me that. Um, and so there's that, but also in another aspect, we mentioned how I'm kind of turning this into a career and volunteering was a great way to get resume experience that I wouldn't have been able to do not having a job in that industry. And so not only has it helped me like emotionally and with mental health, but it's also helped me land a job as a dog trainer at another facility so that I can learn more and then help more.
Speaker #0
Yeah. It's like, it just keeps building off of each other. It really does. It's learning more and then you help more and then you volunteer more and then you learn more through volunteering and you help more. So besides becoming more comfortable with being vulnerable, do you feel like there's any other skills or strengths that you have developed through volunteering?
Speaker #1
I mean, it's really fulfilling being able to give back. Like we kind of touched on the... And monetary donation wasn't so feasible for me. I also am a bit of a control freak. And like, you know, if I just donate $50, I don't know where that's going versus I can go help exactly what I want to help with. And like I said, it's so easy to just at the age we're at finally have causes that we care about, problems that we want to help solve. And being able to go do that is really fulfilling to me as a person. And there's just lots of different ways to get involved. If you go to church, there's, I'm sure, different ways to volunteer through your church with colleges that they're involved with. But just being able to directly help and feel like I'm impacting a bigger problem in the world is really fulfilling.
Speaker #0
So have you seen the impact of your volunteering? Like, give us a... firsthand experience where you have seen the impact of your volunteering?
Speaker #1
I mean, anytime that someone has told me, oh, I started fostering because I saw you doing that, or I'm anytime that I hear anyone else talk about volunteering, I feel like I've, you know, I do yap a lot. I'm on Facebook sharing dogs. I'm telling people to volunteer about things they care about. And so anytime that someone does tell me that like, hey, I saw you doing this and that kind of made me want to get involved in something. I feel like my mission's accomplished. Obviously helping anytime that I see a dog that I've walked or sent out for a dog day out, get adopted and fall in love. perfect home as I see the impact of my volunteering. So I see it all the time and I'm still continuing to see it. And that also kind of really helps the fulfillment that it brings me.
Speaker #0
Okay. So I'm going to take a little break to blow my nose. So we're going to go ahead and give the code for this episode. So our, I need to sneeze slash blow my nose break is going to include the code for this episode, which is... seven zero six one so if you want to have an opportunity to win a 500 gift card go ahead and go to our website www.stopwasteyourlifepodcast.com type in that code and follow the ways that you can enter that so can you share a specific story from volunteering that you just like No, you're never going to forget. Okay, so there's... Probably 600 of those. I want to hear number 599, please.
Speaker #1
Okay. Her name's Halo.
Speaker #0
So,
Speaker #1
and Halo's story is actually ongoing, but it's a special one. So I was driving to the shelter. This was last December. So just about a year ago, we're recording this in November of 25. This was December of 24. And it was one of those like weirdly nice December days in the Midwest where it's probably like 55 60 degrees in december like i said i'm driving to the shelter down highway 71 in kansas city i was about to turn onto gregory to go down the shelter i mean i'm five minutes away but highway 71's three lanes of traffic there's like some foresty stuff in the middle and i see a dog on the side of the road not exactly like on the side of the road but kind of like in that median and probably 10 feet from going into the road just laying there And I am, you know, I notice it and I drive a little bit past and I kind of look to see if anyone else is going to stop or just see if anyone's looking for this dog. If I don't need to stop on the side of the highway, I'm not trying to get killed, right? Realize no one is stopping for this dog. So I pull over and you don't know how it's going to go when you stop for a dog that's sitting on the side of the road. Am I about to watch a dog run into traffic? Am I about to get attacked? Like there's a lot of things that you can go wrong when you're catching a dog. So I have a leash. I have some treats and I don't want to scare her. So I stay probably 20, 30 feet away and I go more in by the woods so that if she runs to me, she's not running into traffic. Or that if she wants to get space, she has some options to go rather than like directly in traffic. And I whistle. Just to try to get her attention and like see if she'll acknowledge me and kind of what her thoughts are there. I whistle and she comes right up to me. And I was able to kind of like leash her up. She didn't have a collar on, so I had to kind of like make a little makeshift slip lead. And starts taking treats from my hand. And I'm like, okay, now I got to get her into the car. Hops right into the car. I'm like, all right. Little pit stop, but right back to where I was going. Like, you found the right girl. And she gets right on in. And so, like I said, I was literally about to go volunteer. Bring her into our intake office, and they scan her. She has a microchip. They were able to contact the owner and get them reunited, like, the next day. And any time that, like, there's return to owners, like, Obviously, a lot of them are very excited. It was a freak accident of my dog got out. And thank God that this is never going to happen again. But there's also somewhere it's like, okay, she'd been here before. It's like, why are you here again? Just a little bit of uneasiness about this. But I'm like, at least she's not at a shelter. Well, fast forward to this early fall, probably September this year, late August, early September. I was volunteering and I'm scrolling the website. And I see a dog that I recognize and his name is Halo. And I'm like, oh,
Speaker #0
shit. I'm like,
Speaker #1
I know this dog. And so I get in her info and kind of look it up. And I was like, sure enough, this is the dog that I found. A year later is here and wasn't reclaimed. So Halo had been at the shelter. Now that I'm kind of like looking through her notes, I was like, she has six admissions to the shelter. This dog has been here six times, one of which I've had. She's eight years old. She usually comes in with her sister, Chyna, who is 11 years old. And the dog mom had lost housing. And so she couldn't keep herself housed, let alone these two dogs. They kept getting out. She loved them so much. But it was obvious that, like, she reclaimed them. And then they came back, like, three days later as strays. Like, she just could not keep them contained in her current situation and then wasn't able to come reclaim them. And so they're with us. And so. We've finally gotten Halo into a foster home, but she's still available for adoption. And I just know that, like, I was even able to talk to her foster. She's such, because we know that she's been in a house most of her life. She gets along with other dogs, is house trained, like, just needs a place to hang out for her final few years or several years because eight's not even that old. But I just know that when this dog's adopted, I'm never going to forget her. It's like all that she's been through, like I said, like. The fact that I found her one of her six times and a year later, she actually made it to the shelter and like onto the floor available for adoption and is looking for her home.
Speaker #0
She's still, she's available for adoption.
Speaker #1
She is still available for adoption, but she's in a foster home. So she's not hanging out in the shelter every day, but yeah, still needs a permanent home to kind of spend the rest of her days. She reminds me a lot of my foster fail, Sadie Sue. I got her when she was eight. as a foster and she got along with my dog so well that i had to keep her so i think that that kind of similarity keeps a special spot in my heart for her but she's yeah the fact that i actually found like a good house dog instead of like a crazy feral ones to bite everyone makes
Speaker #0
me very happy oh so we definitely will be adding a link to halo to the show notes of this episode. So if you are interested in adopting her, please.
Speaker #1
please do it and send us photos and videos waved so she's she's a sweet girl i can vouch for her foster absolutely adores her but yeah one of the dogs that i found on the highway at one point is looking for her forever so if you want to be her forever home please follow the link and adopt her she'd be the sake of both of us yes and then continue to send me updates because i want to know everything so
Speaker #0
that's the story of halo What are some challenges that you face when you volunteer and how do you stay motivated when things get difficult and emotionally heavy? I mean, I know that dealing with a lot of heavy things is part of what you have to do.
Speaker #1
Yeah. Yeah. And I get a lot of people being like, oh, I can never do that. And yeah, it gets hard. I've lost track of how many dogs I've sat with when euthanasia has to happen for whatever reason. And one thing I will say about volunteering is that I don't think anyone will ever, ever judge you if there's just something that's kind of beyond your capabilities. We have several volunteers who, and again, with absolutely no judgment, just can't sit through that with a dog and they can still help in so many ways. It's hard. I just have the mentality of. I want to be with them in those last moments, if I can be comforting to them, then I'll do it. And if others can't, I can, then I will. But volunteering doesn't have to be miserable. Yeah, there are hard days. But I think the biggest thing and I actually we can kind of go into a little bit of a story that's kind of deepened my passion for what I do. Early on in my volunteering, I wanted to try fostering. And as I've kind of mentioned, Here already, I have continued to foster. So this was a small hiccup. And so I wanted to try fostering. And my dog, Molly Jo, who I just yelled at, is pretty selective with her dog friends. I was single at the time, living by myself. And so I, at the shelter, they're very familiar with all types of dog behavior. And they assured me, like, we, if we'll do a dog, introduce the dogs here, kind of give you some tips. We're here to help. and gave me some instructions on how to kind of do the introduction. Long story short, I messed that up. My dogs got into a fight. I got bit decently badly. And the decision was made that that dog that I was fostering was going to be put down because he was the one who bit me. That's still to this day, one of the hardest things that I've gone through. I took eight months off of volunteering. I thought I got someone's favorite dog killed. And I... didn't go to the shelter for eight months. I was still kind of on the Facebook. And like I talked about, if you don't have the time or money, there's still ways to kind of socially get the word out. And so I kind of stayed involved through there. Like I was like, I know I want to go back. I'm just not really. sure when that's going to be or how that's going to look like. I eventually saw on one of the volunteer pages, I eventually saw someone be like, hey, the shelter that I volunteer at has a full functioning vet clinic where they care for the dogs and they needed some more volunteer help back there. And she was like, hey, if anyone's interested in helping the clinic, we'd love some extra hands. And I kind of saw that as like, I can help, I can get back in, kind of dip my toes in without. being where everyone else is kind of avoid some of the hustle bustle people side and just spend time with dogs. And so that's kind of how I did my toes back into getting involved. And I honestly just walked in the clinic for months. But I was kind of talking to people there as I met them, they're like, Oh, how long have you been volunteering and kind of just told a few I'll never lie about that situation just kind of told a few people like, Oh, I've been volunteering since this date technically, but... haven't been here in a while because of the situation and i kind of told them what happened and no one judged me it was like we're we're so glad you're back thank you for coming back that's all that i got and that really showed me that as hard as sometimes this shit can get the people there get it they are right there with you going through it they've been through it if they aren't actively going through it with you and as much as like sometimes you want to run away and hide And if that's what you need to do, that's what I needed to do. That's what needs to happen. But just know that on those hard and possible days, the people who get it are there. And so, yeah, it gets hard. It gets ugly. And when you need to take a break,
Speaker #0
take a break and do what you got to do. But also, they care. They want you there. There's still more that you can do. And sometimes just getting back to it and kind of getting through whatever it is, you get to the other side. Yeah, that's, I could never, I know people say that to you, but I could never. So why do you believe volunteering is important in today's world? And what advice would you give someone who wants to start volunteering?
Speaker #1
I think volunteering is so important because there's so many problems in the world. Social media really points those out to you open up Facebook or Instagram or anything and you see a... new breaking news story of people that are dying somewhere or something terrible that's happening. And you can really feel helpless seeing all of that. And volunteering was just my one small way to make a difference in something that I cared about. So like I said, like, obviously, my thing is dogs. And I love helping dogs who can't speak for themselves, or don't have owners to advocate for them. But if you want to help out. people in underserved countries. There's all these problems in the world and volunteering just lets you make a difference in that. So yeah, it's hard, but you got to remember that like you're making a difference about something you care about. And usually that is enough to kind of like get over a little bit of temporary pain and sadness. You can be sad that there are people dying or you can do something about the fact that people are dying or whatever the problem is. And like I said, if you're able-bodied, then you can give time instead of money and it's just as valuable, if not more. And to start volunteering, just ask yourself, what am I passionate about? What do I want to help fix? Most nonprofit organizations accept volunteers or have a volunteer program. If you really are passionate about it and you can't find a volunteer program, then figure out how you can start one.
Speaker #0
Start one.
Speaker #1
That's kind of a little bit more intense than just getting started. But. Just about any nonprofit will accept a volunteer. All you have to do is kind of find out what organizations are helping tackle the causes you're passionate about and reach out to them. If all you really have time for is some social media sharing, then that helps get the word out. But if you have time to go kind of be a front line and be boots on the ground wherever they need that, whether that's at their home-based facility or out in the community, wherever that be, just knowing what you're passionate about or just like whatever you see as a problem in the world that you want to be able to fix is a really great place to start.
Speaker #0
So Kate, my wonderful producer slash dog lover slash mom, two dogs, what advice would you give someone who feels like they lack that purpose right now?
Speaker #1
I'm telling you, like getting involved and helping those who are less fortunate than you gives you a purpose. And so just figure out who it is you want to help. if you want to help single moms, if you want to help people in poverty, if you want to help inner city kids, if you want to help animals, whatever it is, whoever you feel like you care about, help them. You'll be amazed at the feeling of accomplishment that gives you. You can have this, oh, I didn't do this. And so-and-so is doing this and this and this. And my friends are getting married. And this person just got into a relationship. But like, I helped people. I helped someone today. It gives you purpose pretty quickly.
Speaker #0
That was so good. Good job, Kate. Thanks. Well, that concludes our episode. I really hope you enjoyed hearing all about Kate's journey with volunteering. And again, if you are interested in adopting the wonderful, adorable Halo, go to our show notes. We will have a link to her profile. at the KC Pet Project. So please go check that out. One last reminder, we are still doing that giveaway for the $500 gift card. So if you're interested in that, go to our website, www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com. Click on the giveaways tab and there you will find all the ways you can enter into that. Thanks for listening to today's episode of Stop Wasting Your Life. We hope that you are feeling motivated to take charge of your future and start living with purpose, intention, and authenticity. If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to leave us a good review, give us a follow, and subscribe to our newsletter. For more information, go to www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, and we will see you next week.

Chapters

SWYL 20 v2
0sec
Marker
15min

About Stop Wasting Your Life

Stop Wasting Your Life began with a question our founder Ava Heinbach asked herself: “What am I doing with my life?”

Her journey—fueled by travel, raw conversations, bold adventures, and the courage to embrace what it means to be fully human—was shaped by the people she met and the lessons that cracked her open. Now, her mission is to share those stories and voices to help others live with purpose, depth, and freedom.

This podcast exists to inspire and equip listeners to create a life of intention—through honest dialogue, transformative experiences, and practical tools. We explore what it means to be fully alive: to embrace discomfort, pursue passion, prioritize well-being, seek adventure, and honor the messy beauty of being human.

Life is too short to live on autopilot—and far too meaningful to waste. Welcome to the journey.

https://www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com/

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Stop Wasting Your Life

Stop Wasting Your Life began with a question our founder Ava Heinbach asked herself: “What am I doing with my life?”

Life is too short to live on autopilot—and far too meaningful to waste. Welcome to the journey.

https://www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com/

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Description

Ava's Instagram | STYL Instagram

Stop Wasting Your Life is produced by KK Media Co.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
Hello and welcome to Stop Wasting Your Life, the podcast. I'm Ava Heimbach, your host and founder, and today I'm here with the wonderful Kate Cruz, my producer who knows all things podcast, dog lover and mom, and avid volunteer, which is what we're going to be talking about today. With the holidays coming up, I want you guys to learn how you can give back to others. And like I mentioned before, Kate is an avid volunteer. who believes that purpose is found in doing good for others. And she'll explain to us her journey with volunteering, how it has shaped her as a person, how you can get involved in volunteering if you aren't already. And we're going to hear all about Halo, a dog who is currently up for adoption at the KC Pet Project. Just a little reminder that that giveaway is still going on. $500 gift card of your choice. How could you literally not want that? So if you do want that, go to www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, click on the giveaways tab, and there you will find all the ways that you can enter to win that gift card. Are you interested in donating or sponsoring our podcast? You can go to our website, www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, and click on either the sponsor or donate tab. This podcast runs on the support of our listeners. So if you do enjoy listening, please consider donating or sponsoring us. And I say this before every episode, and I'm going to say it again. I want everyone to know that there is no right or wrong way to live your life. The definition of a fulfilling life is unique to each person. It's unique to me. It's unique to Kate. And we aren't here to tell you how to live your life. We just want to give you ideas. knowledge, and inspiration to help create a life that you think is beautiful. Little side note, I do have a really bad cold. So if I sound like I can't breathe, I can't breathe actually. And if there's a long pause, I probably had to blow my nose. So don't mind that. Make that two of us because I also have a bad cold. Yeah, look at us. We both have colds and we're in different states, thousands of miles apart, But yet we can. We can bond over the fact that we both have colds.
Speaker #1
So excuse our voices. Yes. Okay,
Speaker #0
you sound better than me, though.
Speaker #1
And also to clarify, I am a dog mom,
Speaker #0
not a human mom. Dog lover and dog mom, just to say that. There's a big difference. I do call my dogs my kids, but there's a big difference between the two. Okay, yes.
Speaker #1
There are no children running around your house. Just dogs. And a boyfriend. Four-legged kind.
Speaker #0
Welcome to Stop Wasting Your Life. the podcast that helps you break free from a life of self-doubt and distraction and inspires you to create a fulfilling and purposeful life. Each week, we dive into actionable advice, meaningful conversation, and insightful interviews to empower you to prioritize your well-being, pursue your passions, and become the best version of yourself. It's time to stop wasting your life and start building one that you are excited to wake up to.
Speaker #1
Once again,
Speaker #0
I'm Ava Heimbach, your host, and I'm here with the wonderful Kate Cruz, and this is Stop Wasting Your Life. So, Kate, it's weird welcoming you on my podcast because you literally on every single episode, we just don't ever hear from you.
Speaker #1
I know. It's funny being on this one. I'm not on mute, and I'm going to, like,
Speaker #0
have to resist the urge to just habitually put myself on mute after I talk. I know. I'm like, wait, I'm looking at you, and I'm talking to you, and this is... weird but like this is weird i'm usually just the figment of everyone's imagination and now they actually exist i know so everybody she is real i have not been lying to you about kate my producer she she is real and she is here so which now we're gonna throw everyone off because we're gonna not talk about podcasting i know exactly you and i we're a team though like it's not even just my podcast it's our podcast let's be real i know everything
Speaker #1
I know more than everyone else does.
Speaker #0
You probably know a little more than I do, not even going to lie. So before we begin, tell me, well, I guess I know a little bit about you, but tell our audience a little bit about yourself.
Speaker #1
Yeah. So I, like you said, my name is Kate. I have been in media production, specifically podcasting, since 2019. And so that has been my career, but I moved to Kansas City from Iowa in 2022. I was working remote, and this will kind of segue into what we're going to be talking about today, but I was working remote, knew a total of three people in Kansas City when I moved here, two of them which were cousins. So that's kind of like built-in friends. I don't know if they fully count, but I knew three people.
Speaker #0
They totally count. Cousins are literally my best friends.
Speaker #1
Perfect. So I knew, yeah, three people here working remote. So I wasn't like getting out of my house to go see coworkers and talk to people. And I realized I needed to do something to like socialize. And so in a very sane trail of thought, I was like, let's go socialize with dogs instead of people. And I looked up volunteer opportunities at KC Pet Project. So as you said, I'm a crazy dog person. I was like volunteering as a way to do some good and get me out of the house. And I'll probably meet some like-minded dog lovers while I'm at it. And you know, what's terrible about that? So I started volunteering with KC Pet Project in 2023. and started as every volunteer does, just kind of dipping your toes in the water, some dog walking and stuff. But as I'm sure we'll talk about today, have gotten a lot more involved with it since then to the point of realizing I want to make a career out of dogs and kind of pivoting to dog training in addition to podcasting. And so, yeah, that's what volunteering has kind of where it's taken me. And yeah, excited to talk more about it today.
Speaker #0
So would you say that?
Speaker #1
you feeling lonely motivated you to start volunteering or what would you say like motivated that i mean i it was definitely the social aspect was a big part of it and then there's the knowing that i was going to be doing some good in the world was like okay bonus um yeah it was definitely to kind it was to meet people and meet like-minded people for sure i like i said i was kind of isolated working from home stuck in my house for at least eight hours a day and then wasn't. going and doing anything after. So it was a way to get me out of my house and meet people that were also passionate about the same things I was.
Speaker #0
So what is the only role, volunteer role you're in right now working at KC Pet Project?
Speaker #1
Yep. That's the only place I volunteer, but really volunteering. And so like, obviously my passion is dogs. What I care about is animal welfare and helping people understand how to take care of their pets, how to be a good pet parent and helping our dogs find homes. but as we'll kind of dive into today what I found with volunteering. I'm 27 years old post-college and I was like I said kind of finding it really hard to make new friends post-grad like you don't have that kind of built-in social life that I had in college and in school before that. I have a cause that I care a lot about and wanted to get more involved with that. That's kind of part two of how I got involved volunteering. As I've gotten more involved, I realize how valuable it's been to me. Like I said, it kind of made me realize a passion that I can turn into a career. It's helped me make all of these lifelong friends that are also incredible people and love giving back. But I think it's really important as an able-bodied 20-something-year-old who, again, doesn't have kids. It's like, what else do I have to do? For me, I have the time more than I have money. And so I give time instead of money. That's the position that a lot of people in like our age group are in where we have more time than we have money.
Speaker #0
Or maybe we do want to spend our money on going on trips and stuff. It just doesn't really align with us to give all of our money to nonprofits, but there's other options than that. So what would you say to someone who doesn't necessarily have a lot of time or money? How do you think they could get involved in volunteering? I would say, cause I mean, and I even started really small. And when I tell people all that I do as a volunteer, they're kind of like, I have to do that much. And it's like, absolutely not. That is just Kate and she is built different. I'm a little loco. I sometimes forget that I still have to pay bills and that like, they don't pay me to be there. So like, again, make sure that your bills are paid.
Speaker #1
If you don't, if you really don't have a lot of time or money, I would still, it's important to know what you're passionate about. And I think that's one of the things that we kind of figure out. in our early 20s is what is a cause that I'm actually really passionate about? We start to see and experience all the problems in the world. And so this is an opportunity to maybe you don't like people being hungry. You don't like the fact that again, I don't either. I've just chosen where to put my time. But like, say that's something you're really passionate about. Maybe it's kids who have parents who struggle with addiction, maybe whatever you're passionate about, there's a way to help. And at the point in our life that we're in. we're able to do something about it just by showing up. So again, using World Hunger as an example, all you have to do is look up organizations near me that help the cause I'm passionate about, and you'll be able to find ways to help the problem you're passionate about. A lot of times that's a great way to start small is getting involved in their Facebook groups where they share announcements and stuff. That's where you'll find a lot of volunteer opportunities, just kind of like one-offs, whether it's like a food drive or just like events that they're doing that you can get involved with. Or it's like, oh, maybe I do have that Saturday from three to four free to go hand out food or whatever it is. But even just if all you can do is once you've looked at different options to help, if all you really can do is share the word, then that's still you're sharing. that organization to your network and getting other people involved, getting more eyes on it. We all know how powerful social media is. And so just kind of utilizing that is a way to help these organizations and causes that you're passionate about.
Speaker #0
So how would you say volunteering has changed you personally?
Speaker #1
Well, not to get too deep into my problems. No,
Speaker #0
get deep into your problems. Are you kidding me? That is what we do here. We get deep into our problems.
Speaker #1
That is kind of what we go into on this podcast. But I always kind of struggled with a lot of vulnerability. I had an older brother growing up. And so if I showed any bit of weakness, that was hijacked and exploited to full extent. And so that made me really like, even if I wanted to sob my eyes out. I learned through all of that, that hold it in, kind of shove it down and all that. And so that was something that all of my friends just kind of joked, Kate, you're heartless. Like they knew I cared, but I just never really showed it. And volunteering is hard, especially animal welfare. You're usually helping people who can't really help themselves. And it can be hard to see. I won't ever sugarcoat that. It's not working in an animal shelter clinic is not for everyone. There's still ways to help. But all I'm saying is. Going through those hard things that I've gone through through volunteering has really helped me realize that being vulnerable is okay and like the benefits to it and how necessary it is to just kind of feel your feelings, process it, but also just kind of be able to set that aside. There's more that needs to be tackled.
Speaker #0
Yeah.
Speaker #1
There'll be more hard days, but you would have never caught me walking around a public building with tears coming down my face. three, four years ago. Now it's like, yeah, I just did some shit and that sucked and whatever. That was hard. I can be okay with that. So it's really helped me. That's obviously seeped over into just kind of my life in general of when something bad or hard happens, I can sit with that for a minute, tell people I'm struggling, but also know that I'm going to be okay after. So that's volunteering put me in hard situations, which taught me that. Um, and so there's that, but also in another aspect, we mentioned how I'm kind of turning this into a career and volunteering was a great way to get resume experience that I wouldn't have been able to do not having a job in that industry. And so not only has it helped me like emotionally and with mental health, but it's also helped me land a job as a dog trainer at another facility so that I can learn more and then help more.
Speaker #0
Yeah. It's like, it just keeps building off of each other. It really does. It's learning more and then you help more and then you volunteer more and then you learn more through volunteering and you help more. So besides becoming more comfortable with being vulnerable, do you feel like there's any other skills or strengths that you have developed through volunteering?
Speaker #1
I mean, it's really fulfilling being able to give back. Like we kind of touched on the... And monetary donation wasn't so feasible for me. I also am a bit of a control freak. And like, you know, if I just donate $50, I don't know where that's going versus I can go help exactly what I want to help with. And like I said, it's so easy to just at the age we're at finally have causes that we care about, problems that we want to help solve. And being able to go do that is really fulfilling to me as a person. And there's just lots of different ways to get involved. If you go to church, there's, I'm sure, different ways to volunteer through your church with colleges that they're involved with. But just being able to directly help and feel like I'm impacting a bigger problem in the world is really fulfilling.
Speaker #0
So have you seen the impact of your volunteering? Like, give us a... firsthand experience where you have seen the impact of your volunteering?
Speaker #1
I mean, anytime that someone has told me, oh, I started fostering because I saw you doing that, or I'm anytime that I hear anyone else talk about volunteering, I feel like I've, you know, I do yap a lot. I'm on Facebook sharing dogs. I'm telling people to volunteer about things they care about. And so anytime that someone does tell me that like, hey, I saw you doing this and that kind of made me want to get involved in something. I feel like my mission's accomplished. Obviously helping anytime that I see a dog that I've walked or sent out for a dog day out, get adopted and fall in love. perfect home as I see the impact of my volunteering. So I see it all the time and I'm still continuing to see it. And that also kind of really helps the fulfillment that it brings me.
Speaker #0
Okay. So I'm going to take a little break to blow my nose. So we're going to go ahead and give the code for this episode. So our, I need to sneeze slash blow my nose break is going to include the code for this episode, which is... seven zero six one so if you want to have an opportunity to win a 500 gift card go ahead and go to our website www.stopwasteyourlifepodcast.com type in that code and follow the ways that you can enter that so can you share a specific story from volunteering that you just like No, you're never going to forget. Okay, so there's... Probably 600 of those. I want to hear number 599, please.
Speaker #1
Okay. Her name's Halo.
Speaker #0
So,
Speaker #1
and Halo's story is actually ongoing, but it's a special one. So I was driving to the shelter. This was last December. So just about a year ago, we're recording this in November of 25. This was December of 24. And it was one of those like weirdly nice December days in the Midwest where it's probably like 55 60 degrees in december like i said i'm driving to the shelter down highway 71 in kansas city i was about to turn onto gregory to go down the shelter i mean i'm five minutes away but highway 71's three lanes of traffic there's like some foresty stuff in the middle and i see a dog on the side of the road not exactly like on the side of the road but kind of like in that median and probably 10 feet from going into the road just laying there And I am, you know, I notice it and I drive a little bit past and I kind of look to see if anyone else is going to stop or just see if anyone's looking for this dog. If I don't need to stop on the side of the highway, I'm not trying to get killed, right? Realize no one is stopping for this dog. So I pull over and you don't know how it's going to go when you stop for a dog that's sitting on the side of the road. Am I about to watch a dog run into traffic? Am I about to get attacked? Like there's a lot of things that you can go wrong when you're catching a dog. So I have a leash. I have some treats and I don't want to scare her. So I stay probably 20, 30 feet away and I go more in by the woods so that if she runs to me, she's not running into traffic. Or that if she wants to get space, she has some options to go rather than like directly in traffic. And I whistle. Just to try to get her attention and like see if she'll acknowledge me and kind of what her thoughts are there. I whistle and she comes right up to me. And I was able to kind of like leash her up. She didn't have a collar on, so I had to kind of like make a little makeshift slip lead. And starts taking treats from my hand. And I'm like, okay, now I got to get her into the car. Hops right into the car. I'm like, all right. Little pit stop, but right back to where I was going. Like, you found the right girl. And she gets right on in. And so, like I said, I was literally about to go volunteer. Bring her into our intake office, and they scan her. She has a microchip. They were able to contact the owner and get them reunited, like, the next day. And any time that, like, there's return to owners, like, Obviously, a lot of them are very excited. It was a freak accident of my dog got out. And thank God that this is never going to happen again. But there's also somewhere it's like, okay, she'd been here before. It's like, why are you here again? Just a little bit of uneasiness about this. But I'm like, at least she's not at a shelter. Well, fast forward to this early fall, probably September this year, late August, early September. I was volunteering and I'm scrolling the website. And I see a dog that I recognize and his name is Halo. And I'm like, oh,
Speaker #0
shit. I'm like,
Speaker #1
I know this dog. And so I get in her info and kind of look it up. And I was like, sure enough, this is the dog that I found. A year later is here and wasn't reclaimed. So Halo had been at the shelter. Now that I'm kind of like looking through her notes, I was like, she has six admissions to the shelter. This dog has been here six times, one of which I've had. She's eight years old. She usually comes in with her sister, Chyna, who is 11 years old. And the dog mom had lost housing. And so she couldn't keep herself housed, let alone these two dogs. They kept getting out. She loved them so much. But it was obvious that, like, she reclaimed them. And then they came back, like, three days later as strays. Like, she just could not keep them contained in her current situation and then wasn't able to come reclaim them. And so they're with us. And so. We've finally gotten Halo into a foster home, but she's still available for adoption. And I just know that, like, I was even able to talk to her foster. She's such, because we know that she's been in a house most of her life. She gets along with other dogs, is house trained, like, just needs a place to hang out for her final few years or several years because eight's not even that old. But I just know that when this dog's adopted, I'm never going to forget her. It's like all that she's been through, like I said, like. The fact that I found her one of her six times and a year later, she actually made it to the shelter and like onto the floor available for adoption and is looking for her home.
Speaker #0
She's still, she's available for adoption.
Speaker #1
She is still available for adoption, but she's in a foster home. So she's not hanging out in the shelter every day, but yeah, still needs a permanent home to kind of spend the rest of her days. She reminds me a lot of my foster fail, Sadie Sue. I got her when she was eight. as a foster and she got along with my dog so well that i had to keep her so i think that that kind of similarity keeps a special spot in my heart for her but she's yeah the fact that i actually found like a good house dog instead of like a crazy feral ones to bite everyone makes
Speaker #0
me very happy oh so we definitely will be adding a link to halo to the show notes of this episode. So if you are interested in adopting her, please.
Speaker #1
please do it and send us photos and videos waved so she's she's a sweet girl i can vouch for her foster absolutely adores her but yeah one of the dogs that i found on the highway at one point is looking for her forever so if you want to be her forever home please follow the link and adopt her she'd be the sake of both of us yes and then continue to send me updates because i want to know everything so
Speaker #0
that's the story of halo What are some challenges that you face when you volunteer and how do you stay motivated when things get difficult and emotionally heavy? I mean, I know that dealing with a lot of heavy things is part of what you have to do.
Speaker #1
Yeah. Yeah. And I get a lot of people being like, oh, I can never do that. And yeah, it gets hard. I've lost track of how many dogs I've sat with when euthanasia has to happen for whatever reason. And one thing I will say about volunteering is that I don't think anyone will ever, ever judge you if there's just something that's kind of beyond your capabilities. We have several volunteers who, and again, with absolutely no judgment, just can't sit through that with a dog and they can still help in so many ways. It's hard. I just have the mentality of. I want to be with them in those last moments, if I can be comforting to them, then I'll do it. And if others can't, I can, then I will. But volunteering doesn't have to be miserable. Yeah, there are hard days. But I think the biggest thing and I actually we can kind of go into a little bit of a story that's kind of deepened my passion for what I do. Early on in my volunteering, I wanted to try fostering. And as I've kind of mentioned, Here already, I have continued to foster. So this was a small hiccup. And so I wanted to try fostering. And my dog, Molly Jo, who I just yelled at, is pretty selective with her dog friends. I was single at the time, living by myself. And so I, at the shelter, they're very familiar with all types of dog behavior. And they assured me, like, we, if we'll do a dog, introduce the dogs here, kind of give you some tips. We're here to help. and gave me some instructions on how to kind of do the introduction. Long story short, I messed that up. My dogs got into a fight. I got bit decently badly. And the decision was made that that dog that I was fostering was going to be put down because he was the one who bit me. That's still to this day, one of the hardest things that I've gone through. I took eight months off of volunteering. I thought I got someone's favorite dog killed. And I... didn't go to the shelter for eight months. I was still kind of on the Facebook. And like I talked about, if you don't have the time or money, there's still ways to kind of socially get the word out. And so I kind of stayed involved through there. Like I was like, I know I want to go back. I'm just not really. sure when that's going to be or how that's going to look like. I eventually saw on one of the volunteer pages, I eventually saw someone be like, hey, the shelter that I volunteer at has a full functioning vet clinic where they care for the dogs and they needed some more volunteer help back there. And she was like, hey, if anyone's interested in helping the clinic, we'd love some extra hands. And I kind of saw that as like, I can help, I can get back in, kind of dip my toes in without. being where everyone else is kind of avoid some of the hustle bustle people side and just spend time with dogs. And so that's kind of how I did my toes back into getting involved. And I honestly just walked in the clinic for months. But I was kind of talking to people there as I met them, they're like, Oh, how long have you been volunteering and kind of just told a few I'll never lie about that situation just kind of told a few people like, Oh, I've been volunteering since this date technically, but... haven't been here in a while because of the situation and i kind of told them what happened and no one judged me it was like we're we're so glad you're back thank you for coming back that's all that i got and that really showed me that as hard as sometimes this shit can get the people there get it they are right there with you going through it they've been through it if they aren't actively going through it with you and as much as like sometimes you want to run away and hide And if that's what you need to do, that's what I needed to do. That's what needs to happen. But just know that on those hard and possible days, the people who get it are there. And so, yeah, it gets hard. It gets ugly. And when you need to take a break,
Speaker #0
take a break and do what you got to do. But also, they care. They want you there. There's still more that you can do. And sometimes just getting back to it and kind of getting through whatever it is, you get to the other side. Yeah, that's, I could never, I know people say that to you, but I could never. So why do you believe volunteering is important in today's world? And what advice would you give someone who wants to start volunteering?
Speaker #1
I think volunteering is so important because there's so many problems in the world. Social media really points those out to you open up Facebook or Instagram or anything and you see a... new breaking news story of people that are dying somewhere or something terrible that's happening. And you can really feel helpless seeing all of that. And volunteering was just my one small way to make a difference in something that I cared about. So like I said, like, obviously, my thing is dogs. And I love helping dogs who can't speak for themselves, or don't have owners to advocate for them. But if you want to help out. people in underserved countries. There's all these problems in the world and volunteering just lets you make a difference in that. So yeah, it's hard, but you got to remember that like you're making a difference about something you care about. And usually that is enough to kind of like get over a little bit of temporary pain and sadness. You can be sad that there are people dying or you can do something about the fact that people are dying or whatever the problem is. And like I said, if you're able-bodied, then you can give time instead of money and it's just as valuable, if not more. And to start volunteering, just ask yourself, what am I passionate about? What do I want to help fix? Most nonprofit organizations accept volunteers or have a volunteer program. If you really are passionate about it and you can't find a volunteer program, then figure out how you can start one.
Speaker #0
Start one.
Speaker #1
That's kind of a little bit more intense than just getting started. But. Just about any nonprofit will accept a volunteer. All you have to do is kind of find out what organizations are helping tackle the causes you're passionate about and reach out to them. If all you really have time for is some social media sharing, then that helps get the word out. But if you have time to go kind of be a front line and be boots on the ground wherever they need that, whether that's at their home-based facility or out in the community, wherever that be, just knowing what you're passionate about or just like whatever you see as a problem in the world that you want to be able to fix is a really great place to start.
Speaker #0
So Kate, my wonderful producer slash dog lover slash mom, two dogs, what advice would you give someone who feels like they lack that purpose right now?
Speaker #1
I'm telling you, like getting involved and helping those who are less fortunate than you gives you a purpose. And so just figure out who it is you want to help. if you want to help single moms, if you want to help people in poverty, if you want to help inner city kids, if you want to help animals, whatever it is, whoever you feel like you care about, help them. You'll be amazed at the feeling of accomplishment that gives you. You can have this, oh, I didn't do this. And so-and-so is doing this and this and this. And my friends are getting married. And this person just got into a relationship. But like, I helped people. I helped someone today. It gives you purpose pretty quickly.
Speaker #0
That was so good. Good job, Kate. Thanks. Well, that concludes our episode. I really hope you enjoyed hearing all about Kate's journey with volunteering. And again, if you are interested in adopting the wonderful, adorable Halo, go to our show notes. We will have a link to her profile. at the KC Pet Project. So please go check that out. One last reminder, we are still doing that giveaway for the $500 gift card. So if you're interested in that, go to our website, www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com. Click on the giveaways tab and there you will find all the ways you can enter into that. Thanks for listening to today's episode of Stop Wasting Your Life. We hope that you are feeling motivated to take charge of your future and start living with purpose, intention, and authenticity. If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to leave us a good review, give us a follow, and subscribe to our newsletter. For more information, go to www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, and we will see you next week.

Chapters

SWYL 20 v2
0sec
Marker
15min

About Stop Wasting Your Life

Stop Wasting Your Life began with a question our founder Ava Heinbach asked herself: “What am I doing with my life?”

Life is too short to live on autopilot—and far too meaningful to waste. Welcome to the journey.

https://www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com/

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Stop Wasting Your Life

Stop Wasting Your Life began with a question our founder Ava Heinbach asked herself: “What am I doing with my life?”

Life is too short to live on autopilot—and far too meaningful to waste. Welcome to the journey.

https://www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com/

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Embed

Chapters

SWYL 20 v2
0sec
Marker
15min

About Stop Wasting Your Life

Stop Wasting Your Life began with a question our founder Ava Heinbach asked herself: “What am I doing with my life?”

Life is too short to live on autopilot—and far too meaningful to waste. Welcome to the journey.

https://www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com/

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Stop Wasting Your Life

Stop Wasting Your Life began with a question our founder Ava Heinbach asked herself: “What am I doing with my life?”

Life is too short to live on autopilot—and far too meaningful to waste. Welcome to the journey.

https://www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com/

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Description

Ava's Instagram | STYL Instagram

Stop Wasting Your Life is produced by KK Media Co.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Transcription

Speaker #0
Hello and welcome to Stop Wasting Your Life, the podcast. I'm Ava Heimbach, your host and founder, and today I'm here with the wonderful Kate Cruz, my producer who knows all things podcast, dog lover and mom, and avid volunteer, which is what we're going to be talking about today. With the holidays coming up, I want you guys to learn how you can give back to others. And like I mentioned before, Kate is an avid volunteer. who believes that purpose is found in doing good for others. And she'll explain to us her journey with volunteering, how it has shaped her as a person, how you can get involved in volunteering if you aren't already. And we're going to hear all about Halo, a dog who is currently up for adoption at the KC Pet Project. Just a little reminder that that giveaway is still going on. $500 gift card of your choice. How could you literally not want that? So if you do want that, go to www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, click on the giveaways tab, and there you will find all the ways that you can enter to win that gift card. Are you interested in donating or sponsoring our podcast? You can go to our website, www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, and click on either the sponsor or donate tab. This podcast runs on the support of our listeners. So if you do enjoy listening, please consider donating or sponsoring us. And I say this before every episode, and I'm going to say it again. I want everyone to know that there is no right or wrong way to live your life. The definition of a fulfilling life is unique to each person. It's unique to me. It's unique to Kate. And we aren't here to tell you how to live your life. We just want to give you ideas. knowledge, and inspiration to help create a life that you think is beautiful. Little side note, I do have a really bad cold. So if I sound like I can't breathe, I can't breathe actually. And if there's a long pause, I probably had to blow my nose. So don't mind that. Make that two of us because I also have a bad cold. Yeah, look at us. We both have colds and we're in different states, thousands of miles apart, But yet we can. We can bond over the fact that we both have colds.
Speaker #1
So excuse our voices. Yes. Okay,
Speaker #0
you sound better than me, though.
Speaker #1
And also to clarify, I am a dog mom,
Speaker #0
not a human mom. Dog lover and dog mom, just to say that. There's a big difference. I do call my dogs my kids, but there's a big difference between the two. Okay, yes.
Speaker #1
There are no children running around your house. Just dogs. And a boyfriend. Four-legged kind.
Speaker #0
Welcome to Stop Wasting Your Life. the podcast that helps you break free from a life of self-doubt and distraction and inspires you to create a fulfilling and purposeful life. Each week, we dive into actionable advice, meaningful conversation, and insightful interviews to empower you to prioritize your well-being, pursue your passions, and become the best version of yourself. It's time to stop wasting your life and start building one that you are excited to wake up to.
Speaker #1
Once again,
Speaker #0
I'm Ava Heimbach, your host, and I'm here with the wonderful Kate Cruz, and this is Stop Wasting Your Life. So, Kate, it's weird welcoming you on my podcast because you literally on every single episode, we just don't ever hear from you.
Speaker #1
I know. It's funny being on this one. I'm not on mute, and I'm going to, like,
Speaker #0
have to resist the urge to just habitually put myself on mute after I talk. I know. I'm like, wait, I'm looking at you, and I'm talking to you, and this is... weird but like this is weird i'm usually just the figment of everyone's imagination and now they actually exist i know so everybody she is real i have not been lying to you about kate my producer she she is real and she is here so which now we're gonna throw everyone off because we're gonna not talk about podcasting i know exactly you and i we're a team though like it's not even just my podcast it's our podcast let's be real i know everything
Speaker #1
I know more than everyone else does.
Speaker #0
You probably know a little more than I do, not even going to lie. So before we begin, tell me, well, I guess I know a little bit about you, but tell our audience a little bit about yourself.
Speaker #1
Yeah. So I, like you said, my name is Kate. I have been in media production, specifically podcasting, since 2019. And so that has been my career, but I moved to Kansas City from Iowa in 2022. I was working remote, and this will kind of segue into what we're going to be talking about today, but I was working remote, knew a total of three people in Kansas City when I moved here, two of them which were cousins. So that's kind of like built-in friends. I don't know if they fully count, but I knew three people.
Speaker #0
They totally count. Cousins are literally my best friends.
Speaker #1
Perfect. So I knew, yeah, three people here working remote. So I wasn't like getting out of my house to go see coworkers and talk to people. And I realized I needed to do something to like socialize. And so in a very sane trail of thought, I was like, let's go socialize with dogs instead of people. And I looked up volunteer opportunities at KC Pet Project. So as you said, I'm a crazy dog person. I was like volunteering as a way to do some good and get me out of the house. And I'll probably meet some like-minded dog lovers while I'm at it. And you know, what's terrible about that? So I started volunteering with KC Pet Project in 2023. and started as every volunteer does, just kind of dipping your toes in the water, some dog walking and stuff. But as I'm sure we'll talk about today, have gotten a lot more involved with it since then to the point of realizing I want to make a career out of dogs and kind of pivoting to dog training in addition to podcasting. And so, yeah, that's what volunteering has kind of where it's taken me. And yeah, excited to talk more about it today.
Speaker #0
So would you say that?
Speaker #1
you feeling lonely motivated you to start volunteering or what would you say like motivated that i mean i it was definitely the social aspect was a big part of it and then there's the knowing that i was going to be doing some good in the world was like okay bonus um yeah it was definitely to kind it was to meet people and meet like-minded people for sure i like i said i was kind of isolated working from home stuck in my house for at least eight hours a day and then wasn't. going and doing anything after. So it was a way to get me out of my house and meet people that were also passionate about the same things I was.
Speaker #0
So what is the only role, volunteer role you're in right now working at KC Pet Project?
Speaker #1
Yep. That's the only place I volunteer, but really volunteering. And so like, obviously my passion is dogs. What I care about is animal welfare and helping people understand how to take care of their pets, how to be a good pet parent and helping our dogs find homes. but as we'll kind of dive into today what I found with volunteering. I'm 27 years old post-college and I was like I said kind of finding it really hard to make new friends post-grad like you don't have that kind of built-in social life that I had in college and in school before that. I have a cause that I care a lot about and wanted to get more involved with that. That's kind of part two of how I got involved volunteering. As I've gotten more involved, I realize how valuable it's been to me. Like I said, it kind of made me realize a passion that I can turn into a career. It's helped me make all of these lifelong friends that are also incredible people and love giving back. But I think it's really important as an able-bodied 20-something-year-old who, again, doesn't have kids. It's like, what else do I have to do? For me, I have the time more than I have money. And so I give time instead of money. That's the position that a lot of people in like our age group are in where we have more time than we have money.
Speaker #0
Or maybe we do want to spend our money on going on trips and stuff. It just doesn't really align with us to give all of our money to nonprofits, but there's other options than that. So what would you say to someone who doesn't necessarily have a lot of time or money? How do you think they could get involved in volunteering? I would say, cause I mean, and I even started really small. And when I tell people all that I do as a volunteer, they're kind of like, I have to do that much. And it's like, absolutely not. That is just Kate and she is built different. I'm a little loco. I sometimes forget that I still have to pay bills and that like, they don't pay me to be there. So like, again, make sure that your bills are paid.
Speaker #1
If you don't, if you really don't have a lot of time or money, I would still, it's important to know what you're passionate about. And I think that's one of the things that we kind of figure out. in our early 20s is what is a cause that I'm actually really passionate about? We start to see and experience all the problems in the world. And so this is an opportunity to maybe you don't like people being hungry. You don't like the fact that again, I don't either. I've just chosen where to put my time. But like, say that's something you're really passionate about. Maybe it's kids who have parents who struggle with addiction, maybe whatever you're passionate about, there's a way to help. And at the point in our life that we're in. we're able to do something about it just by showing up. So again, using World Hunger as an example, all you have to do is look up organizations near me that help the cause I'm passionate about, and you'll be able to find ways to help the problem you're passionate about. A lot of times that's a great way to start small is getting involved in their Facebook groups where they share announcements and stuff. That's where you'll find a lot of volunteer opportunities, just kind of like one-offs, whether it's like a food drive or just like events that they're doing that you can get involved with. Or it's like, oh, maybe I do have that Saturday from three to four free to go hand out food or whatever it is. But even just if all you can do is once you've looked at different options to help, if all you really can do is share the word, then that's still you're sharing. that organization to your network and getting other people involved, getting more eyes on it. We all know how powerful social media is. And so just kind of utilizing that is a way to help these organizations and causes that you're passionate about.
Speaker #0
So how would you say volunteering has changed you personally?
Speaker #1
Well, not to get too deep into my problems. No,
Speaker #0
get deep into your problems. Are you kidding me? That is what we do here. We get deep into our problems.
Speaker #1
That is kind of what we go into on this podcast. But I always kind of struggled with a lot of vulnerability. I had an older brother growing up. And so if I showed any bit of weakness, that was hijacked and exploited to full extent. And so that made me really like, even if I wanted to sob my eyes out. I learned through all of that, that hold it in, kind of shove it down and all that. And so that was something that all of my friends just kind of joked, Kate, you're heartless. Like they knew I cared, but I just never really showed it. And volunteering is hard, especially animal welfare. You're usually helping people who can't really help themselves. And it can be hard to see. I won't ever sugarcoat that. It's not working in an animal shelter clinic is not for everyone. There's still ways to help. But all I'm saying is. Going through those hard things that I've gone through through volunteering has really helped me realize that being vulnerable is okay and like the benefits to it and how necessary it is to just kind of feel your feelings, process it, but also just kind of be able to set that aside. There's more that needs to be tackled.
Speaker #0
Yeah.
Speaker #1
There'll be more hard days, but you would have never caught me walking around a public building with tears coming down my face. three, four years ago. Now it's like, yeah, I just did some shit and that sucked and whatever. That was hard. I can be okay with that. So it's really helped me. That's obviously seeped over into just kind of my life in general of when something bad or hard happens, I can sit with that for a minute, tell people I'm struggling, but also know that I'm going to be okay after. So that's volunteering put me in hard situations, which taught me that. Um, and so there's that, but also in another aspect, we mentioned how I'm kind of turning this into a career and volunteering was a great way to get resume experience that I wouldn't have been able to do not having a job in that industry. And so not only has it helped me like emotionally and with mental health, but it's also helped me land a job as a dog trainer at another facility so that I can learn more and then help more.
Speaker #0
Yeah. It's like, it just keeps building off of each other. It really does. It's learning more and then you help more and then you volunteer more and then you learn more through volunteering and you help more. So besides becoming more comfortable with being vulnerable, do you feel like there's any other skills or strengths that you have developed through volunteering?
Speaker #1
I mean, it's really fulfilling being able to give back. Like we kind of touched on the... And monetary donation wasn't so feasible for me. I also am a bit of a control freak. And like, you know, if I just donate $50, I don't know where that's going versus I can go help exactly what I want to help with. And like I said, it's so easy to just at the age we're at finally have causes that we care about, problems that we want to help solve. And being able to go do that is really fulfilling to me as a person. And there's just lots of different ways to get involved. If you go to church, there's, I'm sure, different ways to volunteer through your church with colleges that they're involved with. But just being able to directly help and feel like I'm impacting a bigger problem in the world is really fulfilling.
Speaker #0
So have you seen the impact of your volunteering? Like, give us a... firsthand experience where you have seen the impact of your volunteering?
Speaker #1
I mean, anytime that someone has told me, oh, I started fostering because I saw you doing that, or I'm anytime that I hear anyone else talk about volunteering, I feel like I've, you know, I do yap a lot. I'm on Facebook sharing dogs. I'm telling people to volunteer about things they care about. And so anytime that someone does tell me that like, hey, I saw you doing this and that kind of made me want to get involved in something. I feel like my mission's accomplished. Obviously helping anytime that I see a dog that I've walked or sent out for a dog day out, get adopted and fall in love. perfect home as I see the impact of my volunteering. So I see it all the time and I'm still continuing to see it. And that also kind of really helps the fulfillment that it brings me.
Speaker #0
Okay. So I'm going to take a little break to blow my nose. So we're going to go ahead and give the code for this episode. So our, I need to sneeze slash blow my nose break is going to include the code for this episode, which is... seven zero six one so if you want to have an opportunity to win a 500 gift card go ahead and go to our website www.stopwasteyourlifepodcast.com type in that code and follow the ways that you can enter that so can you share a specific story from volunteering that you just like No, you're never going to forget. Okay, so there's... Probably 600 of those. I want to hear number 599, please.
Speaker #1
Okay. Her name's Halo.
Speaker #0
So,
Speaker #1
and Halo's story is actually ongoing, but it's a special one. So I was driving to the shelter. This was last December. So just about a year ago, we're recording this in November of 25. This was December of 24. And it was one of those like weirdly nice December days in the Midwest where it's probably like 55 60 degrees in december like i said i'm driving to the shelter down highway 71 in kansas city i was about to turn onto gregory to go down the shelter i mean i'm five minutes away but highway 71's three lanes of traffic there's like some foresty stuff in the middle and i see a dog on the side of the road not exactly like on the side of the road but kind of like in that median and probably 10 feet from going into the road just laying there And I am, you know, I notice it and I drive a little bit past and I kind of look to see if anyone else is going to stop or just see if anyone's looking for this dog. If I don't need to stop on the side of the highway, I'm not trying to get killed, right? Realize no one is stopping for this dog. So I pull over and you don't know how it's going to go when you stop for a dog that's sitting on the side of the road. Am I about to watch a dog run into traffic? Am I about to get attacked? Like there's a lot of things that you can go wrong when you're catching a dog. So I have a leash. I have some treats and I don't want to scare her. So I stay probably 20, 30 feet away and I go more in by the woods so that if she runs to me, she's not running into traffic. Or that if she wants to get space, she has some options to go rather than like directly in traffic. And I whistle. Just to try to get her attention and like see if she'll acknowledge me and kind of what her thoughts are there. I whistle and she comes right up to me. And I was able to kind of like leash her up. She didn't have a collar on, so I had to kind of like make a little makeshift slip lead. And starts taking treats from my hand. And I'm like, okay, now I got to get her into the car. Hops right into the car. I'm like, all right. Little pit stop, but right back to where I was going. Like, you found the right girl. And she gets right on in. And so, like I said, I was literally about to go volunteer. Bring her into our intake office, and they scan her. She has a microchip. They were able to contact the owner and get them reunited, like, the next day. And any time that, like, there's return to owners, like, Obviously, a lot of them are very excited. It was a freak accident of my dog got out. And thank God that this is never going to happen again. But there's also somewhere it's like, okay, she'd been here before. It's like, why are you here again? Just a little bit of uneasiness about this. But I'm like, at least she's not at a shelter. Well, fast forward to this early fall, probably September this year, late August, early September. I was volunteering and I'm scrolling the website. And I see a dog that I recognize and his name is Halo. And I'm like, oh,
Speaker #0
shit. I'm like,
Speaker #1
I know this dog. And so I get in her info and kind of look it up. And I was like, sure enough, this is the dog that I found. A year later is here and wasn't reclaimed. So Halo had been at the shelter. Now that I'm kind of like looking through her notes, I was like, she has six admissions to the shelter. This dog has been here six times, one of which I've had. She's eight years old. She usually comes in with her sister, Chyna, who is 11 years old. And the dog mom had lost housing. And so she couldn't keep herself housed, let alone these two dogs. They kept getting out. She loved them so much. But it was obvious that, like, she reclaimed them. And then they came back, like, three days later as strays. Like, she just could not keep them contained in her current situation and then wasn't able to come reclaim them. And so they're with us. And so. We've finally gotten Halo into a foster home, but she's still available for adoption. And I just know that, like, I was even able to talk to her foster. She's such, because we know that she's been in a house most of her life. She gets along with other dogs, is house trained, like, just needs a place to hang out for her final few years or several years because eight's not even that old. But I just know that when this dog's adopted, I'm never going to forget her. It's like all that she's been through, like I said, like. The fact that I found her one of her six times and a year later, she actually made it to the shelter and like onto the floor available for adoption and is looking for her home.
Speaker #0
She's still, she's available for adoption.
Speaker #1
She is still available for adoption, but she's in a foster home. So she's not hanging out in the shelter every day, but yeah, still needs a permanent home to kind of spend the rest of her days. She reminds me a lot of my foster fail, Sadie Sue. I got her when she was eight. as a foster and she got along with my dog so well that i had to keep her so i think that that kind of similarity keeps a special spot in my heart for her but she's yeah the fact that i actually found like a good house dog instead of like a crazy feral ones to bite everyone makes
Speaker #0
me very happy oh so we definitely will be adding a link to halo to the show notes of this episode. So if you are interested in adopting her, please.
Speaker #1
please do it and send us photos and videos waved so she's she's a sweet girl i can vouch for her foster absolutely adores her but yeah one of the dogs that i found on the highway at one point is looking for her forever so if you want to be her forever home please follow the link and adopt her she'd be the sake of both of us yes and then continue to send me updates because i want to know everything so
Speaker #0
that's the story of halo What are some challenges that you face when you volunteer and how do you stay motivated when things get difficult and emotionally heavy? I mean, I know that dealing with a lot of heavy things is part of what you have to do.
Speaker #1
Yeah. Yeah. And I get a lot of people being like, oh, I can never do that. And yeah, it gets hard. I've lost track of how many dogs I've sat with when euthanasia has to happen for whatever reason. And one thing I will say about volunteering is that I don't think anyone will ever, ever judge you if there's just something that's kind of beyond your capabilities. We have several volunteers who, and again, with absolutely no judgment, just can't sit through that with a dog and they can still help in so many ways. It's hard. I just have the mentality of. I want to be with them in those last moments, if I can be comforting to them, then I'll do it. And if others can't, I can, then I will. But volunteering doesn't have to be miserable. Yeah, there are hard days. But I think the biggest thing and I actually we can kind of go into a little bit of a story that's kind of deepened my passion for what I do. Early on in my volunteering, I wanted to try fostering. And as I've kind of mentioned, Here already, I have continued to foster. So this was a small hiccup. And so I wanted to try fostering. And my dog, Molly Jo, who I just yelled at, is pretty selective with her dog friends. I was single at the time, living by myself. And so I, at the shelter, they're very familiar with all types of dog behavior. And they assured me, like, we, if we'll do a dog, introduce the dogs here, kind of give you some tips. We're here to help. and gave me some instructions on how to kind of do the introduction. Long story short, I messed that up. My dogs got into a fight. I got bit decently badly. And the decision was made that that dog that I was fostering was going to be put down because he was the one who bit me. That's still to this day, one of the hardest things that I've gone through. I took eight months off of volunteering. I thought I got someone's favorite dog killed. And I... didn't go to the shelter for eight months. I was still kind of on the Facebook. And like I talked about, if you don't have the time or money, there's still ways to kind of socially get the word out. And so I kind of stayed involved through there. Like I was like, I know I want to go back. I'm just not really. sure when that's going to be or how that's going to look like. I eventually saw on one of the volunteer pages, I eventually saw someone be like, hey, the shelter that I volunteer at has a full functioning vet clinic where they care for the dogs and they needed some more volunteer help back there. And she was like, hey, if anyone's interested in helping the clinic, we'd love some extra hands. And I kind of saw that as like, I can help, I can get back in, kind of dip my toes in without. being where everyone else is kind of avoid some of the hustle bustle people side and just spend time with dogs. And so that's kind of how I did my toes back into getting involved. And I honestly just walked in the clinic for months. But I was kind of talking to people there as I met them, they're like, Oh, how long have you been volunteering and kind of just told a few I'll never lie about that situation just kind of told a few people like, Oh, I've been volunteering since this date technically, but... haven't been here in a while because of the situation and i kind of told them what happened and no one judged me it was like we're we're so glad you're back thank you for coming back that's all that i got and that really showed me that as hard as sometimes this shit can get the people there get it they are right there with you going through it they've been through it if they aren't actively going through it with you and as much as like sometimes you want to run away and hide And if that's what you need to do, that's what I needed to do. That's what needs to happen. But just know that on those hard and possible days, the people who get it are there. And so, yeah, it gets hard. It gets ugly. And when you need to take a break,
Speaker #0
take a break and do what you got to do. But also, they care. They want you there. There's still more that you can do. And sometimes just getting back to it and kind of getting through whatever it is, you get to the other side. Yeah, that's, I could never, I know people say that to you, but I could never. So why do you believe volunteering is important in today's world? And what advice would you give someone who wants to start volunteering?
Speaker #1
I think volunteering is so important because there's so many problems in the world. Social media really points those out to you open up Facebook or Instagram or anything and you see a... new breaking news story of people that are dying somewhere or something terrible that's happening. And you can really feel helpless seeing all of that. And volunteering was just my one small way to make a difference in something that I cared about. So like I said, like, obviously, my thing is dogs. And I love helping dogs who can't speak for themselves, or don't have owners to advocate for them. But if you want to help out. people in underserved countries. There's all these problems in the world and volunteering just lets you make a difference in that. So yeah, it's hard, but you got to remember that like you're making a difference about something you care about. And usually that is enough to kind of like get over a little bit of temporary pain and sadness. You can be sad that there are people dying or you can do something about the fact that people are dying or whatever the problem is. And like I said, if you're able-bodied, then you can give time instead of money and it's just as valuable, if not more. And to start volunteering, just ask yourself, what am I passionate about? What do I want to help fix? Most nonprofit organizations accept volunteers or have a volunteer program. If you really are passionate about it and you can't find a volunteer program, then figure out how you can start one.
Speaker #0
Start one.
Speaker #1
That's kind of a little bit more intense than just getting started. But. Just about any nonprofit will accept a volunteer. All you have to do is kind of find out what organizations are helping tackle the causes you're passionate about and reach out to them. If all you really have time for is some social media sharing, then that helps get the word out. But if you have time to go kind of be a front line and be boots on the ground wherever they need that, whether that's at their home-based facility or out in the community, wherever that be, just knowing what you're passionate about or just like whatever you see as a problem in the world that you want to be able to fix is a really great place to start.
Speaker #0
So Kate, my wonderful producer slash dog lover slash mom, two dogs, what advice would you give someone who feels like they lack that purpose right now?
Speaker #1
I'm telling you, like getting involved and helping those who are less fortunate than you gives you a purpose. And so just figure out who it is you want to help. if you want to help single moms, if you want to help people in poverty, if you want to help inner city kids, if you want to help animals, whatever it is, whoever you feel like you care about, help them. You'll be amazed at the feeling of accomplishment that gives you. You can have this, oh, I didn't do this. And so-and-so is doing this and this and this. And my friends are getting married. And this person just got into a relationship. But like, I helped people. I helped someone today. It gives you purpose pretty quickly.
Speaker #0
That was so good. Good job, Kate. Thanks. Well, that concludes our episode. I really hope you enjoyed hearing all about Kate's journey with volunteering. And again, if you are interested in adopting the wonderful, adorable Halo, go to our show notes. We will have a link to her profile. at the KC Pet Project. So please go check that out. One last reminder, we are still doing that giveaway for the $500 gift card. So if you're interested in that, go to our website, www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com. Click on the giveaways tab and there you will find all the ways you can enter into that. Thanks for listening to today's episode of Stop Wasting Your Life. We hope that you are feeling motivated to take charge of your future and start living with purpose, intention, and authenticity. If you enjoyed today's conversation, be sure to leave us a good review, give us a follow, and subscribe to our newsletter. For more information, go to www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com, and we will see you next week.

Chapters

SWYL 20 v2
0sec
Marker
15min

About Stop Wasting Your Life

Stop Wasting Your Life began with a question our founder Ava Heinbach asked herself: “What am I doing with my life?”

Life is too short to live on autopilot—and far too meaningful to waste. Welcome to the journey.

https://www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com/

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

About Stop Wasting Your Life

Stop Wasting Your Life began with a question our founder Ava Heinbach asked herself: “What am I doing with my life?”

Life is too short to live on autopilot—and far too meaningful to waste. Welcome to the journey.

https://www.stopwastingyourlifepodcast.com/

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.

Embed

Chapters

SWYL 20 v2

Marker

Chapters

SWYL 20 v2

Marker

Chapters

SWYL 20 v2

Marker

Chapters

SWYL 20 v2

Marker