Confessions of a Life Coach

"Vulnerability is the birthplace of innovation, creativity, and change."  – Brené Brown

This blog post is the first of a series of “confessions”. As a perfectly imperfect human being, I believe that in order to best serve others we need to be authentic. So below is my first attempt at opening myself up to inspire others. 

From Controlling to Flexibility 

It took a couple of traumatizing life events for me to reach the conclusion that I need to be more flexible and open to what might come. My cultural, educational, and professional background have conditioned me to judge, control, and measure everything. Being this way has served me well in many aspects of my life. However, while my analytical characteristics still hold value, they lie on one end of a spectrum. And like many qualities, understanding how to expand your capability on that spectrum, and choosing which end to approach a situation from, can have a huge positive impact. 

My Wake-Up Call 

As I became more aware of the impact of stress on my health, family, and happiness, it became increasingly apparent that I needed to start making some changes. There were many events in my life that I could not fully control, despite my best efforts. Now, I see these difficulties as gifts in disguise. Sometimes, life gives us lemons. If you are a Beyoncé fan like me, you have listened to her latest album more than enough to know what to do with those lemons. I hate the saying "Everything happens for a reason." I’d rather say, "It happened; now unless we choose to find value, it happened for no reason.”

The most liberating part of my Coaching journey has been to let go and focus my energy on purpose and progress—not perfection. I started to notice how I was showing up every day as a Coach, Wife, Mom and Friend. All of a sudden, I realized that I didn't always need to have the answers. As long as I showed up, was present, focused on my purpose, and asked the right questions, the value that I could add was exponentially greater. 

Finding the Right Balance

Again, it's about purpose first, then progress, and never perfection. This means that I still have to work on finding the right balance every day. I have a system in place to keep me on track, but I maintain compassion for myself when reflecting on times that I made the wrong choice in a given situation. Most importantly, when I'm faced with choices going forward, I'll ask myself: "How does each approach support my intentions?" And I will let the answer guide my behaviour. 

Thanks for reading. If you're interested in continuing the dialogue, please connect with me via Facebook or Instragram and let me know what you see as your biggest development opportunity. How might you also consider this a strength?