Why I Love Being Coached
First things first, I’m admitting my bias here, I’m a coach. I coach people having babies, people dying, people in midlife, single people, people in struggling relationships, and people having a spiritual awakening or crisis of faith. Pretty much if a situation is coachable, I’m all over it. Coaching is my happy. I love us humans. I love our stories. I love our growth and joy and awesomeness. I love our sadness too, it’s part of the package.
Because of this, I’m rarely on the receiving end of a coaching call. The last several weeks though, I’ve been lucky enough to speak with multiple first-rate coaches, as the client.
Every time I have a coaching call as the client, I must first deal with my inner resistance. The resistance begins with the voices that point out that I already know all this, that if I can’t see the issue/wound/solution/clear path on a topic, how can some stranger on the other end of the phone. I assume some trauma of mine will be too big for them, when there’s nothing really all that big going on with me anyway. Getting past all that is hard for me, and it’s an excellent way for me to check my ego at the door.
Once I get past the resistance (sometimes that’s much easier then others), and we make it to the call, I feel like I babble on and on about whatever is bothering me, and then this magic person on the other end of the line says amazing things. They ask the right questions. They listen and stay open. They trust me to find my way. They make suggestions. They rephrase the situation and ask if they understood. Then, they call my bullshit out in the open. They point out when I’m saying story, not truth. They witness where my wounds and feelings of unworthiness are being given too much airtime and power. They hold me accountable to what I said I would do. Then they send me off with homework and to do’s and inner epiphanies.
Sometimes, it’s different. Sometimes it’s not about to-do’s but about releasing my own resistance. To do this requires looking at where I have a pattern that limits me. Or a wound that gathered too much traction. Or belief system that maybe served me a while back, but is now old and stale and getting in my way.
The acknowledgement of this block, instantly cracks something open and allows me to receive a flood of inspiration and new ideas. This epiphany begins transforming everything from triggers to patterns to habits.
A huge part of transformation begins with having to own up (like, out loud to another person) to my own shit getting in the way of my success/happiness/growth. Ugh! It sucks! It also might be the most motivating force in my world. Having to admit out loud to this patient, loving person on the other end of the phone that I couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t pull off whatever I said I would do, feels brutal. It doesn’t even matter what the reason was, could be a totally legit life event that got in the way. Saying it out loud though, starts feeling like I’m a sheepish seventh grader giving excuses as to why my homework isn’t done. And yet, it also carries less shame because it never has a chance to grow stale in my psyche. I have to own it pretty early in the process. Unlike stuff that lives in my own head for days/weeks/years that gathers momentum and dust and regret.
It is ridiculously healing and freeing and enlightening. It feels like I’m not only taking a weight off, but like I’m taking tons of weight off. Time with a coach makes me walk a bit taller. I speak with more confidence and move in the world with my swagger notched up. In just several phone calls, I managed to heal things that bogged me down, moved forward on ideas that were spending too much time in my head, found a plan for executing the next stage of my growth, and saw the connection between patterns of bad boundaries that were holding me stuck.
I pride myself on my kick ass, all in, self-accountability. I am the most loving and hardcore taskmaster there is when it comes to my own psyche and what’s going on in my heart and head. I have a secret love of digging through my belief systems, looking for cobwebs and outdated programming. But even with all that hardcore committed badassery, another perspective coming in and helping me move forward is worth way more than the cost per session.
And not only does that help me move forward into the best version of myself, it also reminds me of how powerful and beautiful this work is. To choose yourself, to choose your life, to choose you, is such a powerful thing.
Take the leap. Show up. Choose your best life. Find your joy. I promise it’s worth it.
If you’d like Jenn to help you break through blocks, find your inner inspiration and hold you accountable to your goals, book a session.
If you want to be a coach who helps others break through blocks, find their inner passion and hold them accountable to their goals, check out our Catalyst Coaching Intensive.
