I've been talking a lot about transitions lately. The past 18 months was packed with so much: local and cross-country moves, major health issues and moves with parents, and job changes. The most significant job change was mine. I took the ultimate leap for me at this juncture and left my role in a non-profit to pursue my dream of life coaching full time. Big change, right?! Crazy! Who would leave the comfort of regular pay and benefits for the unknown?! Well...me. Because I don't want to look back one day and wonder "what if...?" I have learned a lot from a couple pivotal moments in my life.
One was when my water broke 8 weeks early in my 2nd pregnancy. I was teaching 3rd grade at the time. I was going to complete long-term sub plans over Christmas break, as the baby was due at the end of January. Instead, in the beginning of December, my water broke in a Ground Round restaurant (forever traumatizing the little boy at the table across from us who pointed and exclaimed, "Mommy! That lady is peeing in her pants!"). I was immediately hospitalized, put on bedrest, hooked up to IVs, and told to relax for the baby's well-being. There were no sub plans, no sub had even been hired at that point, and yet life went on. Those third graders continued to grow and learn just fine without me. And I decided to learn from that and listen to what my inner voice had been saying for the past couple of years: stay at home for a bit and enjoy your kids. We lived paycheck to paycheck for 4 years and had to get creative sometimes, but it worked out.
Another pivotal moment came when I was standing in the driveway on a Saturday morning drawing a chalk road so my children could drive wagons, pedal cars, and bikes on it. My husband brought the phone to me with a concerned look on his face and simply said, "It's your mom. She sounds upset." She had called to tell me my paternal grandma had passed away. I distinctly remember a car driving by, windows down, and happy passengers singing. I recall looking around and seeing neighbors busily working in their yards. I wanted to scream for all to hear, “Don't you all know the most loving woman with the best giggle ever just left this world?!" And yet life went on. That moment reinforced the idea of prioritizing loving and enjoying the people we care for.
A final juncture moment was in the middle of a September night when I received a call that my dad was being transported to the hospital with cardiac failure. There was a DNR order in place due to many health issues, so I fully knew the implications of this. Instead of running to the car to immediately be with my mom, I sat down to right sub notes. Honestly! And after about 10 minutes of getting nowhere because I was a mess, I had the clear message come through to me, almost like an audible voice in my head, “You've got to try something else. You've been over-worked and stressed for years. You're not happy with the way early childhood education is going. Try something else.” And I did. A few months later I cried with my principal in her office as I explained this would be my last year at that school.
At each of these crossroads I had no idea of what the future held. I didn't fully realize in each of those moments how brave I was being; how true to myself I was being. As I look back and reflect, I realize how wise I really was for each point in my life. And here I am again. Another momentous turning point in my life. Another juncture where I don't know what the future holds; yet do we ever know that?
I am excited to journey with you as your life coach.
Please reach out to me if you'd like to learn about how I can coach you through your pivotal moments - you're not in this alone!
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