Long, long ago, in a land far, far away … a personal coach saved my life.
I’d spent the better part of a year going through a series of unfortunate events that ultimately resulted in (among other things) my developing PTSD. (0/10, would NOT recommend. PTSD sucks.)
I tried a LOT of things to get even a little bit better. But the little remote area I lived in had limited access to health care, so … yeah, it was bad.
When an intake appointment (read: the first chance you have to even TALK with a provider) I’d already been waiting three months for was suddenly cancelled – and could not be rescheduled for at least 10 months (not a typo) – well, it turns out there are levels of despair.
And I had just been pitched off the last level on which I could continue to function.
Thankfully, I finally remembered that my employer offered an EAP – Employee Assistance Program – something I’d never before thought to use. And working with the life coach the EAP connected me with right away, I felt the first small glimmer of HOPE I had encountered since the PTSD symptoms began.
So, has my life progressed from that moment, in a seamless movie montage of success after shining success?
NOPE!
But having any hope at all, after having precisely none for too long?
That changes things.
In addition to making me a life-long, hard-core advocate for EAPs, that experience left me fascinated by the concept of personal coaching.
Now, at first, let’s be real: pursuing anything more complex than surviving each day was far beyond my capacity.
So, I just did the surviving.
Then, eventually, the healing.
And at some point, I managed ‘kinda functional’! (There was absolutely cake for THAT celebration.) And thankfully, I kept inching forward.
You ever have that THING that nags at the back of your mind, though? Never really intrusive, but never … not there?
That was coaching for me.
I read everything I could find on coaching as it developed. I looked at training programs. And then more training programs. I went back and forth 1,000 times on whether I should become a coach. I dreamed. And agonized. And did the whole cycle over again.
It wasn’t until 2023, when I was working with a client group run by an ICF Master Coach, that I started to really consider coaching. It started with asking my client if I could interview her sometime, separate from our project, to ask questions about coaching, because it was something I had long had an interest in.
And she surprised me by saying, “I mean, sure … but … you’re … already coaching … …?” with that kindly air of confusion that tells you *might* be speaking gibberish but the lovely person you’re speaking to doesn’t want to be impolite about it.
Further discussion ensued!
And she taught me that I was already asking coaching questions and leading her and others on her team through our work together in same way she worked with her coaching clients.
HUH.
Over the two years of our project together, she graciously supported me to really explore what coaching already looked like in my work as well as talking time to answer my questions about her training and processes.
AND. I. WAS. HOOKED.
Training, certifications, and a lot of ups, downs, and in-betweens later, and I got to move into coaching full time.
I have been blessed to work in some of the most wonderful, valuable jobs knowing to humankind. And coaching is by far the most meaningful work I have ever done.
