Let yourself be moved

Last Thursday I was moved while coaching a young woman (let’s call her Jamie). Jamie was referred to me because she was experiencing a burnout.

She’s a salesperson, and despite being a top performer for the first two years at her company, her numbers began to fall unexpectedly last January.

She was visibly upset at the beginning of our call—after months of mounting stress and frustration, she was ready to throw in the towel with her employer and start searching for a new career.

Because of her dissatisfaction with work (a source of self-worth), she was finding it difficult to focus on other aspects of life. She no longer enjoyed camping trips with friends, her meditation and yoga practices, and her passion for writing.

20 minutes into our coaching conversation, an insight began to emerge.

We first discovered that although she was feeling increasingly exhausted, overwhelmed and resentful towards her job, the amount of work itself had not changed in any significant way since January.

She then saw an energetic “downward spiral” at play. The more disenfranchised she became with her work, the less engaged she was, which limited her ability to get results on the job, which caused her to stress and reinforced her belief that she should seek a new career path.

We dug deeper and uncovered the root of Jamie’s issue—a deep longing to live and work more creatively.

This past year she had unconsciously ignored creative urges (such as experimenting more with creative writing and deepening her yoga practice through advanced training). Together we uncovered several limiting beliefs that had led her to de-prioritize those most joyful pursuits.

Seeing this, she began to liberate herself from her own self-imposed prison sentence.

When we first got on our call, she had felt trapped and reactive to her circumstances at work. By the end, she was able to see her situation with more objectivity and equanimity. From this point of view, Jamie began to see a much larger range of options for how she could move forward.

She felt she had choice. She started to envision a path forward that didn’t require an abrupt exit from her company. Instead, she saw how her current job could support her while she dives wholeheartedly into writing the next chapter in her career.

Jamie was moved through our conversation, and so was I. I left our call elated and in awe of the magic that is created between two people in coaching.

There are always more creative possibilities for us to discover.

Remember this, especially when you feel stuck. An inspiring path forward is just around the corner if you’re willing to be moved.

P.S. If you’re interested in having a powerful coaching conversation with me, I'd love to hear from you.