My coaching class facilitators had homework for all of the bright eyed and hungry learners in our class. In order for us as coaches to enable our clients to see how powerful it is to recognize how far they have come in their journey, we needed to see it first hand. We were instructed to write a ten minute story about our story. It was specific to coach training and becoming certified and was set in the future. What did we do before becoming certified as a coach, what were we learning about our path to becoming a coach and lastly what did we do after we were certified.
Here is my story told in the third person.
____________________________________________________________________________
When Jenna Graduated from university with an advanced major in Psychology from Nova Scotia, she wanted to become a counselor. She knew she had a gift and deep knowing that she was meant to help people grow through difficult and uncomfortable times.
After she lost her first love, she decided to move to British Columbia to be around her mother, step father and sister for a 'fresh start' The desire to be a counselor grew and she started researching what it took to get into the masters program at the University of BC. She requested letters of recommendation from her favourite psychology professors and ordered two copies of her 4.1 GPA transcripts to be sent to her Richmond, BC home.
She applied and was accepted into UBC.
Then she met a boy. He whisked her away and they traveled to England, Ireland, Scotland, France, Belgium, Australia, Fiji and New Zealand (his homeland) where they finally settled. They did this, you see, because she was pregnant. He wanted to be around family and he wanted to work and save money for their growing family.
She chose to put her dreams and wants aside because this is something she felt she should do. Everyone else thought it was the right decision, so it must be?! The time dragged on and the relationship strained living in his family home. After one and a half years, there wasn't much left of the relationship, or Jenna, for that matter. She was but a shell. A mere existence of what she once was. In an effort to save the relationship, they thought that moving back to Vancouver would be the fire that would re-ignite the passion and love. The little girl was 7 months old, and oh what a beauty she was.
What happened? You guessed it. The relationship was worse than ever and they quickly split.
Jenna found herself alone. Her mother and step-father had left the mainland to start their own business on Vancouver Island. She had little to no support from the father. She now had to make the part time employment at a local spa making $11/hour a full time job to support her and her infant.
For a long time, Jenna placed one foot in front of the other and it was all she could do to keep going. She was lost and scared. Years after giving her power to someone else, she forgot about the strength she had. It had been neglected and buried.
Time went on, 4 years in fact, and after 3 consecutively better paying jobs, something happened. She can't figure out what it was, but she longed for MORE. She wanted out of the dungeon of being a slave to her life and even though she didn't know it at the time, she wanted to be involved in her life and take a stand for her and her beautiful soul.
She came across a colleague who was a coach. This coach offered her a sample session; 20 min of free coaching, a taste test, if you will. After this, Jenna was consumed by hunger. Her appetite was larger than life and she wanted more learning. She knew this was calling her and she had to act, now!
With that knowing, she interviewed a few people who had graduated from the various local coaching institutions. One of them really touched her and she decide to pursue this route. CTI was her school. It was perfect and fit beautifully within her schedule. She entered that first class (of 5) a tiger cub and left the last class feeling like the tigress.
Still uneasy, and realizing there were lots left to learn, she took those wobbly baby steps out to create her world. She knew she had the skills to enrich her clients lives and she knew everything was as it should be and that her world would fall into place. It did.
She made some of the most intimate and caring connections within those classes. Friendships that she had always longed and hoped for. She had her support system and network grow exponentially and she started to feel freer than she had ever felt before. The weight on her shoulders was gone and was replaced by a pulley that would lift her up when she felt down.
Her roster of clients filled up within months of the last class and this was the work that gave her energy and fulfillment. It fanned the flames that at one time were tiny embers hoping not to be snuffed out. She was ALIVE!!!!!
She went through certification, not because she had to, but because it would elicit more self growth and enrich her coaching and better serve her clients.
A few years later, Jenna was setting her own hours, making more money than she ever dreamed was possible and was able to spend more time with the people she loved and doing the things she most treasured. She was free. Free of constraints and pressures. Free of stress and anxieties. Free of the belief that she wasn't good enough and free of, this is key, the thought that she was a passive participant in her life. She stepped forward into her dreams. She WAS the powerhouse that all of those people told her she was.
Looking back, Jenna chose her path. She chose to show up and become an active participant in her life. She did so with grace, ease and a kindness that touched people's souls. She chose to find Jenna again and offer that gift to the world.
This was the story of Jenna taking her precious life into her own hands.
Thank you for reading my story. I challenge you to do the same and see how far you have come in the last 5 years. You are worth it.
XX
