What will you do with your stimulus check? Will you use it to stimulate your business? Your life? Your body? A few weeks ago, in a desire to stimulate all these things, I hired a life coach. Now I need to tell you that I don’t make a six-figure income, or drive a new car. I don’t get my nails done professionally, and I don’t own a $200 purse. My point is, as I discovered after my first appointment: Life coaching is not for the rich and famous. It is for women like you and me -- everyday moms and business owners who are, quite simply, stuck.
What did stuck look like for me? Well, when I began working with my Coach, Laura Fenamore, I was at least fifty pounds overweight. Although I love a good walk, I had not taken one in weeks (maybe months). I own a beautiful canoe that I haven’t gotten into in two years. My business was good, but if I can’t get it “from here to there” by July, I’ll have to go back to a desk job. My hair needs to be dyed, my home is disorganized and I see my husband so little that I forget what he looks like some days.
A few weeks later, the picture is definitely changing. I would love to tell you that I lost fifty pounds in five weeks, like some “Biggest Loser” miracle, and that I am turning clients away at the gate – hah. What I can share is that for the first time in a long time, I am eating better and feeling better about myself. That voice that used to say terrible things to me when I caught my own reflection in the mirror (fat, lazy, old), seems to have quieted down or gone out for a walk. Other words, like voluptuous, beautiful and fun fall off of my tongue like old friends. And oddly enough, I did just take on two wonderful clients. I also, quite by accident, seem to have lost seven pounds.
I’m not sure what it is that changed. You might say that I was already “ready” when I called Laura for her free consultation and fifteen-minutes of encouragement, but I know that isn’t true. A week after our first real appointment, I had to admit that I hadn’t done any of the assignments she gave me. Not one. (I didn’t even get into the canoe.) But somewhere between the second appointment and the day after the second appointment, I got mad. I got mad that I wasn’t ready and that I didn’t know how to get ready. I got mad at all the things and all the excuses that trapped me day after day after day. I got mad at my childhood and my shitty high school and my old house and my fat ass. I got mad at Laura Fenamore for stating the obvious, that no matter how valid my reasons for not getting to the assignments might be, I had still missed the opportunity to do something right for ME. I had done everything for everyone and nothing for Mary Agnes Antonopoulos. (Sound familiar?)
Life Coaching is not therapy, although it does seem to address many core issues. What it feels like, really, is a bridge. Sometimes it is a wooden bridge over a stream. (Picture chaos on one side and a Japanese Garden on the other.) Sometimes it’s one of those rope bridges over a mile-high ravine. Whatever it is, I can clearly see Laura Fenamore standing there on the other side, sharing techniques and a custom-built plan to put the next plank into place. She doesn’t lead me across, or invite me to use her bridge (solidly built decades ago as she lost 100 pounds forever). She patiently helps me and guides me to build my own, to spot where it might be flawed or unstable, and to move forward. She invites me to get from here to there.
If my life before coaching sounds eerily familiar, well, welcome home. The simple truth is that you are not stuck. The universe keeps moving forward, and every day is a new opportunity. You don’t have to know the way or have any answers. You just have to do the next right thing.
I don’t know about other Life Coaches, but Laura gives consultations and encouragement freely to all. Don’t wait standing by that ravine for one more day. To learn more about Laura Fenamore or Body Image Mastery, call her for a free consultation at (415) 464-1234 or visit her website at http://www.laurafenamore.com/.
What did stuck look like for me? Well, when I began working with my Coach, Laura Fenamore, I was at least fifty pounds overweight. Although I love a good walk, I had not taken one in weeks (maybe months). I own a beautiful canoe that I haven’t gotten into in two years. My business was good, but if I can’t get it “from here to there” by July, I’ll have to go back to a desk job. My hair needs to be dyed, my home is disorganized and I see my husband so little that I forget what he looks like some days.
A few weeks later, the picture is definitely changing. I would love to tell you that I lost fifty pounds in five weeks, like some “Biggest Loser” miracle, and that I am turning clients away at the gate – hah. What I can share is that for the first time in a long time, I am eating better and feeling better about myself. That voice that used to say terrible things to me when I caught my own reflection in the mirror (fat, lazy, old), seems to have quieted down or gone out for a walk. Other words, like voluptuous, beautiful and fun fall off of my tongue like old friends. And oddly enough, I did just take on two wonderful clients. I also, quite by accident, seem to have lost seven pounds.
I’m not sure what it is that changed. You might say that I was already “ready” when I called Laura for her free consultation and fifteen-minutes of encouragement, but I know that isn’t true. A week after our first real appointment, I had to admit that I hadn’t done any of the assignments she gave me. Not one. (I didn’t even get into the canoe.) But somewhere between the second appointment and the day after the second appointment, I got mad. I got mad that I wasn’t ready and that I didn’t know how to get ready. I got mad at all the things and all the excuses that trapped me day after day after day. I got mad at my childhood and my shitty high school and my old house and my fat ass. I got mad at Laura Fenamore for stating the obvious, that no matter how valid my reasons for not getting to the assignments might be, I had still missed the opportunity to do something right for ME. I had done everything for everyone and nothing for Mary Agnes Antonopoulos. (Sound familiar?)
Life Coaching is not therapy, although it does seem to address many core issues. What it feels like, really, is a bridge. Sometimes it is a wooden bridge over a stream. (Picture chaos on one side and a Japanese Garden on the other.) Sometimes it’s one of those rope bridges over a mile-high ravine. Whatever it is, I can clearly see Laura Fenamore standing there on the other side, sharing techniques and a custom-built plan to put the next plank into place. She doesn’t lead me across, or invite me to use her bridge (solidly built decades ago as she lost 100 pounds forever). She patiently helps me and guides me to build my own, to spot where it might be flawed or unstable, and to move forward. She invites me to get from here to there.
If my life before coaching sounds eerily familiar, well, welcome home. The simple truth is that you are not stuck. The universe keeps moving forward, and every day is a new opportunity. You don’t have to know the way or have any answers. You just have to do the next right thing.
I don’t know about other Life Coaches, but Laura gives consultations and encouragement freely to all. Don’t wait standing by that ravine for one more day. To learn more about Laura Fenamore or Body Image Mastery, call her for a free consultation at (415) 464-1234 or visit her website at http://www.laurafenamore.com/.
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