Many people ask, “So what exactly do you do as a Life Coach?”
A little background on my company, Real Food Pure Love…
Five years ago it started as a one-on-one coaching service where I helped people clean up their diet, make small changes to their lifestyle and incrementally shift their mindset so they could feel healthier and happier.
To my surprise, it really took off! People craved this kind of support, wanted so bad to make changes in their life but didn’t know how, were starved for connection in many ways, and underneath it all just wanted someone to really listen, hold their hand and guide them toward feeling better.
As my practice grew, it quickly evolved into a deeper dive coaching around self-love, self-image, self-worth, confidence, authenticity, relationships, forgiveness, passion, intuition, fears, goal setting and achievement, empowerment…
My clients began referring to me as their Life Coach.
Whoa! I was a Health Coach, not a Life Coach!
At 30 years old what do I know about life?
After further contemplation and mediation on the topic, here’s what I discovered…
My passion to teach is undeniable.
My patience to actively listen, a blessing.
Compassion to empathize, innate.
My desire to help people heal and rise to their full potential, my mission.
The ability to utilize vast coaching techniques extremely effective.
The experiential learning which got me to this juncture in life, a gift.
One of my mentors, Dave Buck, CEO of Coachville, defines what a Coach does in four sentences:
1. Listens
2. Asks good questions
3. Gives good advice
4. Teaches skills
I’d add- 5. Has passion & experience in the area which they are coaching.
To be a Life Coach, you needn’t know everything about “Life”- because who really does? (I know 70, 80, 90 year olds who still haven’t really “figured it out”. It’s a mindset thing anyway. That for another time…)
You need to have a passion to serve people powerfully, an ability to help people get clear on their vision for their life, the necessary skills to support people in their evolution, and experiential learning on the issues at hand.
Another adored mentor of mine, Sara Goff, says, “You need to be just one step ahead of your clients. [And you help them heal]”.
To me, being one step ahead means that I’m still figuring shit out, and at the same time I’m deeply devoted to an ongoing journey of personal and spiritual growth.
I often say, “We teach best what we need to learn most.”
As I guide my clients toward opening their heart, expressing their truths and vulnerabilities, finding forgiveness, facing fears, trusting their intuition, changing the way they are in relationship to their life, living for them instead of for everyone else, and creating massive change, I too am learning all the same.
The experiences I went through with disordered eating, body dysmorphia, horrible relationship to myself, all the ways my traumatic childhood stuff manifested (you can read more on that story here), brought me right where I am today. In deep service of healing. And I wouldn’t change a thing; it’s an extraordinary blessing.
Coaching is the most rewarding and fulfilling things I have ever done in my life. Never is the willingness and trust it took to follow this path ever taken for granted or overlooked.
When I met you, I instantly knew you could help me. I was struggling with my confidence, social anxiety, and just overall anxiety. You helped me open up to a world of spirituality, helped me to bring out the strong, powerful woman I am. You are my definition of a life coach. Age means nothing.