Outsourcing a New Kind of Help

“What’s one thing you learned about yourself during the pandemic?”

Recently, I’ve been in a few women-focused discussions that start with this – what sounds like a simple question. But, boy did it feel loaded to me.

I had a hard time coming up with an answer about what I learned about myself. At first. I thought it was because I didn’t really learn anything at all. Then I realized I had learned so much. Way more than I think I would have learned during the passage of 467 days (the number of consecutive days I was full-time worker + simultaneous 24/7 caregiver) if the world as we knew it hadn’t literally stopped.

The thing that rose to the top for me that I truly learned about myself is the power of my resilience.

Every day, I felt like I was bending and nearly breaking, but I didn’t shatter. I got rougher around the edges, fraying and growly. And in a lot of ways, I got stronger.

Pre-pandemic me thought I was a whiz at multitasking. But my past self was an apprentice compared to me mid-lockdown. I stayed laser-focused on high-level money negotiations while blocking out dueling zoom calls in the background and opening what felt like enough snacks to fill a warehouse. Every single day. Did you feel like that, too? Even just a part of that?

And then one day, it all became too much. When my mom-rage, work stress and sheer fear about what I couldn’t control seemed to define me, I did something about it. I did the most grown-up thing I could think of – I outsourced help for myself. I invested in myself and, thank goodness, I’ll never be the same again.

I didn’t know what I was looking for when I sought help. I thought I wanted someone to fix my work stress – if I just had that cleared up, I’d be able to handle everything else. But as I’m sure you can guess, work stress wasn’t my only issue. I was being interrupted by interruptions to my interruptions. It was causing my brain to short circuit.

I literally felt like a broken record, skipping over the same refrain and never breaking through to the next verse. The words that came out of my mouth all sounded the same. I felt so stuck waiting for something to happen.

Coaching broke the cycle. It lifted the needle to replace it elsewhere on the record and new music came out. The song came through clearly and with such clarity, filling the space with warmth and joy.

Working with a fierce and patient coach, we unpacked what was going on, inserted actionable steps to clear the clutter in my head and turn up the volume on who I actually want to be in life moving forward.

And that’s good news for you, too. Because now I get to be a coach like that for you. I want to help you to unpack what’s going on in your life, work and family. I can’t wait to talk through big and little actions you get to choose to implement. I want to provide you with accountability for those actions and to help you amplify what you think is most important in your life, leadership + wellbeing.

If there was one thing I could tell a potential coaching client, it would be this. If you look at your life right now and think I want someone to help me figure this all out, but I need to wait until things settle down, then NOW is actually the best time to do something about it. Don’t wait.

There is so much fruit to harvest when life isn’t settled. Here’s the secret – life will never really be settled.

I will be the first to tell you that being a coachee is not easy. I had to show up authentically and fully as myself. I had hard work to do and tough questions to ponder with curiosity and honesty. But the transformation that was possible when I was at my most out of control was possible because of that. Because when you’re busy, you don’t have time or headspace NOT to be fully YOU. And it becomes a clear commitment to yourself that you matter – what you hope for matters. The YOU you want to become next matters.

So if you’re overwhelmed with all the plates you’ve got spinning, but you crave sharpening the focus on what matters most to you – in spite of the overwhelm – reach out and let’s chat. And let’s start the work of pulling your dreams into focus.