It’s Finally Time to Advertise that I’m Human.
May 31, 2010
It’s rather interesting being a life coach. Clients intrigue me, and I enjoy the creative process of helping someone along from point A to point B. However, it’s been difficult for me to express my sheer mortality and inability to walk on water to those who think that being a life coach means imperfection on my behalf.
“You’re a coach?!” someone will say, at a networking event or a casual affair. Then I’m watched with a questioning eye-no tunics, no wooden jewelry, no recommendations from me to run amongst the flowers to find your peace (I have allergies). Similar to my personality, I give it to you straight but in a kind way. I offer creative solutions and perspectives to your coaching issue. I may end up seeing you cry, but odds are, you’ll laugh, too. That’s the approach I take, and the clients that I attract are in need of just that.
What is difficult for me is that I have received that message from fellow coaches, who of all people should understand that we are….just…..people. It is incredible to hear that since I am a life coach, I cannot drink wine/bite my nails/watch The Soup/have a sense of humor/sport anything but long skirts and Birkenstocks. Yes, as coaches, through our training, we have the joy of processing ‘our stuff’, as we often put it, which means that we can empathize with a client when they are processing theirs. However, stuff comes up. If you get out of your bed at any point in the day, you are going to encounter ‘the stuff’. Now, a coach may process it more quickly and perhaps differently than a less-actualized person, but there is still processing to be done. And honestly, I wouldn’t want a coach who felt as though their work was complete.
I suppose the point of this post is to let y’all know that I won’t be rolling back any stones from tombs in the near future, nor meditating on a mountain during a spiritual sabbatical. But I will be kicking back on a Friday night with some Riesling and Joel McHale on E. That’s just me.
