Many years ago, I graduated from one university in India with a chemistry degree and another university in the U.S. with a computer science degree. Six years ago, I became a certified life coach. What happened in between? That story, a little of which I want to share now, reveals some of my own purposeful progress, some of my own work toward reaching my full potential.
Becoming Self-Aware
Although science and technology excited me when I was in school and I felt fortunate to have a succession of good jobs in computer science after obtaining my academic credentials, I noticed a change over time. Technology became less interesting than it once was and I thought more and more how it would be to work in other areas of business, like sales, finance, customer management, and organizational culture. I especially wondered what it might be like to play a more direct role with customers, helping them understand what a business does and how it can help them reach their goals.
With that in mind as we started Farragut, I took on the role of Chief Operating Officer (COO), which meant plunging into myriad roles: marketing, sales, customer relations, hiring, training, project management, and more. I wore many hats as we built the business and found it exciting, challenging, and fulfilling to spend so much time working with people — both inside and outside the company — helping them in one capacity or another reach individual and collective, personal and professional goals.
After 20 years of the intense work of building a business while simultaneously raising children, I came to a point where I wanted — needed — to make a change. While I loved my family and my work, I had often felt torn between them and recognized that the balancing act I performed all those years often shortchanged all parties and left me feeling unsatisfied. This left me feeling terribly conflicted about some of the choices I had made in those 20 years, despite having built a successful business.
Working Toward Self-Acceptance
In coming to terms with those conflicting feelings and in contemplating a shift in my life, I became cognizant that I needed to find a way to step back — but not completely away — from my role at Farragut.
And that it was important to take a step in a new direction, one that would allow me to do two things:
● Pursue the types of interpersonal interactions I’d found so rewarding while building Farragut.
● Help others both envision and take steps toward reaching their own full potential.
Moving in Self-Responsibility
Life coaching became that new direction. It took time, energy, and perseverance to explore training options, find a good fit, and work through the certification requirements. But it was entirely worth it.
It’s now my privilege and an absolute joy to use what I’ve learned formally through training and informally through my own life experience to help others face the difficulties and obstacles life presents — to help them see that they can call upon resources they have within to get through any situation and emerge a better version of their most authentic self.
We all have what it takes to move through life confronting stressful, confusing, or uncertain situations. We may need help in learning how, but we all have the capacity to move forward, one step at a time, to live our best, most peaceful, and most fulfilled lives.
Where are you on your journey?
That’s a bit about my journey. Where are you on yours? Please share in the comments below. We can learn from one another.
