Why on earth do I need a Coach?

Up until fairly recently, an admission of needing professional support to deal with the varying problems that life throws at us has held an undeniable stigma. Indeed, for some of us it still does. Across the pond of course it’s been a very different story with therapy in its many forms viewed as essential as seeing the dentist!

Our transient lives of choice and opportunity, while enriching, varied and stimulating can on the flip-side be stressful, unbalanced and alienating. Whatever our domestic set-ups, no matter how much of the world we’ve been fortunate enough to see, we generally live far more isolated existences than our ancestors.

Our global world has given us a far greater complexity of decisions to make and situations to deal with, often at an increasingly breakneck speed! We work hard to ignore what’s bothering us, what doesn’t feel right, what we’d really like to change. How many of us actually give ourselves the time to really think about what we want when we’re so busy trying to stay just about balanced on life’s treadmill?

I’ve never done this before but…

So many people enter the coaching process with the opening gambit ‘I’ve never done this before but….’ having gone through a lengthy and possibly uncomfortable process before finally acting on the decision to seek professional support. The truth is that probably ALL of us at some point in our lives would benefit from the guidance of a coach, to support us with navigating one or more of the seemingly escalating challenges that are intrinsic to inhabiting our 21st Century world.

 So I’ve made contact…what now?

The beauty of coaching is that it gives individuals the space to confront and deal with shifts in their lives; both the changes that are happening (sometimes perceived as outside of our control) and moreover, the changes that deep down we feel the need to make! Working with a coach provides the luxury of uninterrupted space to speak and to be listened to; and consequently to find ways to resolve issues and hence make changes tangible, positive, DO-ABLE!

And that’s not to say that working with a coach is always an easy ride; embarking on this process can undoubtedly be challenging. It means being prepared to at times go outside of our comfort zone, to consider new ideas, to create an altered mind-set… even change negative patterns of behaviour. However, the magic pay-off of a far greater sense of inner confidence and direction as we step into our futures feeling more in control of our lives (with all the benefits that this brings) has to be worth it!