Soul-ution Focus
In February 2018, I was about to begin a new journey - going back to school for a Masters degree in Leadership and Organizational Development, with a concentration in Executive & Professional Coaching. This decision was born out of a conversation I had a few months prior with my manager at the time. As we discussed my career goals, I really thought the only place for me to go in my career was in some type of managerial role. At the time at my organization, there wasn’t a managerial role for me to aspire to, and there wouldn’t be. I was somewhat stuck. In great coaching fashion, my manager asked me a question that made me think: “What makes you want to be a manager?” Outside of the feeling I had that this level of position was just the next place for me to go, I really didn’t have a good answer. In subsequent conversations, she mentored me a little, sharing some insight into what a management level position in this particular organization really entailed, and counseled me about growing in place. This was a notion that I hadn’t given much thought - expanding the breadth of my role. I had been interested in the realm of coaching for a few years, and our organization was developing a culture of coaching for our performance review process, so I decided to pursue that interest. Little did I know how completely life-changing a small decision to go back to school would be.
From the very first class session, I knew I was in the right place. Even at the end of long days, I was actually energized when class was over! You see, for a couple of years, I had really been unhappy in my role at my organization. I had tried to like it and it really just wasn’t working for me. Many people can thrive in a fast-paced, multiple priority environment, and I thought I was one of them. As I continued in my studies, however, I became aware of the life being sucked out of me. I was not present for my family - I actually had nothing left to give them after coming home from work. I just wanted to retreat into myself and not be around anyone.
My soul was out of focus.
If you’ve ever had your eyes checked, you've been through the process of the eye doctor switching lenses and asking you which is better, 1 or 2, 3 or 4, etc. When your vision is out of focus, it’s extremely frustrating. You know what you're supposed to be looking at, so you squint and strain to make your vision what you know it should be. After a while, that squinting and straining is physically tiring and detrimental to the health of your eyes. It’s not until you get the right lens to see through that you can relax. Experiencing coaching for myself gave me the proper lens with which to see my surroundings and circumstances clearly. With clear vision created through the partnership of my buddy coaches in the Masters program, I could finally focus on feeding my soul.
My husband had recognized my unhappiness and in the early Spring of 2018 offered me the opportunity to come home. The opportunity to be the wife and mom I longed to be and to do purposeful work on my own, helping others. Between the two of us and my buddy coaches helping me to create awareness about what I wanted, we developed my exit strategy from the corporate world and my re-entry into the world of soul-feeding work.
In coaching, we focus on partnering with clients to determine solutions to circumstances - a path forward to goal achievement. For me, the experience of being coached was even more.
A soul-ution focus.
Are you squinting? What do you need to feed your soul? Let’s find your soul-ution focus.
