Life Coaching: the Class after College.

This weekend, I head to my college 5-year reunion. It’s my first reunion ever, since my high school never told me when or if we were having a 5-year reunion. (Even if we had one, I’m already in touch with everyone I care about from high school, so why bother?) College is a different story. I don’t visit Clark University on holidays, so there is rarely a time when all of my college friends are in the same room. (Unless you live in the bay area, where 9 out of 10 of them have immigrated). College is where I spent four years eating cake at midnight with my roommates, pulling all-nighters, taking on WAY more activities than was humanly possible, and traveling my butt off (three separate study abroad programs? Don’t mind if I do)!

 

College was a wonderful adventure, but it wasn’t a very healthy time in my life. So, as I approach my reunion, I find myself reflecting more on the five years between graduation and now. I was still on the move: two years in Brooklyn, a summer of hitchhiking around the southwest, two years back home in Vermont, and the last nine months in Georgia. But these last five years have taught me, more than any year before them, who I am and what I want to do with my life. I owe that self-knowledge to my involvement with life coaching. Before I graduated, I had no idea that I would embark on a career as a writer and teacher. I thought I was going to spend my life running urban agriculture programs! Perhaps more important than the career focus, coaching has taught me to narrow down my activities and to focus on the most important things first (like sleeping eight hours each night, meditating, and spending time with loved ones). In college, I learned about how the world works, but in life coaching, I found where I fit.

 

I am grateful to be on a truly authentic path, one motivated by love and guided by my higher power. The work is never done. I continue to engage with life coaching because it helps me to humbly design a life that I want to live. In fact, I just signed up for Zo Tobi’s Money Empowerment course, a coaching program to get authentic with my finances! (Deep breath. You can do this). And, of course, now that I do know what I want to do with my life, I’m starting school again! VT College of Fine Arts, here I come!

 

Here is a list of my favorite life coaches and coaching programs. Give them a call!

 

Cynthia Emerlye: A spiritually-grounded coach and visual artist. I have worked with Cynthia for years, and she always offers me acceptance and powerful insight. I consider her part of my family.

Zo Tobi: A truly authentic friend, coach, and musician. Zo works especially with young social change makers to relieve burnout and create a mindset of abundance.

Josh Van Vliet: Josh is one of my oldest friends. He is exceedingly honest, humble, and kind. He focuses his coaching on helping men interested in removing the gender paradigms that hold us all back! He’s also a great dancer.

Dana Balicki: A mover and shaker herself, Dana works with young activists, entrepreneurs, and anyone looking to stop playing small. I completed The Empowerment Institute’s Life Coach training with Dana, and I later worked with her to get past my fear of social media and to build my freelance business.

Interested in a coaching certification? Check out The Empowerment Institute.

Are you an entrepreneur? Try Move the Crowd to expand or jump start your business.

Not sure what life coaching is? Explore any of the links above to learn more!