You first...
Weeks 43 & 44
“The first person who needs to hear this is you…”
This is a refrain I hear myself saying regularly to clients. As they start to reframe their own stories, they will say “My mother/husband/sister/boss needs to know this.” To which I gently answer, the first person you need to tell this story to is yourself.
With that, I usually get a quizzical look and I lean in further. “I have a hunch that when you came into this coaching, you didn’t know this version of your story or at least wouldn’t have told it this way. Am I wrong?”
There is generally a smile and a head shake.
“Right, so the first person who needs to hear this story until they believe it is YOU.”
We all lose the plot now and then.
We wake up and find ourselves deep into a version of our life that seems scripted by someone else…a parent, partner, or even just an old version of yourself. We sometimes have no idea how it happened or when we started to take in certain limiting thoughts or beliefs…but one thing is for certain, it is up to each of us to reframe, reposition, retell the story in such a way that the next step is on the path to the life we want and who we know ourselves to be deeply.
My job as a coach is often just to be the storytelling receptacle. The listener. The reader. And then when the client is ready to help them pull all the threads back together to a story that is a more accurate version of who they are today.
It’s not fiction. It’s the art of seeing more clearly. Removing the self-imposed limitations and tossing out old scripts.
I have to do it for myself often enough. And given my love of a good story, this is what I believe I bring to the table more than anything else. My job is to ask questions…questions that allow you to remember and to dream. Questions that present you may have for past you or future you.
Questions like:
What are you proudest of when you look at your journey to this moment?
What old stories are you telling yourself that no longer feel true?
What do you want your life to FEEL like?
What do you believe today that is no longer serving you or your life?
How do you want your life to be different in 6 week, 6 months, 6 years?
If you could wave a magic wand, what would be different when you wake up tomorrow?
Start with an audience of one…you.
I’m here to help if you need a partner. I believe you have the answers and I’m just here to walk with you.
Xx
Leah