The beginning of the year has a connotation of becoming your best self. With this feeling in mind, I want to share the reason I started this new chapter in my life; my personal experience with a life coach; and a special offer. 

Many have asked why I am becoming certified life coach. The explanation for this really goes back to what I’ve done my entire life – giving sound advice. This all started with my mom. She was the person who always gave advice to relatives and friends. My mom honestly still gives me really sound advice today.  This naturally rubbed off on my siblings and I. As a seasoned mom of five, I have experienced a gamut of child rearing and marital issues. I am nowhere near an expert in any subject but I can give you my testimony in hopes that you don’t make the same mistakes as I did.

In the past few years, I’ve had multiple conversations about what I will do with my time now that most of my kiddos are pretty self sufficient. One of the most common occupations brought up was a counselor or therapist. While I am honored that many people believe that I should be paid for helping people with their problems, I knew that would not be the best route for me. Helping others triggers my codependency which then become unhealthy. It would not be healthy for my own mental health, so I knew those honorable occupations would work for me. It would also require years of schooling and my mind is basically jello at this point as well as my time is still solely the domestic manager and I don’t want to take anymore time away from family right now. 

Soon after one of those conversations about the next chapter of my life, I stumbled upon life coaching on the interwebs. It intrigued me and I began my research of if this act of service was right for me. A year and some odd months of researching, talking to family, friends, and other life coaches, I decided to take a leap and get my certification in life coaching. The past few months have been quite stressful as I have learned that becoming a life coach also means doing intensive inner work so that I may help others become the best versions of themselves. 

What a life coach isn’t

Before I share my experience with a life coach, I wanted to explain what a life coach is NOT. Contrary to the current popularity of life coaching, this profession has been around since the 1980s.

Thomas Leonard, an American financial planner, is generally acknowledged as the first person to develop coaching as a profession in the 1980s and the history of life coaching today really starts with him. Leonard observed that his clients, though emotionally stable and hardly needing therapy, wanted more from him than just the usual tips on how to invest and safeguard their incomes. They wanted help in organising their lives better and planning and achieving their goals¹.

A life coach is not

• Life coaching is not the same as having a therapist. 

A therapist unpacks your past (and current situations) and helps you heal from them. A life coach focuses on your current abilities and believe that you can attain your goals, dreams, and aspirations with all that you currently possess.

• A life coach is a consultant or mentor.

A life coach is not the person you go to for advice. The main goal of a life coach is to help individuals be their very best self without enabling or fixing the individual.

• A life coach does not helps you solve your problems. 

A life coach communicates without judgement or preconceived notions that everyone is more than capable of finding their life’s purpose. They help you unpack current belief systems that no longer help the individual to grow into their best selves. They are here to help you take actions forward in your life without any personal agendas. 

• A life coach shares your sessions with others. 

Coaching sessions are safe spaces where individuals can be transparent because the coach will hold their conversations with sacred confidentiality.  

• Life coach judges the client and their life choices or behaviors.

A life coach is simply a person who will actively listen to you without judgement or evaluations. They are there to support you and offer encouragement to move forward towards the client’s life goals.

As life coach, Nicole Cruz, states a life coach is your own personal cheerleader that is solely focuses on your goals, aspirations and dreams. A life coach is there to help you put action in what is most important to you. I knew from this point on, I needed to attend a seminar in order to see if this was something I could do. After a full day at a local vocational college, learning the fundamentals of life coaching, I knew it would be the perfect way to help others find their own paths without having to trigger my own codependency. 

My life coaching experience

Let me just start by saying that meeting Nicole Cruz was absolutely by divine appointment. Similar vibrations attracting other similar vibrations. The universe listening. Whatever you want to call it. I cannot believe I met her when I did. I was on a journey to figure out what I was going to do with my life now that my kids are pretty self sufficient (not independent – those two things are to different things). I knew I wanted to make a difference in someone’s life but I didn’t want to go through years and years of schooling. 

I stumbled upon Nicole’s Life Coaching Instagram and was intrigued. Nicole was from San Diego and a fellow 1st gen Fil-Am, so I knew that we would relate on many levels. So I decided to reach out to her about her experience as a life coach. Guys, we really hit it off. Our energies vibed. I cried to her about my self esteem issues and mental illnesses. She held space for me and it was so comforting. She spoke at great lengths at what it took for her to become a life coach – mentally and physically – and her journey was so inspirational. She gave me some great advice on how to become a life coach and we kept in touch on Insta. A week later she launched her FREE one month of coaching giveaway and guess what – I WON. So I decided to take this insane perfect timing month of coaching seriously. 

One month of coaching

Our initial session was about expectations, my belief systems, and my ultimate goal. Nicole walked me through an inner critic exercise and talked me through my belief systems with such compassion. She also gave me suggestions on how to start to change my belief systems and also gave me an action item (which I hated and dreaded) to push me forward. I remember leaving that session invigorated and ready to tackle the world. We met weekly via Zoom and the next three sessions were about my “wins” for the past week and specific exercise that would again propel me forward closer towards my goal. At the end of the four weeks of meeting, I felt like a different person. Nicole urged me to celebrate my victories from that month and it was the first time I really celebrated working on the inner parts of myself. Let’s face it, outward success is easy to identify but working on your belief systems and breaking them down is no easy feat. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I couldn’t have done any of that inner work without Nicole cheering me on and helped me take the actions I am taking today. Also I didn’t reach the goal I initially had for the session but I think I gained so much more than that particular goal. Truthfully, I’m not even mad that I didn’t reach it because I knew I learned so much more about myself.

As of today, I have helped co-create a group coaching program with Nicole as well as helped co-create content with all Asian company. What I have gained is even more perspective about my belief systems and have even passed that knowledge out to those around me. I am also halfway through my certification for life coaching and I am learning so much. What I didn’t realize when I started this was that I would also be doing some deep inner work as a life coach.

Special Offer

Are you still with me? Great! I need your help. I am in need of volunteer clients for my life coaching classes. My goal is to help 30 people in the next 30 days! This will allow me to practice what I’ve learned in my certification as well as help you move towards your best self – whatever that would be. If you would like to schedule a FREE 30 minute magnify session with me, please click on the link below to schedule your FREE session – HERE.  

Thank you for being here and continuing to support my blog. It means the world to me and I am so grateful to have this opportunity to help you on your journey.

Remember – it is ok to NOT be ok. Tomorrow is a new day!