In my last post, I outlined a few chapters of my life that ultimately led to me becoming a Life Coach. There was a lot of trauma in the years between my mid-teens and mid-thirties, and all of it counted towards where I've ended up.
After I quit drinking alcohol in 2011, I created Soberistas.com and began writing books about sobriety and the battle to put down the bottle for good. Between 2013 and 2016, I wrote and had published five books. I spoke frequently on the TV and at conferences about drinking and sobriety, our societal relationship with alcohol, and how it can take hold and become the definitive feature of a person's life. I expressed how drinking had enveloped me, turning me from a person with a zest for life, to one who had no interest in anything except getting drunk.
Running Soberistas gave me a unique insight into the relationship so many of us have with alcohol - not simply what was going on in my own head, but a reinforcement of this, echoed over and over in the words of thousands of people. We'd all travelled the same path: university, "Ladette" culture, motherhood, wine, wine, wine. And then trying to stop... desperately trying to get rid of the stuff because of the obvious harms it was causing - the insomnia, anxiety, physical damage that remained unseen (for now), marriage problems, ruined self-esteem, perpetually low expectations, weight gain... on and on the list went. And it was always the same story.
In 2019, I decided to put all of my life experiences and years of working on Soberistas into a more structured form of support, and qualified as a professional Life Coach. I subsequently studied for qualifications in Neurolinguistic Programming and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. These two modalities make such sense to me, as they formed the backbone of my own recovery from so many self-destructive habits and behaviours.
In the last five years, I have worked with hundreds of people, and my passion for life coaching continues to grow along with my business.
Coaching is an incredibly effective route to sustained behaviour change that enables a person to establish and then challenge what lies at the very heart of their unhelpful or negative behaviours. Instead of simply talking about the issues that have occurred in the past, coaching brings a proactive set of solutions to the present and future. The typically longer duration of coaching partnerships allows for in-depth relationships to build, where barriers are removed and the real self is able to emerge. This leads to powerful outcomes and major shifts in perspective and lives.
When I was at school, I wanted to become a journalist. In my early twenties, I wanted to be a mental health nurse. In my late twenties and early thirties, I had no idea what I wanted to be except drunk.
Now, in my late forties, I know exactly what it is I love doing and what I want to continue to do, and that is to work as a Life Coach. Life got me here; all the messy twists and turns of life that, at the time, felt unbearable and unbelievably difficult. With all of that messiness behind me, it's interesting to note that my initial career ideas (journalist and mental health nurse) were not a million miles away from where I've ended up. I just needed to take a few interesting turns here and there before I figured it all out.
“Let yourself be drawn by the stronger pull of that which you truly love.” ~ Rumi
Thanks for reading,
Lucy xx 😘
