Coaching Pushed Me Out Of Hiding

I recently had an information call with a woman who is at an age where she can retire, and she was thinking about becoming a coach.

She’s not tired. She doesn't need to rest. Her kids are adults and she has great health and all kinds of energy. Retirement is not on her radar.

She’s ready to finally do the work that feels meaningful to her now.

Not managing processes.

Not optimizing systems.

But helping people. Directly. Deeply.

She asked me:

“How did becoming a coach change your life?”

And honestly... I didn’t know where to start.

There are so many layers to this change.

But maybe the better question is:

What didn’t change?

What didn’t change was me.

I was always the person who saw people’s truth.

Always the one asking bigger questions, seeking deeper answers.

Always trying to guide people to become more of who they really were.

I did that in every job I ever had, no matter what my title was.

I did that in conversations with friends, family, strangers in waiting rooms.

So no, that part of me didn’t change.

What changed is that the inside me started showing up on the outside.

I stopped hiding who I was.

I let my soul-self be visible.

I remember an old boyfriend who saw my website years after we broke up saying:

“I didn’t know you were so spiritual.”

And I realized, I’d been keeping most of myself hidden.

So yes, there was a huge identity shift.

And once that shifted, everything else had to.

I became a creator.

I had to invent my own title—mentor? coach? soul’s calling guide?

I had to invent my role—because no one else could define it.

I built my own team, my own schedule, my own business rhythms.

I had to decide what I was worth. And stand in that.

I had to create my offers.

Find clients.

Hold the container.

Do the work.

And most of all, I had to believe in what I was doing....even before anyone else did.

I was trained to be a cog in the wheel.

But becoming a coach? I had to become the wheel.

It was a huge and holy transition.

But here’s what it gave me:

For the past 30 years, I’ve lived and worked at my own rhythm.

I’ve been present for my son’s appointments, school events, and sports and also had spacious time to work with clients and lead retreats.

I’ve had the kind of freedom most people only get at retirement.

But I’ve had it while doing work I love.

My life has dictated my work, not the other way around.

When I wanted to have a secondary home, in a different location, I worked more and made it happen.

When my bonus son moved to Crete, I started taking time off each year to be there.

Has it always been easy?

No.

For a long time, it was hard to describe what I did.

Hard to trust it mattered.

Hard to stop looking for validation.

I’ve had to do deep inner work, again and again.

Especially around the fear of being seen.

That’s an ancestral fear I carry. And I still carry it.

But I’ve learned that to live the life I was meant for, I have to keep facing it.

Not once.

Not perfectly.

But over and over again.

Becoming self-employed in a profession that was once undefined…

Doing work that didn’t exist on job boards…

It’s been like spiritual growth on steroids.

Trying to balance the earthly needs...money, stability, credibility—with the spiritual need to live in alignment with my soul’s truth…

That has been the great challenge, and an incredible gift.

And I can say this now, with all my heart:

I’m not waiting for some future day to finally do what I was born to do.

I’m doing it.

I thank my former employer for eliminating my job and downsizing me.

It pushed me onto this path.

And I thank myself - for not going back into another soul-shrinking job just because it was easier or expected.

Because following your soul’s calling is not the easy path.

You have to figure everything out for yourself.

Your route doesn’t look like anyone else’s.

And you need support.

I wish I’d had more of it when I was starting out.