My kind of people make big leaps!

Posted on 07 May 2010

I’ve recently been having conversations with people who have made big leaps in their life. I’m interested in people like this – people who have had the courage and faith to reinvent themselves, people who have a willingness to give up a good life for a more meaningful life, people who have touched some inner longing that compels them to take a big risk to start over.  I’m talking about people who hear some intangible voice within them that tells them to give it all up and start again.

Those kind of people fascinate me!  Those kind of people are my kind of clients! And those kind of people are my kind of people, because that is who I am.

The way I see it, some of us outgrow our own lives.  No judgment on the lives we’ve created.  No judgment on the structure, pattern or routine that has previously served us.  But what I know is that when who you are on the inside has so outgrown what you’ve created on the outside, the choice to jump feels like the only choice there is. If you don’t make a big leap, something inside you will die.

That sounds a bit dramatic, I admit.  But, there’s something in there.  I’ve felt that twice in my life.  Once was when I left a marriage.  The next time was eight years later when I left a career.  I specifically remember walking in to my work one day two years ago thinking to myself, if I don’t leave, I’ll die.  Yes, yes, not literally, but figuratively – something in my spirit HAD to have change.

And, how grateful I am that I listened and leaped.  Each leap was the biggest risk I had ever taken in my life up to that point, and while each experience was uncomfortable at best and downright scary at worst, I have absolutely no regrets.  Each leap was the biggest journey of growth I could have called forth for myself and yielded more meaning, more fulfillment, more inner connection and outer satisfaction than I could have imagined before that point!  (Whew – I’m inspiring myself here as I remember!)

By interviewing my clients, and the kinds of people who represent my clients, I’m realizing that I’m not alone in that experience.  There are a spectrum of similar experiences out there in the people I’ve been having regular conversations with, and that excites me.  Each person has been defining for me a turning point or climaxing dilemma that for some felt like crisis and for others felt like clarity—a point of knowing that if they didn’t make a big change, let go of an old way of being, and step off into the unknown to become the next greatest version of themselves, something in their spirit would shrivel up and blow away.  How’s that for cliche?  How’s that for true?

So, these are my people.  They are the people I thoroughly enjoy having powerful conversations with.  And, what excites me is that no one I coach or converse with is recreating their life to be selfish or greedy.  No, these people are seeking more meaning and fulfillment and a way to contribute to societal, even global change.  Rock on!  I’m talking about rampant, passionate idealism finding practical form through conscious life changes and choices.

I’m behind that.  I support that!  And in coaching, my job is to be the support, the rational sounding board, the vision holder, and the cheerleader.  I help people ground their vision into reality, find the next concrete absolute step to take, and create an articulate description of who they are and what they are about in the world so they can enroll others in their big dreams and mission.

And that, my friends, is what recreating my whole life has been about.  That was a big leap worth making!

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If you are on the verge of a new great reinvention of yourself and your life, call me!  We’ll start with a free 30 minute talk for clarity and connection.  From there we’ll design a coaching program that fits you right where you are.