Through my own personal life experience of choosing “The Most Difficult Path”, I have cultivated a very strong mindset, internal discipline and an unwavering belief in myself. “She believed she could, so she did.” resonates deeply within me. I didn’t let fear stop me, whether it was moving to a new country for a year, healing from 3rd degree burns the summer before college, moving across the country or navigating marriage, eventual divorce or being a single parent with a child with special needs. I owned and remodeled two homes and rebuilt my financial position from scratch. This mantra has enabled me to overcome many obstacles that would have stopped the average person. And not just one time and sometimes compounded!

My positive approach to life has helped others, too. For a long time, friends, co-workers, my attorney, therapist….said ‘you should be a life coach. You would be a natural’ and I dismissed it, thinking ‘that’s not a real career.’ I kept moving along, cheerfully navigating life, helping others and just being me. I laugh as I write this, as obviously, I still had internal work and more growing to do! Like I said, I chose the most difficult path.

My pivotal “Ah ah” moment came many years later, ironically, when I was at yet another crossroads. I had just moved to be closer to family, had left a successful book of business as a financial advisor, had recently passed my CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ Exam and was about to start my own investment advisory firm. Except that I wasn’t. I went through the motions of hiring a consulting company, but I felt so much internal resistance.

I stopped to do a self-inquiry and it was then I realized, deep down the truth that had been there all along. I didn’t really want to be a financial advisor. What??!

I had come so far, invested so much time, energy and money into what I thought was my final career. But when I looked into my heart, I knew that helping clients manage their money while alleviating some of their stress wasn’t the key to their happiness (or mine). That true joy comes from following your heart, aligning your actions and values with your inner desires and values leading to the greatest satisfaction in life. In short, the best part of how I loved helping people. Being who you were called to be. And I was meant to guide others in a much larger way. I stepped into being a life coach.

As I met a new person the other day, I had one of those moments…a moment of knowing with every cell of my being, where EVERY moment in my life, all the experiences, good, bad, had lead me to that very moment in time. That I was exactly where I needed to be and doing what I was called to do.