Today is our anniversary!  It is the 5th anniversary of the day I declared publicly to the world that I was opening a private coaching practice called GREEN HOPE COACHING.

On 1-11-11, I stepped out into a world I had never even imagined until just weeks before, to do something that I hoped would make a difference in my world, because it is so important to me to be doing something that will truly make a difference in someone else’s life.  I just never fathomed the possibility it might have for changing mine.

It is times like this that inspire me to take a step back and look at the progress I’ve made.

Five years ago I knew:

• I wanted to use my design to help people live using their designs.
• I had lived my entire life asking questions that very few others seemed to be asking. But I didn’t ask those questions because I thought surely everyone thought these questions of themselves, they just weren’t asking out loud.
• I had to do something that allowed me the flexibility of dealing with my health: mental, emotional, physical and spiritual.  It seemed like I needed a lot of health days so I had to create a job that would allow me the freedom to take care of me.
• I loved opportunities to come along side people in their joys and celebrations; in their sorrow and grief.
• I needed to generate income by doing something that was life giving to me and to others.

I didn’t know was how hard it would be:

• to define the roles I take to use my design.
• to admit I can’t help everyone and find the people I can help most.
• to recognize my value and earn a living being me.
• To allow others to make their own choices and still be there for them.
• To dig deep enough within my own story to transparently finish the story that my daughter Leisha started before she died.

I noticed several themes have shown up repeatedly in the last 5 years:

• It does no good to compare myself with others who are where I think I want to be. Yes, I can learn from them.  But I have never been very successful at being someone else.  I am Me.  I am in my season- of life, of age, of energy, of thought, of understanding.  I must find the way I am my best in business and ministry.
• I have a hard time accepting things as they are.  I often dismiss the celebration of the good things that happen in an effort to not become over confident.  I rush through the blast of the hard things in hopes to prove I can overcome. Or maybe it is to prove God is able to overcome, as if I fear people watching me may think less of Him because I can’t get it together.
• I ask questions! Lot’s of questions.  People need me to ask the questions so they can find answer themselves. But they don’t always need a coach. Sometimes they just need a friend.
• I can make great plans and I mean really great plans. That doesn’t mean they will happen. It’s not about the destination but about the journey to get there.
• Much of my work with others is God’s way of working with me.  I’ve not arrived at anything, only a little farther down the road to shine a light for the next person.

It has been good for me to consider where I have come from these past 5 years.  I’ll be sharing a few more insights this week.

In the mean time, I appreciate you being here to celebrate with me. Be watching for a special opportunity for coaching to help you reach your goals in 2016.

Let’s do this year together!
Kathy