Coaching – My quest to self-discovery
How it all started for me?
Few months back I found myself at a crossroads in life, struggling between a huge shift in personal and professional life, everything seemed blurred and uncertain. For the last 12 years of my life, I have worked relentlessly to build my company and made a name for myself in Consulting and Talent Acquisition space.
Now at 40 with this business settled with not much value add to my own self I questioned myself what, next?
And the answer did not come easy especially with a long relationship ending, the stress weighed more than my ability to think and evaluate my next steps. But as they say where there is a will there is a way I came closer to my answer and inner calling post sleepless nights of self-introspection. I realized more than finding an alternate career, I should focus on my being and understanding who am I? That’s when I first started exploring life coaching as a path back to myself.
We all have flaws and things that need fixing and worth applauding but somewhere in the daily rut we forget ourselves, our core values and what gives us joy.
As I made this self-realization luck had it and I got introduced to a term called Coaching.
What has shifted within me since then?
I never really knew the true meaning of being a coach, until I got introduced to a formal journey of becoming one. It has been a few weeks for me, and I already feel reconnected with myself – for instance, when we are taught that as a coach you need to be a patient listener, nonjudgmental, it made me realise these are exactly the things I need to work on. Enrolling in a structured icf training programme gave this journey the credibility and depth I was looking for, and understanding the value of icf coaching international standards helped me see this not just as self-help, but as a serious profession I could grow into as a transformational coach.
Session after session I started observing myself how things are changing within and it was just amazing how unknowingly I was already seeing a different person emerging, I had started imbibing the competencies taught in class in my personal life too.
Comments from people around me like “woah you seem to talk less and listen more” is no less than a miracle for me, and this has helped me become calmer and less impulsive and hopefully will lead me to better decision making as well.
What resonated with me the most is the power of asking the right questions and shifting the focus on the other person. I realised until now I was always in solutioning mode, but these sessions helped me take a pause and rethink that approach. What has stuck with me is that questions empower others to come up with their own solutions, which brings in ownership and a sense of responsibility – on a lighter note I feel like it is a superpower when it comes to dealing with my almost teenager daughter.
What am I looking forward to?
I am excited to have embarked on this life coaching journey, as it’s uncovering for me session after session. I look forward to reconnecting with myself completely and, in the process, learning what coaching really is and doing justice to this responsible profession in the near future.
Author
Pooja Kakaria
Learner for Life
