Today, I am back. I am on vacation, and if you can’t find time to blog while you are doing nothing but sitting around a hotel with your beagle, you just should just throw in the towel, right? While I was laying outside by the pool with Sammy listening to a Tim Ferriss podcast, I was contemplating life again. I do this at least on a weekly basis. At 43 years old, I still don’t know what I want to do with my life. Thus, a blog post has been born.
My question to myself after nearly 15 years of this career path is, “Is this why I was put on this Earth?” Hmm.
I would challenge you to find another person who has listened to, read, or attended more self-development books, podcasts, or events than Chris and I have over the past 13 years, and STILL have no answer to this question! I could probably write my own damn book on self-development at this point, and still have no answer.
This brings me back to WHY I started this blog in the first place. Several years ago, I attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, and thought I would start a health coaching business on the side of my day job. After going through the year-long training, I found out that I really didn’t want to become a coach. It’s something I should I have realized long before I signed up for the training for a few reasons:
- I am introvert, and REALLY don’t like talking to people - especially strangers in one-on-one conversations! Yes, this should have been a pretty big detractor for me, but I decided I’d make it work. Read more on my introvertedness in my last post.
- Due do reason number one, the likelihood of being able to build a coaching business from scratch would be terrible. I’d have to be out there talking to people all time to network, etc. I’d have to call people…ON THE PHONE (I would rather clean toilets than talk on the phone). All of this is a NIGHTMARE for introverts! Again, I thought this is something I could potentially overcome if I got just a few clients, some word of mouth referrals, and awesome social media exposure. In a perfect world…maybe this could work.
- The kicker is this, and something that I learned from being a music teacher: I can’t control other people’s actions. I can educate them on why certain foods act like poison in their bodies and other foods heal. I can teach them cooking tips. I can do all these things, but I certainly can’t make them follow my advice - just like I couldn’t make students practice their instruments when I was teaching. And when that happens, and the client doesn’t see results, it feels like a coaching failure. It doesn’t matter that the client is the one responsible for his/her own actions. It feels like the coaching wasn’t good enough. That is something I can’t get over.
- I am a decent writer, as long as I am passionate about the subject matter
- I LOVE to read anything and everything about nutrition, fitness and wellness
- The wellness arena is constantly changing, and therefore gives ideal topics to discuss/debate/educate
- I can write from the comfort of a computer, and not talk to a single person (hurray!)
I’m not sure what all this means for what I want to be when I grown up, but it’s a starting point. Now let’s see if I can keep this up for another four weeks. :-)