Life Happens
Have you ever noticed that no matter how well things are going, life just happens? A few weeks back I was basking in the glow of my life – my marriage was strong as ever, I was connecting with friends and family and business was great (Yes, business is great, despite the economy). As I continued to stroll along through life, grateful for every day and opportunity that came my way, I received one of those dreaded phone calls ….
I was in the middle of a coaching session with a new client, helping him to get clarity about what he wanted to do in life. He had recently been laid off and was uncertain he wanted to keep on the same career path. About halfway through the coaching session, I could hear my home phone ringing. This in and of itself was not a problem, given that I work from home and handle my coaching mostly over the phone. Then my cell phone started ringing. “Hmmmmm”, I thought, “That’s odd, someone must really want to talk to me.” I was grateful my cell phone was in the other room, helping to minimize the distraction. So, I continued coaching my client, as we were making some amazing progress and I needed to stay focused. Then, a couple of minutes later, I received another call, and then another. I wondered if they had called my office line. As all my calls go straight into voicemail when I have a client, I glanced over at my phone, but the voicemail light was not on. Now I was distracted, but forced myself to focus, as I was almost done and would be able to attend to the pestering caller soon enough.
I got off the phone, pleased with the coaching call and happy that my client, for the first time in his 20 year career, was going to be pursuing something he truly had a passion for, rather than just doing a job he had landed in. As I stretched and started getting ready for my next client, my home phone range again. I leaped to get it and on the other end of the line was my brother-in-law. He was the one trying to get a hold of me and was the one with the task of sharing the “bad news” that my dad had a stroke. After asking all the key questions – “Is he lucid?”, “What hospital is he in?”, “Who’s with him?”, I got my stuff together, canceled my meetings and was off.
The good news is, my dad is doing quite well, and lucky for him, my mom noticed things were not right and immediately took him to the emergency room.
Although at that moment, when I first received the news, my world turned upside down, I did not let it derail me. I had my moments of feeling overwhelmed, but instead of wallowing, I stopped to think about what I needed to let go of in order to cope. I reached out to friends and colleagues and rearranged my schedule on a daily basis to accommodate spending time at the hospital. For two weeks I stretched my flexibility muscles, riding the wave of the moment, and I’m here to say, it is possible.
As layoffs continue to happen, as we are faced with more work to do with less resources, it is possible to ride this wave and survive. The key here is to allow yourself to ride the wave, to step back and let go of the things that aren’t helping, to ask others for support, and more importantly, to not lose sight of your goal, thus making it to the shore safely.
Tags: challenges, coach, growth, health, layoffs, tough times
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