life isn’t disney…my latest lie.
How much tolerance do you have for life to be good? For things to be easy? For magic to be a regular occurrence?
Lately, I've been working through my own block around coaching.
There's a part of me that tells me coaching is silly. Frivolous. Self-indulgent. Something people don't value.
Then, there's a deeper, truer part of me that feels like this is the most important work in the world. That can't believe more people don't have access to this information and these tools. That feels in my bones - this is what I'm meant to do on earth.
For a while now, I've been trying to push away and ignore the voice that tells me coaching isn't serious. How could I think this? This is my work. This is what I love to do!
But how can I communicate the value of coaching when a part of me doesn't believe it?
Like I would do with any of my clients, I remembered to get curious about this voice, in order to understand its purpose.
What I learned is that this voice thinks coaching is like Disneyland.
What does that mean to me? As a child, Disneyland was a place that felt full of magic. Alive with stories and adventure and love. A place where my parents, free from the distractions of everyday life, were more present and free.
But when we left Disneyland, a lot of those feelings stayed behind.
So I learned, don't trust those good Disney feelings to last. Real life is hard and lonely and magic isn't real.
This voice has noticed that coaching feels a lot like Disney to me. There's deep presence and love. There are beautiful stories and calls to adventure. And there's magic that continues to delight me.
This part of me is just afraid it's not real. That eventually I'll have to return to the “real world.” It's hoping to stop me before I experience this inevitable disappointment.
So what do I do with this awareness?
1. I accept this part of me instead of pushing it away. I understand it.
2. I don't let this part of me make my decisions or continue to hold me back.
3. I help this part of me let go of its belief that good feelings can't last (I do this, in part, by receiving coaching & continuing to personally experience its transformative value in my life).
It's not that bad things don't happen in life. Or that we don't face challenges. But too many of us are anticipating bad outcomes that don't happen. Waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it's robbing us of living fully and believing in magic.
What feels like Disneyland to you? Something that would be too good to be true? Is it true?
xo,
Jessica
