Life Coach or Therapy?
Is it for you? Do you need it?
For the majority of my life I found it hard to ask for help. I thought it was better to “suck it up”. If I felt overwhelmed, unhappy, or irritated I just tossed it up to being dramatic. Until one day, putting my head down, & working my butt off & ignoring my feelings wasn’t working anymore. I was the type of person who said when I finally “make it” and achieve my dreams, then I will have time to be happy, relax, and enjoy life. NEWS FLASH! If you aren’t enjoying life now—you won’t enjoy it when you finally get where you think it is you want to go. Some of you might be reading this and go “duh”, I already knew that. I guess I had so much tunnel vision that I didn’t stop to really think about it, I was just full blast ahead. I really needed help to sort it all out. That’s where therapy has been most useful for me. Sometimes the problem isn’t feelings though. I found there were a lot of things my therapist couldn’t really help me with, when it came to life decisions, or my career path. So I bit the bullet last year and made the investment into a life coach, and I absolutely don’t regret it one bit. One of the best things I have ever done. It can be pricey—but if you have a good life coach he/she is probably putting in the hours to cater to your goals, fears, and plans for the future.
Here’s the deal, I had tried therapy a few times. I never had the right fit. Finding a therapist is sort of like dating. It’s a chemistry, a dance, a comfortability to make that relationship work, so you can get the help you need. For a long time I said I wasn’t “crazy” so I didn’t need a therapist, but I was really saying I didn’t care enough about myself to get help, and to do the work to find the right person to be my therapist. What was so relieving about therapy to me is that I could talk to someone who had no bias about the people or situations I was feeling so awful about. Also, she helped me separate facts from the negative talk in my head. Sometimes we associate our opinions with facts and we get it all mixed up. I highly recommend seeing someone if you are having a hard time processing any situation, feelings, huge life changes, and depression. Honestly, I think therapy should be mandatory for everyone—I think we all have our own issues to work out in some form or another.
Eventually, there was something I wasn’t getting from my therapist. My therapist was focused on my feelings, my thinking, how I was processing those thoughts and feelings, and what I needed to overcome certain obstacles. All of this was so important to me, but I had career goals, and contradictions that I needed to sort out, and my therapist wasn’t necessarily the person I wanted for that. I reached out to a life coach, and I am so glad I did. She helped me figure out my motivations for my career and goals. We did exercises and homework, and made a plan to achieve my goals. In addition, she helped me cope with hard work environment situations, poor managers, and figure out whether I was overreacting or I was being treated unfairly. Sometimes all we need is someone on our team to give us the courage to take leaps we never have before. With her help I started BossTown, and got into acting and modeling, and started believing that I was more than my job and my one goal—I could dream up a bigger story—one that I was proud of.
Because I love my life coach so much—I want to share her with you! For a long time I wanted to keep her to myself because she is such a gem. Teresa Sabatine is the person who can help you make that business plan, start and finish that passion project, or just help you sort out whatever obstacle is standing in the way of you reaching your true potential. She is so genuine, and has this uncanny way of believing you are not alone. I think of her more as a partner than a coach these days. Some people run a business to run a business, and hers is so much more than that. Her caring for people is next level. I highly recommend her.
Full disclosure right now I am not seeing a therapist or getting one on one life coaching. I feel like I have some solid tools to help me get to the next level at this current moment, but they are certainly two resources I will always fall back on, because the truth is we can’t do everything on our own. Success comes with lots of help along the way, and I know that to be truer than any statement.
