the week that was a turning point // 37 (weekend of becoming a life coach #6)

i don’t really remember much from last week. i’m just too obsessed with this past weekend to tell you the truth. and if you follow me on social media, then you already know exactly what this weekend was about. it was a big one for me. really big. life-changing. and a turning point.

on friday i hopped on a bus and headed out to the swedish countryside. it’s something that i’ve done a few times over the past year. and each trip has been intense, inspiring, and educational. i was out in the woods, by a lake, with about 25 other people. we laughed, cried, talked, listened, meditated, and learned from each other.

you see, one year ago, almost to the day, i started a life coach training course. and, this past weekend, i finished it. totally done. and, now, i am an internationally certified life coach!

it has been a journey that has spanned many, many years, beginning with my theological studies about 10 years ago. in the midst of those studies, i knew that i didn’t want to work in a church. and i dreamed of something that involved talking with people, guiding them, inspiring them. because of the spiritual guides i have had in my life, i wanted to follow in their footsteps… living a contemplative, slow, spiritual life which was meant to serve others simply through listening and guiding.

i wanted to be one of the them. one of the spiritual guides and mystics that i had read about for years and years. those men + women who, throughout history, have found themselves ont he fringes of society, living in it, but not quite of it. offering a listening ear and a visionary voice to all who would come to them. this is how i wanted to live. this is what i wanted to do. this is the life that i felt i was called to create.

but i struggled to know how. how would i create something that didn’t really exist in our modern day, and where it did exist, it was not how i envisioned it.

one of my professors one day, without knowing these thoughts of mine, called me into his office to talk with him. it was one of those conversations where you know that you’ve been given the gift of a special message. the things he said to me planted ideas in me, reaffirmed my dreams and spoke to my soul.

he challenged me to dream up my own way of working with people, of bringing back the idea of spiritual direction to the modern world. i mean, it exists, but it is not so well known. and, what i love more than anything is spirituality and inspiring + guiding others. but, again, i had no idea how or where to do that. i had no idea how to create my own work, which is basically what i wanted to do.

so i tried to fit into the boxes that existed, bringing my own personal touch to the things that i did and places that i worked. i tried really hard to let that satisfy me. and, of course, it didn’t.

slowly, though, and thanks to having an opportunity to freelance when i last lived in asheville, nc, i began to see that i actually could, one day, create my own work. my own life. my own brand. my own way to give back.

moving back to sweden has given me the chance to dig + and really know that this is actually possible.

when i discovered this life coaching training a year ago, i knew that this was a step to creating that space, that work, that i love. throughout the years, i have investigated many different training courses. and many of them sounded really good, and extremely interesting. but, the timing just never seemed to be right.

until now.

so, on sunday morning, when my teacher announced to the group that there was someone who was receiving her certification – me!! – , i knew that this was the end of one long journey, the fulfillment of one incredible dream, and the beginning of a whole new phase. the opportunities and possibilities feel endless.

the tide shifted. everything changed. and everything opened up all at the same time. now, is the time for me to dream up + create the work that i have dreamed about for so long. symbolically, earning my certification has set me free. free to create the type of business that i want to create, to give and be who i want to be.

my friends, there is no turning back for me. there is only forward. and i am so very humbly ready.

now, i’d like to share with you some of the magical moments that i had this weekend, mostly in nature. i am fully aware that the world does not revolve around me, but i am also fully certain that there was some incredible alignment occurring for me during the weekend. the magic of the mornings, the forest, the moon, the sunrises + sunsets, and the incredible numbers of dragonflies surrounding me. they were all signs and symbols.

for this weekend, as i crossed this threshold and experienced this turning point, i was held up + inspired + aided by the cosmic and divine spirit that flows around the universe and within us all.

so, there you go, dear friends. this journey is complete. and i am embarking on a new one as i type this. the shift has happened. now, mind you, i am in no hurry to figure it all out. to get it all done. but, i am slowly, intentionally moving forward.

and i could not be more grateful + more excited.

oh, and by the way, lovely readers, thank you so very much for following along on this journey. for cheering me on and supporting me and even being part of my training.

here’s to making dreams come true.

xoxo. liz.