Preparing for the Next Chapter

I don’t know about you, but I’ll be glad to see 2016 go. This has been a year filled with changes, some good and some…not so much. Change causes growth, however, so I have tried as much as possible to embrace those changes and learn to say, “Thank you” to those individuals who were placed in my path to help me confront some of my rough edges that I would have preferred to ignore. In hindsight, I now recognize that they had to be acknowledged and polished if I was to become a more refined image of the One I seek to honor and glorify. (Between you and I, there must have been a LOT of rough edges because there was a LOT of polishing these past 12 months!!!)

One thing I have learned is that if we are seeking forward movement, we cannot keep looking behind us. Forward motion requires forward vision. It sounds simple enough, but I know that if you’re anything like me, we often tend to pitch a tent in the land of regret and camp out there. In reality, if the past was that great, we would never want to leave. Growth requires change. Babies are cute but even they don’t stay little for long; they must become toddlers and then children and then preteens and so on. We must change and grow as well. Don’t fight growth. Don’t become complacent. The future, while uncertain now, is brighter than you can imagine, and can be filled with opportunity and excitement if you’re willing to take a chance.

One thing a life coach can help you with is sorting out your goals (from those other people may have for you) and in developing a roadmap on how to accomplish those goals. Coaches, just as in sports, can cheer you on as you reach each landmark and help you re-evaluate the roadmap (rather than beat you up) if you find the goals you set were not realistic or that your timeline isn’t working as you hoped it might. It’s a relationship built on trust and mutual respect, with you always setting the pace, because it’s your roadmap and they are your goals.

As you make plans for a new year, why not purpose in your heart to put yourself at the top pf your list of priorities and figure out what you want to get out of this thing called life? I’d love to help you. Onward and upward in 2017! Let’s move forward together.

And may all of your holidays, whichever ones you choose to pause and celebrate, be merry, healthy, and bright.