Thank you, everyone, for your support and for visiting Where the Change Happens in 2022. This year will stand out for me because there is much to be proud of. Where this blog began in 2018 was not from a place of being excited but feeling stuck. Over the last five years, my journey has become about taking action and believing in the possibility of who I can become on the other side of learning. Answering the question, What can I create in my experience if I improve my perspective one percent every day in a meaningful direction and contribute to something larger than just what I want?
This process provides a new opportunity to accept my part in what I bring into the room and to be more intentional. Still, many of us want to put into practice a new skill or develop a new habit to take further meaningful action but stepping into the unknown is a line we’re unwilling to cross.
As we approach the end of 2022, I want to expand my shift in focus outward and ask about your journey and how I can support you. I also want to share the annual year-end exercise I’ve done over the last five years as we reflect on the year and set our intentions for 2023.
Learn From This Year
A writing exercise I like to do at this time of year centers around naming Five Things I Am Proud Of from the year and recalling Five Things I Learned in that calendar year. Some years I’ve had more than five responses, and some years I had fewer. This year, I graduated from the Coaches’ Training Program, began my business, self-published my second book, and was named one of the Men Leaders To Look Up To 2022 in the latest Special Edition release of Passion Vista Magazine. Whew! And that’s only part of my list for this year.
It’s cool to revisit every win I’ve accomplished in the year and to see the consistency build over the last few years because this exercise reinforces that I’ve had successes, made progress, and learned valuable lessons that got me to today. In 2017, when reviewing what I learned that year, I wrote, “There’s no substituting hard work on your journey. If you want something, dedicated time to achieving it is not optional. It will be difficult, but eventually, you’ll get up more times than you’ll be knocked down.” What would be on your lists for 2022 if you spent a day or week reflecting on what you are proud of this year?
Reflect On the Journey
At some point this year, I began to notice that I was resisting letting go of control regarding how I was engaging my experience in the workplace. What used to work for me no longer was, and after another shift in priority above my pay grade, triggered a response that was becoming familiar for a consecutive year, repeating the phrase, “Maybe it’ll get better next year.”
Days were beginning to feel like the same struggle as the previous years. With my experiences in my training program and writing After the Divorce, I began to feel like something was off, and I could feel a dissonant tension when being called forward to new action. A little like the frog and an increasingly warming pot of water on the stove, feeling triggered and stressed constantly had become a norm. I knew the time had come to do something to change that.
I declared in July 2021 that I would be self-publishing a book in 2022 and would either go to graduate school or enroll in a coaching program. I was rooted in my purpose and committed to creating the financial space to realize this goal and follow through on transitioning my career.
As the Coaches’ Training Program progressed, I became mindful of a few things, like my patterns and projections, learning of various contexts, and having others reflect on my character and what I brought into the training program in ways I would have preferred to ignore. Working with my writing coach and experiencing the training program provided quite an incredible opportunity to develop and define how I wanted to move forward and step into my next level, creating my new normal.
When did I begin to believe the story that others outside myself knew better than I did what I wanted or what was best for me? Working with a coach helped me recognize this childhood story and how it continues to impact my experience and the contexts I perceive my situations from.
I declared in 2017 that I wanted to create new opportunities, shift my career into human services, and write a book. Thankfully I did not have to be on this journey alone without structures to support me and aid in the shift from what I thought was impossible to standing in the present and realizing everything I intended to set out to do. Being supported by my coaches continually helped me step forward to the edge of my fear and the unknown of my life when I left the comfort of a work environment I’d known for over a decade.
Review the results of your actions over the last few years and look for feedback from the results you are producing in the present moment. Ask yourself, How do I feel about the progress and trajectory of my life or organization? Do I see any common areas of opportunity for growth and expanded capacity?
Take the Next Step
Years into this Covid-19 era, the opportunity exists to create our new normal. Instead of setting a New Year’s resolution, how about choosing a clear path forward in January, declaring what you intend to create in 2023, and partnering with a coach to create a vision for the future and shift your present to match that vision?
In spring 2023, I will offer group coaching sessions to those ready to make impactful shifts in their lives or have reached that point where enough is enough and recognize the time has come to create a new path forward. I invite you to schedule a free introductory conversation with Where the Change Happens Coaching, and let’s discuss the possibility, meaning, and value of your vision. If whatever you want is just beyond your comfort zone and you’re open to discussing possible methods to support your vision, reach out for a complimentary twenty-minute call over Zoom that can change your life. Think of a dream or something on a bucket list.
Lean into areas you see meaning and value in 2023. Who do you know that would see the value in a creative process to support achieving what’s most important to them? Take action to create versus living from a place of survival, scarcity, and fear.
I am grateful that I stepped out of my comfort zone years ago, moved to Seattle, followed through on becoming a coach, and began publishing the types of books that contribute to supporting a movement to improve mental health and developing mindsets. I want to work with people who want to create something meaningful in their life and not just go to work for the paycheck and do what they don’t enjoy doing because they feel like they have to. It is not your only choice. If you’re open to a twenty-minute conversation about the gap between where you are and what’s possible where you want to be, let’s get to the root of your move forward, what you want to create, and why it is meaningful.
Moving Forward into 2023
Life coaching support can be vast, and the support structure creates incredible new possibilities right where you find yourself. 2023 is right around the corner, and whether you make a choice, delay your decision, or take no action, your life experience will be moving forward. Discuss topics like deepening self-trust, defining boundaries, codependency, clarity in communication, values alignment, creating and sustaining motivation, intentional behavior in a relationship, foundation setting, developing a growth mindset versus a fixed mindset, finding balance in your relationship to expectations, understanding the varying lenses of context, and the unseen impact of repeating patterns.
What dream do you want to call your reality, and how long will you wait to take the first step to create the change you wish to see in your life? Click here and schedule your complimentary conversation for possibility today. In 2023, you choose. Don’t just hope for change— experience where change becomes transformation with Where the Change Happens Coaching.
If you’ve found yourself in the last year asking yourself if you’re happy or satisfied with what direction life is heading, Where the Change Happens Coaching supports clients to shift how they think about life and problems and create awareness in service of creating their vision. Reach out to connect@wherethechangehappens.com and let’s discuss what you’re up to and what you would like to create in 2023.
In 2023, my mission becomes one of service. Where the Change Happens Coaching offers one-on-one coaching, group coaching, personal development workshops, and live speaking engagements. Can you afford not to explore the opportunity? Let’s talk about what you’re up to, working on, what you’d like to create, or even what’s coming up for you that may be in the way of you being an action and integrity.
Expand your capacity to be with what you can’t be in another. Identify relationship cycles and in 2023, let go of what’s no longer serving you.
Thank you all again for continually visiting and reading my posts this year and for including Where the Change Happens on your journey.
Be well, and Happy New Year!
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What was most useful or valuable here for you in this blog post? Leave a comment below or send me your feedback to connect@wherethechangehappens.com.
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Check out a testimonial from one of my recent coaching clients:
“My experience was so great! I laughed and cried and learned a lot about myself. Coaching made me focus more on what I want versus what I don’t want. I have a plan, and he was the first step of my project. I wish I could talk to him every week about different areas of life. He’s very good at what he does. Highly recommend!”
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