Thank you for scheduling a coaching call with me. So what now? Two things:
- Show up at the scheduled time.
- Be honest.
The first one is obvious. The second is a bit more of a challenge.
Henri Nouwen writes:
We are judged, evaluated, tested, and graded, diagnosed and classified from the time our parents compared our first walk with a little neighbor’s. Gradually, as time goes on, we realize that our permanent record is building its own life, independent of ours. It is really not so amazing that we often feel caught, taken, and used for purposes not our own. The main concern then becomes not who I am but who I am considered to be, not what I think, but what others think of me. In this taking existence we find ourselves operating in terms of power, motivated by fear.
Intimacy, p26
This makes it natural for us to spend more time cultivating what others think of us and living as who we are “supposed to be” than just being ourselves. This undermines thriving.
So when you show up, let me get to know the real you. Or maybe, let me know that you don’t even know who you are anymore, or perhaps you never did. Whatever the case, I am a judgment-free zone who wants nothing more than for you to thrive!