When Clients Shift Their Perspective From Fear to Imagining

Last year, I got to coach a client who, as it turned out, had made many of her previous career decisions out of fear, rather than imagination.

 She came to coaching because as she described to me in our first session “ I’m sick and tired of cowering in the corner, fearful of what might transpire if I do or don’t take a certain path…. I want to feel more confident and take some risks once in a while.”

 And thus began our coaching journey together.

One of the path’s we took in our coaching conversations was to unpack the “fear” word.  Spell it out… what prompts her fear response… what does it feel like… what are the physical manifestations of that emotion for her.  And then we shifted to exploring “risk taking” and “ confidence” and what having those attributes might net for her.

 A few weeks after our third session, she took a plunge into what would have in the past been a fearful unknown for her.  She applied for a teaching position in a subject she was well qualified to teach.  She got an interview.  She was offered the position.  She accepted the position.  She began work and loved it.  And the other teachers and students loved her. 

Does this intelligent, capable woman never have fear come into play when she makes decisions? 

 Of course not.  Fear is part of our DNA.  But what she learned, through the coaching and through her positive experience, is that she has a choice whether to continue to be ruled by fear.  That when she puts fear in perspective and trusts her imagination, her confidence soars and she grows in so many ways.