Valerie's Story: From Stuck to Fulfilled: My Journey to Real Change

If you looked at my life from the outside, you’d probably think I had it all together. A great

career, financial stability, a beautiful home and a great family. I had everything that should have made me happy. But I felt very little. What I did feel was stuck and on autopilot. I really felt something was wrong with me.

I didn’t know why I felt this way. I distracted myself binge-watching TV for hours. I was

shopping online for things I didn’t need. And when those distractions wore off, the stuck, crappy feeling was still there.

I decided I needed a change so I told myself that maybe a new job would be the answer. Maybe I just needed a new challenge. I decided to hire a coach for help with career strategies, thinking that would help me prepare me for interviews and what to do to get hired.

But coaching led me somewhere I didn’t expect. Instead of diving into job searches and résumés, I was asked to notice the stuckness. “What do you notice about being stuck?” I wasn’t sure what to say. No one had ever asked me that before. Then she followed up with, “If it spoke to you, what would it say?”

I’ll be honest, I thought that was a bit weird. But as I sat with it, I realized how detached I was

from myself. I had been so busy avoiding my feelings that I hadn’t even noticed what they were trying to tell me. Once I started paying attention, I felt something I hadn’t in a long time, I felt calm. I didn’t have to fix anything right away. I just had to feel what was actually there. And as I did, the tension started to ease. The need to escape started to fade.

Coaching also challenged my assumptions and invited me to take new actions between the

coaching sessions. That was hard for me. I noticed how much I resisted and how I wanted to stay in my comfort zone, even though I knew that wasn’t working for me. But the actions weren’t huge. They were small, but enough to knock me out of some habits that weren’t serving me anymore. I realized my resistance was just fear of not knowing. That was really hard for me.

I had assumed I needed to change my job to feel better, but the truth was, I needed to reconnect with myself. With coaching, I stopped searching for the next big thing and started creating space for the things that actually mattered to me. Who knew that paying attention to your emotions was a good thing. The more I noticed, things started to become clearer. It was like a dense fog was lifting. It was so strange to me because I thought I should be doing much more.

Now I don’t feel stuck or like something is wrong with me anymore. And it’s not because I made some big external change, but because I realized I had choice, and I could allow myself to create the life I wanted. I was worrying about my future self and living there was literally shutting me down. As I write this, it seems so obvious. I’m so grateful for my coaching experience. Coaching is truly a partnership that provided me with a safe place to explore without any judgement.

These are real stories from real clients. Names and some details have been removed to protect confidentiality.