It's a Set Up

Posted on July 29, 2019 by Tracy Baranauskas, One of Thousands of Life Coaches on Noomii.

This month marks five years since I began my life coaching business, and I have been spending time in gratitude and reflection about this during my morning walks.  In some ways, it feels like a whirlwind and I can hardly believe five years have already passed.  Yet in other ways, it seems like a lifetime ago, and I almost feel like I was a different person back then.

I’ve always been a resilient individual who takes pride in getting back up when life knocks me down.  However, when I lost my job in early 2014, I could hardly see a way.  My husband, Jerry, later shared that he had never seen me so down before, and he was worried at the time that I might not be able to bounce back up again.

It wasn’t just the financial burden that a sudden income loss can provoke, but also feelings of betrayal, shame and hopelessness that overwhelmed me. 

Without going into the gory details of my old story, I will tell you in a nutshell that I was fired from my job in the mental health field after fiercely advocating for a client and pushing back hard against “the system.” I had a very public position, and so lots of colleagues quickly learned about my sudden departure and very few of them reached out to me to offer support.
 
It was one month before my 50th birthday and I had no “plan B.” I had truly believed that I was doing the work that I had been “called” to do, and so I was baffled as to why God would allow this injustice to occur.

Well, I had a lot of talks with God and my “inner-being” during my morning walks that cold winter.  I focused on the why ad nauseam and tried to find a new path that made sense. 

One of my favorite videos at the time was a Joel Osteen sermon in which he encouraged his listeners to think of their difficult times not as a “set back” but as a “set up” created by God to bring better things into their life.  These words comforted my soul.

I also read every self-help book that I could get my hands on, watched inspirational videos, made a vision board and repeated my affirmations with great conviction.

Eventually after much consideration, I decided to become a life coach.  In all my years of working in community mental health agencies, I had always found joy in helping my clients tap into their strengths and realize their true potential. Coaching seemed like a natural fit for me.

However, I also knew that my self-esteem was at an all -time low and my success depended on getting my mojo back.  I mean, for goodness sakes, who is going to want to work with a life coach who doesn’t even believe in herself?

I ultimately came to terms with the fact that I could not do it alone, and I hired a life coach for myself.  I needed someone to hold my hand and walk me through it, and that’s exactly what she did.  She helped me build up my confidence, strengthen my beliefs and remember what I was made of! 

Fast forward five years now, and now I truly understand that what felt like a “set back” for me was truly a “set up.”  I am one hundred percent sure that I would not have pursued my life coaching certification if I had not lost my job.  I will be forever grateful for the giant kick in the rear that I received from God and the Universe in 2014!

I often tell people that I have the best job in the world, and I sincerely mean it with all my heart! I have coached 81 individual clients since I founded Moving Forward Life Coaching, and hundreds of people have attended my groups and workshops.

Over the years, my clients have successfully:

*Left unfulfilling careers and opened businesses
*Changed professions or employers
*Increased in confidence after a break-up or a loss
*Found new love
*Learned to set healthy boundaries and value themselves
*Become skilled at reframing negative thought patterns
*Accomplished goals they had been procrastinating about for years, such as organizing their home, losing weight, training for a half-marathon, and more

Looking at this list makes me smile in gratitude for the events that felt so devastating at the time, but set me up for a life that is filled with purpose and positive energy!

If you are going through a “set back” right now, please remember my story.  And if you are in need of some extra support to strengthen your confidence and bolster your beliefs, then contact me so we can chat.  It can be difficult to create a vision for the future when you are knee deep in the problem, but I can help!