My mom suggested that I try Tae Kwon Do. I wasn’t sure what to make of this. It was so different from anything I thought I would be interested in, but someone who knew me well was suggesting that this might be a good thing for me. 

Has this ever happened to you?

“I still haven’t made progress”, I thought to myself. In this particular planning session, I was bemoaning the fact that “craft room” was still on the list. It had been on the list for weeks, but I hadn’t made any progress. So I needed to add it to the list yet again. 

Can you relate?

Sure enough, there were a ton of those pesky beetles on the geraniums in the pot on the far right, and a few in each of the other pots. The next day, armed with my container of soapy water and wearing gardening gloves. Then I realized it. I had let one unpleasant task take over my mind, pushing out so many great things. 

Has this ever happened to you? 

I remember the first time I went into IKEA. They guided us so expertly, we almost forgot that we didn’t chart our own path. We didn’t pick where we went or what we saw.

Have you ever felt this way in your own life?

“When I first came to coaching with Christina, I had just been laid off from a career I’d poured a decade into. I felt like I was standing at the edge of something I couldn’t yet name—part grief, part possibility—and I knew I needed help navigating it.”

The fleas! This was too much. “Betsie, there’s no way even God can make me grateful for a flea.” This was too far. In these circumstances, with so much hardship, pain, and fear, trying to be grateful for this latest challenge was just too much. 

Have you ever felt this way?

We were sitting in a department staff meeting, waiting to learn what the future held for us. There had been a few leadership changes, and we were going to find out how our new boss wanted to organize the department. I left that meeting having realized something very important. 

Has this ever happened to you?

It was an amazing trip. When I came home, I didn’t want it to end. I knew I was different. And yet, as I settled back into my daily routine, the obligations of my life, the familiar patterns, I could tell I was losing the impact of the experience. I had been through something significant. I should be transformed by it. And yet there was a risk of it having no impact. 

Have you ever felt this way? 

It was time. I had come to the decision that I wanted a coach. Someone who would help me get to the next level, and work through some patterns that I knew I wanted to change. 

Have you ever felt this way?

It didn’t go as planned. By the end of the week, I knew things had fallen apart. Several meetings were rescheduled. One was cancelled. Good news that I was expecting had gone the other way. Big items on my to-do list were still undone. By the end of the week, I was beating myself up pretty bad about not making the progress I hoped for. I felt stuck. 

Has this ever happened to you?

For weeks, I felt my rise while high while driving, especially when I went through that intersection. It was strongest when I was making that same left turn, but even when I approached the intersection from a different direction, I could feel it rise up. I needed to get that anxiety under control. 

Has this ever happened to you? 

I could do it better if I had my own axe. If she was ever in a friend’s kitchen, helping prepare a meal, the expression would come out. She would be chopping something, or whisking, or whatever, and if it wasn’t going quite right, didn’t feel quite as familiar, the expression would come out.

Have you ever felt this way? 

I was packing for a 2 week trip to Italy. I kept running in circles trying to decide what would go and what I would leave behind. I laid out a few things, swapped things out, tried packing and repacking to make sure I had enough space. It was hard to know how to prepare, when I didn’t know exactly what we’d be facing on the trip. 

Have you ever felt this way? 

It was an impulse buy. I was getting my winter tires swapped out, and the tech asked me…“How are your windshield wipers doing?” Unfortunately, things didn’t go as I had hoped. My old wiper blades would have been better. Much better. What I had hoped would be better, a good choice, didn’t work out as expected. 

Have you ever feared this would happen to you?

One step at a time. One foot in front of the other.  It felt like we were never going to get there. There’s the top of the hill, it’s all downhill from there! No, not quite, that’s a false flat, there’s more climbing ahead. One step at a time. One foot in front of the other. 

Have you ever felt this way?

I didn’t know what to do with myself. It was a rare Saturday with NOTHING, I mean NOTHING, on the schedule. No plans, no commitments, no expectations.  There were too many options. I didn’t know what to do with myself.

Has this ever happened to you?

It just wasn’t working. I had recently added in more strength sessions to my weekly workout routine. Overall, it was going well…I was increasing my weights, feeling strong, and starting to recover faster from my workouts. Except…Leg day. And then one day the instructor said something that completely changed my mindset. 

Has this ever happened to you?

I was terrified. It was 2:45 in the morning. Sleeping deeply, I was awoken by the blare of an unbelievably loud smoke detector. Thankfully, within a few moments, the alarm stopped. As suddenly as it started. I took a quick look around the house to assess the situation. No clear cause for that night’s terror. I was safe. 

Can you move on when the crisis is over?

It was testing day. That night, I watched about 50 elementary and middle school students test across a half dozen or so levels and noticed something interesting when it came to the board breaking. While some students broke their board on the first try, most needed several attempts. A few struggled. As a student struggled, they got more and more frustrated with each attempt.

Has this ever happened to you?

At first I was mad at the restaurant. How dare they change their ingredients without transparency? The person I was really mad at was myself. I had failed to hold my own boundary. I didn’t double check that the item I was ordering was safe for me. 

Has this ever happened to you?