That’s the question where this all started for me.
I was in my early 30s, recovering from several years of profound burnout, and the terrifying answer I had to admit to myself was, I actually have no idea.
Which was strange because I’d already lived a “passionate” life…
By the time I was 30 I’d helped start a couple businesses. I’d lived for years in East Africa. I’d traveled around Asia, Eastern Europe, and Africa.
But that simple question showed me that something essential had been missing…
The Short Story…
After entrepreneurial burnout in my early 30s, I spent a decade cultivating the work that’s mine to do…
🧘♂️ I write poetry to give my soul a voice in the world
📜 I publish articles to share what’s been helpful for me
🤝 I’m a certified professional coach
My hope with my work is to help you navigate the tension between what your soul longs for, and what the world demands of you. Sign up here to make sure you get my latest articles and invitations:
Go beyond good work…
I spent my 20s trying to do “good” work.
Looking back I can see how a lot of it was work I wasn’t especially suited for. Even though I believed in it and had a real passion for it, I often felt like I was strip mining myself for resources I had very little of.
What I’ve learned is that there’s endless work that needs doing, but only a thin slice of that is the work that’s yours to do.
Find your place in the family of things…
As I searched for clues to what I really love, a few things kept coming up over and over again.
- Things like writing.
- The magic of soul-level conversations.
- The mountains and trees here in the Pacific Northwest.
So I started spending more time on these things. I experimented with different practices around them.
“Practice what you love until it becomes service to the world.”
Every once in a while I’d have a moment where one of these things I loved doing actually offered someone what they needed.
- A poem I wrote would speak the words a stranger on Instagram was longing to hear.
- A conversation would reveal a clear path through a hard season.
- A ramble through the forest would help a friend reconnect with play and exploration.
In those moments, practicing what I love becomes an act of service.
It feels like hearing that harsh and exciting call of Mary Oliver’s wild geese: “over and over announcing your place / in the family of things.”
Cultivate the work that’s truly yours to do…
One day I stumbled on a podcast where Jerry Colonna was coaching a startup founder. As I listened to his heartfelt questions, and how they opened up new clarity for his client, I thought, “This is the kind of conversation I love having.”
That’s how I learned that this deep kind of soul-level conversation has a name: coaching. And that there’s a lineage of science and wisdom on how to do it well.
When the weird, liminal space of the pandemic set in I signed up for a 9-month intensive course to become a certified professional coach.
My practices of writing, coaching, and nature connection are some of the key stars in the constellation of work that’s mine to do. But the image they form in this season of my life is this:
I help you discover the deepest gifts you and the world have to offer each other.
Not by telling you what I think you should do. But by listening, reflecting, and slowly helping you shift the old survival patterns that get in the way of your clarity and confidence.
But the only way to really understand how coaching works is to experience it. So I set up an easy way for you to get 30 minutes of one-on-one coaching.
No commitment. No sales pitch.
Just compassion and clarity for this moment in your journey. All it costs is the price of a macchiato at my local coffee spot. Click here to book your coffee session: