Take Your Dreams Seriously by workisnotajob

A few weeks ago, I was having a crapballtastic day. Our apartment was still in ruins from the renovation (which totally affects my mental state, ‘specially since I work from home), I felt like I have to turn my business on its head to get out of it what I now want from it (it’s still fuzzy, but I promise to keep you posted if I do anything dramatic), and I was eating my millionth take-out meal (which I never thought I’d hate, but I do. Gimme my fridge and countertops back!). As I’m app to do, I told my husband about the craptasticness, no holds barred. There may or may not have been tears. He gave me words of comfort, hung up the phone, and then – unbeknownst to me – wrote the following “post for your blog, and you can use it, or not use it, but it was something I put together for you for the anniversary of your company. Either way, I’m sending it to you now to cheer you up. Hope it helps.” Oh, did it. He had me crying on the train as I read it, not caring who saw, happily wiping the tears away. And while this day is fuzzy for me, I’m glad it’s so clear for him, and I’m so thankful he shared it. Luke‘s my rock (and a super talented and very handsome man), and I would absolutely not be here talking to all of you (so many of you! all day long if I want!) if it wasn’t for him.

Here’s his story.

As the anniversary of When I Grow Up Coach becoming a full-time enterprise nears, I can’t help but reminisce about the beginnings of the coat tails that I get more and more comfortable upon each day.

Like all great things, it began simply. I’m sure you’ve read the story (for you newbies, you can also check out Michelle’s take on her beginnings here), so you know that Michelle found herself at a crossroads—a struggle both of us would spend hours discussing over many glasses of wine. It was a topic of discussion that began shortly after we dated, and continued throughout our courtship. But unlike her husband, Michelle doesn’t rest on her laurels for very long. In fact, it was shortly after we had moved in together, when our relationship was beginning its foundation, that she sat me down and said that after some deep soul-searching, she wanted to pursue life-coaching.

Now I’m brushing over this part too quickly, so permit me to back up a bit. Michelle did indeed sit me down (and I believe a glass of wine was involved), and paused.

“I’ve decided something, and I want to talk to you about it.” she said. Another pause.

My first thought was concern: Michelle doesn’t pause. Words pour from her mouth, hands gesture rapidly, and smiles are aplenty. None of that was here, so my Spider-sense tingled at level magenta. She was going to unveil something huge upon me, and I had no idea what it was. We weren’t engaged yet, so there was a part of me that thought that maybe she was going to propose to me here. Or maybe she was going to reveal that she once killed a man in Reno just to watch him die. Or maybe she had eaten the last pint of Ben & Jerry’s in the fridge and she knew that Cookie Dough was my favorite. Either way, I was leaning more on the negative than the positive.

“I want to be a life coach.”

I was way off.

Those of you who are currently in, or have been in, a long-term relationship know that a certain amount of personal growth within your partner is inevitable, and from time to time your partner will share thoughts on areas of interest he or she would like to pursue. And at the risk of offending those in pursuit of bettering themselves, most of the time these pursuits have a limited impact on both you and to a certain extent, your partner. Maybe your husband wants to learn to knit. Maybe your girlfriend wants to take up Tae-Kwon Do. Maybe your roommate wants to start a retro-Riot Grrl band. For these proclamations, at most you’ll have to attend craft fairs/meets/dive-bar open mikes, and if you’re a supportive person, you’ll have a good time, you’ll revel in the enjoyment you see on your partner’s face, and you’ll enjoy your new oven mitt/first aid kit/ironic t-shirt featuring the band that reads, “Raggedy Ann of Green Gables.”

But once in a while, your partner will unveil upon you a pursuit that will alter her life forever, and thus, yours. You will know this by the sincerity in your partner’s eyes, the slight tinge of fear in her voice and the deafening silence that follows her pronouncement. This will be a decision that she has not reached quickly or hastily, and it will be a pursuit that succeed or fail, she will not rest until the desire in her heart has been met. Obviously I am making this statement because this is what I witnessed in my love as she delivered what was surely to be one of the most influential moments of our relationship.

A cynic (such as myself) might have met this announcement with ridicule or judgment. After all, considering that my girlfriend has just told me she wants to spend the rest of her life telling other people what to do, you can see where some negativity would arise (please note that this is not an accurate description of a life coach’s work, but I kept this in for humor purposes). And I swear to you all that were it any other person, at any other time, I may have responded as such. But I looked deep into her baby blues, and it was clear as day—Michelle was going to be a life coach.

It wasn’t simply that her mind was made up, or that she hopped on some sort of guru-bandwagon; it was as clear to me then as it is to me today, she had found her life’s calling.

“Ok,” was my reply. I responded simply because while I had no clue as to where this decision would lead, I knew that it was a journey that Michelle had to begin, and therefore, I didn’t want to spoil the moment fumbling over my words. A single tear ran down her cheek, as I would later learn often happens during my wife’s moments of joy. She smiled, I smiled back, and we both began the talk the lead to the blog you’re reading right now.

I don’t remember much after that, but I’m sure there was kissing and high-fiving involved. I do remember that I knew right there and then that that moment was a special one, and our lives would forever be changed for the better. (Of course, I also felt that way when she told me she’d come with me to see “Transformers”, so don’t go by what I say.)

Many of you faithful readers have followed my lovely wife for years now, so you’ve grown accustomed to her quirkiness, her happiness, her sadness and all the amazeballs in between. I’d love to dish and tell you that this is some sort of persona or role she created for herself. But the fact is that the Michelle you read, see and listen to, is the Michelle that I see every day (although there is some private time that I’ll keep between us). And after one year, we can all see that the decision she made just a few short years ago, was truly a step in the right direction.

I just thought you’d all like to know how that moment really started.

This Saturday is the 1st anniversary of my escape from Corporate America, and to celebrate, I’m pushing up the date of the 3rd Annual When I Grow Up Scholarship. Come back here tomorrow for all the deets, and your chance to win 12 private 45-min sessions with me on the house. Oh, I’m so excited in a deep, gratifying, grounded way.

*****************************************************************************************

Did ya see? Did ya hear? I’ve launched my illustrated, rhyming career change workbook: Operation: Creative Career Cheer! It’s only for my VIPs (that’s you!) - check it out if your career’s makin’ ya blue!

Tags: Michelle's Memoirs

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 17th, 2011 at 1:01 am and is filed under Encouragement for Everyone, Happy Hooplah. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.