I’m going to start this post the way high school valedictorians start their graduation speeches–with a definition.

Vision (according to Oxford Languages because we must cite our sources):

• the faculty or state of being able to see
• the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom
• a person or sight of unusual beauty

Vision is the thing that should be driving our lives.

It’s the thing that should be dictating our actions.

It’s the thing that should be getting us out of bed each day with the energy & enthusiasm of a 5 year old on Christmas morning.

I say SHOULD because I bet for most of us, it’s not the thing that motivates us each because we don’t have one.

As a former high school English teacher, I cringe at the thought that we, as a school district, sent almost all of our students out into the big wide world WITHOUT teaching them how to create a vision for their lives.

Sure, many of our students had a plan–they knew what steps they were going to take next.

• Maybe they were going to a four year college
• Maybe they were going to stay closer to home to attend the local community college.
• Maybe they were going to a trade school.
• Maybe they were going into the military.
• Maybe they were going into the work force.

But I bet most of them didn’t know WHY they were taking these next steps.

I bet they didn’t stop to think about how these action steps they were taking were contributing to their overall visions of how they wanted their lives to be.

I bet, if they are anything like me, they just knew they were supposed to DO something (I mean, we did ask them, “What are you going to DO after high school?”).

When I was graduating from high school, I felt like there was this kind of expectation for my life, a path I was to follow: graduate high school, go to college (this was a nonnegotiable from my parents), get a “good paying job” with benefits and a retirement plan, get married, have children, raise said children, work at “good paying job” until retirement, become a grandma, retire.

But no one really talked to be about following my passions. And I never really asked myself if that was what I wanted to do.

No one really talked to me about what it is I REALLY wanted out of life. Heck, I didn’t even know what life really had to offer.

No one told me that I could pivot, that at any point in my life I could choose something else, that I could get off the preordained path and follow a new one.

It was like I was being pushed along in the river current.

I chose to become a high school English teacher because I loved to read and to write.

I chose to teach high school students because I felt they would be more mature, and we could have “real” conversations about life. Plus, I did’t want the responsibility of teaching them HOW to read (you know, in case I sucked at my job–I didn’t want to damage them).

But mainly, I chose to become a teacher because I wanted to be a mom.

I figured I would probably have to work (although, I really just wanted to be a stay-at-home mom like my mother), so I thought that a teacher’s schedule with the summers off, done at work by 2:00’ish every day, holidays and weekends off, and snow days would fit the bill.

I didn’t expect to find myself one day passionless and burned out.

I didn’t know that was a thing.

I didn’t know that one day I was going to find myself wanting to pivot but afraid of what others would think.

My early years of teaching taught me that what I really wanted to do was counsel students.

I wanted to be a counselor/therapist who helped the struggling students with their life problems.

But that would require going back to school which would require more money spent on education and time away from my “good paying job.”

I felt like changing career paths would be wasting the money and the time I already spent becoming a high school English teacher.

So, I chose NOT to pivot.

I pushed that desire way down and continued teaching.

But guess what happened?

I stayed burned out and passionless.

Some years were better than others, but most of the years I spent in the classroom, I drug myself into work each day, sometimes coming up with ideas for what to do in the classroom on my way to work (or in the shower that morning–but in my defense, that is where I do my best thinking!), always drowning in the piles of grading I didn’t do the night before, always dreading the relentless task of following someone else’s agenda.

I do want to say here, though, that I ALWAYS found joy in (most of) my students…in talking to them, in listening to their thoughts and ideas, in laughing with them, in giving them advice, in watching them grow as humans–just not in the day to day drudgery that was teaching.

I tried like crazy to bring my teacher self back to life, but I was never successful. And I spent many years bitter and depressed.

It wasn’t until I took the time to think about what I REALLY wanted out of life…how I wanted my life to look like, to feel like…that I finally understood that it was okay to want a different path.

And then to take that different path.

It took being able to see that there were so many other opportunities available to me.

It took giving myself permission to think about and to plan for a future with imagination & wisdom & passion.

It took finally understanding that life is a beautiful thing that is meant to be enjoyed.

My life is now full because I created a vision.

And that is why I am so passionate about helping other people create their own visions.

I spend the first session with every one on one client digging deep into what it is they REALLY want for their lives.

I push them to discover their truths.

And then we get to work in subsequent sessions removing the negative stories they have about themselves and what’s possible for their lives so that they can see their life differently.

So they can ACT differently.

That’s what life coaching is all about–helping you see a beautiful future for yourself and then doing the work to get there.

Interested in working together?

Click HERE to request a FREE session!