Sometimes I feel like a cat with 9 lives… the older I get the more I can see the gifts hidden in life’s challenges. They sure do come with some big lessons. They help with landing on your feet the next time…
From early on, I was challenged by loving someone who was addicted to alcohol. My mother was an alcoholic. My father was hard working, a golfer and an enabler. I was the 5th of 6 children and at one time we had 5 children between the ages of 12 and 20…That’s like 5 teenagers at one time under one roof- picture that one. I began my recovery in Alateen and then onto Alanon and today I continue to participate in Adult Children of Alcoholics groups. I continue to love people close to me who struggle with addictions.
My husband of 26 years, whom I love dearly, and I adopted our two children. My two children, whom I love dearly, are both teens and we are in the full swing of those teen years and loving and letting go. Not always fun but always interesting.
I am a cancer survivor. At the age of 32 years old I had melanoma.
I have gone from the medical/therapies to a masters degree in business with multiple career changes. My career has taken many forms. I began in the medical therapy field and made my way back to school for a business degree and then onto several related opportunities. Back into training in 1999, I knew life coaching was the next stop for me. It’s been an educational, inspiring and sometimes challenging journey with all that change. .
It took 18 months for my parents to pass away, and my 5 siblings and I assisted them in their passing. Much of the time, there didn’t seem to be enough of us to do what had to be done.
I turned 50 and planned and executed 5 abductions of my best and oldest friends to mystery locations and events… We had a lot of fun… My husband threw a bash for me and we danced at our favorite dance spot with lots of our friends ‘til the wee hours.
So, I am living proof of, “If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger”.
I don’t ask my clients to do much that I haven’t done. I sometimes find it hard to chat because I know what people are really struggling with. I believe in a higher power and best of all I like life. It is full though sometimes I feel I am waiting for it to get easier. While I wait, I am fully engaged in living it to the fullest and assisting others to do that- whatever that means for them.
I have an acute belief that my life training is work in process and it is time to stand as a leader and “Live the changes I want to see in the world”. Mahatma Ghandi
And like that cat with 9 lives, I search for that sunny spot on the window sill to soak up the energy, stretch, be in the moment and rejuvenate.
