In this series I’m featuring some of the wonderful people I have had the privilege of working with. Allow yourself to be inspired; if you are considering doing life differently, then know many have gone before you.
Letting your creative talents do the talking.
How one client stopped ticking boxes and started believing.
Some people have never entertained working with someone like me, nor considered the fact that life can be done differently. When I met Jane, I was unsure if she would be open to flip-think her situation. It was clear from her profile that she had an experience of doing fairly conventional jobs and she was going to job interviews to do more of the same. For some reason it probably didn’t sit right with her, which is what prompted our first conversation.
In my experience it’s impossible to tell what really is going on for someone and you certainly can’t judge a book by its cover. Jane had always been told to engage in administrative kind of jobs to be secure and to always have work. In the initial profiling and exercises I do with clients it quickly emerged that -in Jane’s words- she was so fed up doing what she was supposed to do. But equally scary, she was at a loss as to what to do. Any question regarding what her goals were or anything to do with the future evoked a long pause. Often people have been so busy running on the treadmill that those kinds of questions have never even been thought about.
Although I mostly work with people internationally via Skype or Zoom, I had the pleasure to be able to visit Jane in her home. It was immediately clear to me that her talent was on display everywhere in the house in decorations, styling and things displayed by the door, on the walls and in the garden. She mentioned to me that she had always dipped her toe in the water with the creative arts, sold things online and even run workshops as a hobby. If there was a sign as to what she could be doing with her time, then her enthusiasm and energy (alongside her obvious talent) were clear indicators that this was something that made her feel alive.
Quickly, doubt pours in. If it’s not the people around us that ask the uncomfortable questions, then it is probably our own mind that hesitates to a point of paralysis. The logical left brain asks unanswerable practical questions that starve any new idea of oxygen. It makes it appear there are more reasons not to do something than there are indicators to give it a shot. It takes an extraordinary amount of courage to buck the trend and swim against the current, passing all those people who raise their eyebrows. Only if you listen to your heart and keep your eye on the prize, you can make it.
During our working together, Jane went for it. In a careful process of deliberate steps she moved closer to her goal to run a business teaching creative workshops for women and children, inspiring them to use their hands and imaginations. Many “miracles” happened along the way, not in the least the premises that landed on her path.
Last Saturday, I was a VIP guest at the opening party. Having always worked for an employer, Jane launched her own business “Bij Sfeergoed”.
