CLARE NOWELL COACHING
life gives us many twists and turns and brings many lessons.
My childhood dream and indeed one that continued for many years was to travel, have a career, be married and have children, the happily ever after idea! Nothing wrong with that, I achieved that and more but not in the way I expected.
I started fulfilling that dream when I completed my degree and secured a job in France and set off to live the dream (or my version of it). Of course, none of this just happened. I knew what I wanted and took the necessary steps to make it happen.
Fast forward 10 years, all going to plan when life gives me a shock when my beautiful son is born, and I discover that he has special needs.
life's diversion
There begins a diversion from my dream, my plan, a road which is often difficult, isolating and often exhausting both emotionally and physically but also so rewarding as I help him achieve his full potential at every step. He needed me as his advocate, his rock, his believer and without a thought my career came second.
My daughter came 3 years later so life was busy. I always tried to work and had a number of small businesses but had to adapt the way I worked to fit around not just school for my children but my sons numerous appointments.
My life changed again in a way which was not part of my dream or plan when I divorced. Even in that sad and difficult time I learnt life lessons about resilience, flexibility, self-belief and positivity.
present day
Today my son is happily chasing his own dream at a residential special college and my daughter is at university and I finally have the chance to prioritise my career and dreams.
what took me to coaching?
What has carried me through life’s twists and turns is my positivity (even though at times the road has been hard and lonely) and an ability to plan, to see the options and to get to the root cause of a dilemma in order to provide clarity and vision to move forward.
All the signs for years were pointing me to coaching but it took me a while to really see, to listen and to act.
For a long time, friends have used me as a sounding board when making difficult decisions, supporting but not giving advice and enabling them to explore options seems to come naturally to me.
In 2019 I qualified as Business and Personal Coach with Barefoot Coaching Ltd and with the skills that the course has given me I am now able to encompass what comes naturally to me within a coaching framework
There are times when we all feel stuck, without direction and I believe that coaching provides a safe and confidential space to facilitate the exploration of options, identify any behaviours that are holding us back from moving forwards.
