I spent ten years working in large companies. Two were US owned multinationals and another was one of the British big four accountancy firms. Despite working in a number of different roles with some success I wasn’t happy. My value to my employer seemed to be only in terms of the time I billed each month.

Every time I contemplated change I panicked. What about the mortgage? And I told myself I had to get it right next time. It felt so scary that each time I stopped thinking about change and put it off again. I hadn’t yet learned that moving out of comfort zones isn’t comfortable. I lacked any strategy for making decisions about the future. I didn’t want to ‘waste’ the professional qualification I’d gained and I feared there was nothing else I could do.

I was stuck.

As is so often the way, life stepped in. A divorce gave me freedom to consider my life afresh. At a Christian arts festival I realised I’d been a round peg who had tried to fit into a square mould for a long time and had been compressed. I needed a break to recover my roundpeggedness, to recover my own identity.

I gave in my notice 3 days later and in less than 6 months flew to Rio de Janeiro and the Rio carnival. This was the start of an eight month round the world trip, a glorious time of temples, cocktails, mountains and a skydive.

Coming home was hard. Lots of anticlimax and adjustment. Yet I took a temporary Social Services job and found a peace in feeling that I was making a difference which I had never experienced amongst the glass lifts and chrome coffee machines.

I rejected an early intuition about life coaching – I didn’t even know what that meant – and trained as a voluntary counsellor. After yet more fear and procrastination I employed a life coach (Bruce Stanley) who helped to clarify that my twin desires to make a difference in the world and see people change would be used as a coach.

Starting my own business and learning to be an entrepreneur has been another journey of discovery. I still feel fear as I step out of comfort zones. The big difference is that I have strategies to deal with the stressful thoughts. I have learned tools for dealing with the negative thoughts. And I’m doing work that I love which uses my strengths and meets my values. What a change!

I would love to work with you to help you to escape corporate life and build a new life that meets your values. Or to support you as you overcome your negative thoughts and the things that block you.

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