Six Lessons from 10 Years of A Wild New Work

Part One

In September of 2015, I registered my new business, "Integrated Consulting LLC." This business was meant to be a) a home for the Human Resources consulting work I'd already been doing and b) a container for a new venture - career coaching.

Since that time ten years ago, the work I've done in the world has changed so much. I smile when I think of myself as that young woman wearing business casual at HR networking events and being brave as she hung a shingle for career coaching, feeling unqualified but called.

To honor the ten-year anniversary of this journey, I'd like to humbly harvest and share six of the major lessons I've learned about what it means to live into one's calling–into your own "wild new work."

Much of my spiritual and personal growth over the last ten years has been about vocation and how to retain the soul's primacy in the face of capitalism's demands. So in this series, I'll be sharing some of what I've had to learn about how to begin working in alignment with your soulful calling, what it means when it's hard, why there are no awards for living out your purpose, and more.

Please know: I don't offer these reflections from a place of transcendence or having it all figured out! These are lessons that I'm sure I'll cycle back to and that I'm still unpacking. But I feel like ten years offers a decent amount of study, so I invite you to sit around the fire with me and see if anything about my story resonates with you and your own journey.

The first lesson I'd like to share today is: Here is the Only Place to Start.

Here is the only place to start, and now is the only time.

When I look back at my 28 year-old self in a rented office space attempting to hold space as a career coach for the first time, I feel a mix of pride, horror, embarrassment, and joy. How earnest I was with my paperwork, my plans, and my new website. I really wanted to help people feel better in the workplace, and it felt like a natural step to move from Human Resources into career coaching.

I rented an office space for five hours per week and charged $35 per session. I saw as many people as I could, from all sorts of industries and career paths. It was trial by fire, and if you happen to be one of those people I saw in the early days: I'm sorry! It was pretty messy at times, but there were glimmers of hope: people who felt relieved to just be listened to, patterns I started to notice, ways of holding space that seemed life-giving. I learned so much, most of it through being uncomfortable and noticing what didn't feel good.

One could argue that I started too soon and in the wrong place. I didn't have a coaching certification (I still don't), I was young, and I was new to Portland. I had worked as an independent contractor before but had never had to "market" myself or my services. It could really only work financially because of the stability of my husband Chris' income. In spite of all this, the pathway unfolded well enough that I continued to walk down it.

After ten years of supporting people on their own soulful working journeys, I've heard countless more reasons why someone shouldn't begin walking down a new path: it's not the right time, it's not safe, you're not ready, you need X degree or certification, you don't have enough in savings, you're too old/young, you tried it years ago and it didn't work, etc.

What I've learned in my own journey and through supporting others is that if there is a calling–if you feel called in a certain direction–that is enough to know that now is the right time to take a step.

It's true that we may feel called toward something but the entire manifestation of it isn't ready yet. For example, we may feel a yearning to make our art but the studio we dream of working in isn't ready to be built. Does this mean we should wait to make our art? No.

One of the juiciest secrets of life is that you actually do have everything you need to begin. And not only that, but you are in the right place to begin, because it's where you are.

No matter what, beginnings are messy, meandering, and most of us are surprised to see how things unfolded when we look back ten years later. None of the mess or the wiliness of the path means it was the wrong time or place to start. If we've pushed for something prematurely, that's just more learning that can guide us when we come to the next new beginning.

If you feel a tug in your heart toward a different container for your work or even just the idea that there could be work you're meant to do at this time, I hope you will take a step in that direction. Then another. Then another. They can be secret steps, backward steps, steps while crying, steps that don't feel like steps - what matters most seems to be the intention to move toward that which you are called to, even if your movement is non-linear.

Choosing to move toward a calling can seem brazen and reckless, but your deeper self will know it's the right thing and rejoice. I'm so glad baby me was courageous enough to say 'yes' to walking this path, even though I had a lot of anxiety and it's been really hard at times.

I'm not 28 years old anymore, but there have been many new starts since then and there will continue to be–fresh edges that feel scary but that have the texture of a calling to them, and so I listen in spite of the sirens going off in my mind. I'm happy to say that this truly has gotten easier over time. I think the more leaps you take, the more you find that something always catches you, even if it's just the ground as you fall on your face.

If you've ever worked with me one on one or in a small group over the last ten years, I want you to know how much your own commitment to beginning–even when it's messy–has inspired me. There's no way to walk the soulful path other than to walk it, and it's been an immense blessing to see that confirmed in your stories and experiences.

Below are some photos from my early days in case you're curious! I'll be back with you next week to share some other insights I'm harvesting around this anniversary.