Reinvention from Stay-at-Home Mom to Life Coach

When my three children were grown and independent, I decided to reinvent myself and I became certified as a life coach. As a naturally positive person who likes to help people, I realized that coaching is a perfect career choice for me. In particular, I became really interested in the issues addressing women who are in their 40’s and 50’s who are trying to figure out “what’s next” after the kids are gone.

I specialize in working with women who are in transition and trying to figure out what they want to do after the kids are grown and independent.  We work together to build a plan for the future and as a coach, I help them gain awareness on what they want. My clients are interested in learning about what is important to them in this next stage. With one client who wanted to explore lifestyle and career choices after taking time off to raise children, I delved deep by asking powerful questions that could help her build insight into what her next job should be. To help her gain perspective on her options, we did an exercise where she would take a hypothetical aerial view in order to see her situation from above to learn what was metaphorically and figuratively blocking her from figuring out what she wanted.   Another client was trying to decide if she should stay or switch jobs came to me to help her analyze her choices and give thoughtful consideration to what mattered most to her. These exercises on perspective and choice really enable the client to gain awareness to learn what is important to them and help make changes and transitions go smoother. 

My clients often find it hard to move back into the center of their own lives and focus on themselves. After we have achieved our parenting goals, it feels like a loss to us as we are forced to figure out what’s next in this stage of empty nesting. Some of my clients are struggling to find a new identity at a point in their lives when their physiology is changing and a realization that some of the choices that they have made already are irreversible (e.g. giving up their careers to be a stay at home mom).  Transitions to this next stage require a lot of self-focus and self-care and a life coach can help someone do this.

I advise women ages 40 plus to be open to taking chances and to try new things. Through self-discovery and experiences, they will learn a lot about who they currently are and who they want to be.  A lot of women in their 40’s and 50’s are still working on getting to know this new “self” better and may feel slightly uncomfortable with the journey.  They are still learning what they need to do to make themselves happy and what they need to let go of in order to find their own happiness. Some are afraid to take risks because they are fearful of failure or getting hurt or changing the status quo.  The “modern” woman needs to trust herself and learn to say yes when she wants to, and say no when things don’t feel right. Realizing that change can bring discomfort and uncertainty is hard but is also the only way to have real growth and have fun in this new stage of self-discovery.