The Day That Changed My Life
There are some days that alter our life course, that change our trajectory, days that will forever hold a significance in our life. For me, that date is January 22, 2020.
At this point in my life, I was unhappy. Although I may have been what many would define as successful, I felt stuck. Trapped.
Opal and I wanted a change, but no matter what we may have contemplated or what alternatives in life or work we considered, we never could seem to make it work out. The cost of living in a new area, the job outlook in said area, the earning potential there. And then there was the debt. This “success” in career and life we had experienced came at a cost. Opal and I had amassed student loan debt over the course of our combined five degrees. No matter how much we tried, anytime we put pen to paper, it never worked out. And as a result, I was left feeling trapped and helpless.
On the morning of January 22, 2020, I texted Opal as usual, after my painstaking hour-long commute to work. On this morning, I broke down. I texted about how I despised my evening work and overnight travel commitments that would pull me away from the family often causing me to miss our kids’ events. How I wanted so badly to find my passion and purpose and to be able to live that out with immeasurable excitement every single day. I was really, REALLY good at describing in detail everything I didn’t like. All the things I didn’t want.
On this particular morning, I texted:
“This is not at all what I want to do. But not knowing what I want to do instead just complicates the matter and exacerbates the issue. I feel like I should be doing something towards making a change, but I feel as if I’m instead standing here still. Just rambling, feeling lost, confused, tired, and a bit of a failure. All I want to do is cry. I just love you so much and want so badly to work toward something. I want to live life with passion and purpose and feel confident that I’m living God’s will every day. I’m just really, really ready for this black cloud to disappear. I’d do anything to make that happen.”
I clicked send.
Opal responded…with a link.
“Check this out. First session is free. I think it would be worth seeing if y’all are a match.”
It was a link to the website of a life coach we knew.
If you read Opal’s last blog post, this would be the same life coach she met with in 2016 that led to her later launching her initial blog, Core Truths, two years later.
Before I can even respond, she sends:
“Too expensive? Can’t cost more than relocating unnecessarily or depression. I’m being very serious.”
I reply, “I can’t look at it right now. I’m crying. I’ll come back in a bit.”
Half an hour later, I return to the text conversation, thank Opal for sharing the life coach thing, and explain how I’ve thought about this particular coach often but, for whatever reason, never looked into it. I agreed I would reach out to her that day.
And I did.
Opal sent one last text, “Oh, and really, I don’t care the cost, I think it’s worth at least the same or more than we spend on cheer!”
After lunch that day, Opal checked in on me to see if I’d heard back. I had and I would need to either book that initial discovery session with the coach the very next day or not until late the following week. I tell Opal that, even though I was extremely busy with work, “Part of me would like to not waste another week.”
Her response. “Then make it happen. 4:00 tomorrow.”
That initial session the following day came, and I’ll be completely honest, I wasn’t 100% sold on the idea. But although I may not have been entirely convinced it would work, I realized I was at a fork in the road.
In one direction, I knew exactly where it would lead me. I had known for quite some time that I wanted something different. Something more. And I knew that I felt so beaten down and overwhelmed that, if I did nothing, I would remain exactly where I was in life.
And in the other direction, the one that involved coaching, there was at least a chance. I may have not been completely convinced it would work, but that day I saw hope. Hope for the first time in I don’t know how long! A chance that, through coaching, I might just be able to figure this out.
My personal coaching journey and the changes Opal and I made as a result of it and our family’s complete life transformation that ensued because of it is a story in itself. To be quite honest, it’s likely quite a few stories! And I promise we’ll tell them.
But two things happened to me in just over a 24-hour period back in January 2020. I was given permission. And I was given hope.
The truth is, my life changed forever that day. The trajectory of our entire family, and each of us individually, was greatly altered because of a few things that unfolded that January 2020 week. Opal saw the pain in my eyes and heard the desperation in my words, and she responded. She responded with understanding, compassion, and encouragement.
The coach I hired saw through the tears in my eyes and the entrapment in my voice, and she picked up on the energy I expressed when I spoke about a desired future.
And although I may have had a bit of sticker shock at the time, I just kept replaying Opal’s words in my mind and the permission she offered, and I said yes. Not only yes to the life coach, but yes to me. Yes to my family. Yes to living a life I never ever thought possible.
The truth is, that one yes has led to many other yeses. Yeses to the life we truly desired.
