Reinventing life...

Today I want to share with you a special post, I connected with Kate a year ago through Stroller Adventures and since then we've met up for smoothies in Costa Rica and she's moved back to Victoria and began a Life Coaching business and written an online course. So much has changed for Kate and also for me, in fact just a few weeks ago I had a Skype call with Kate in which she helped me figure out where I'm heading and where I am at. Which is why I invited Kate to write a guest post for you. 

Here's Kate:

1 year ago this month I was planning 6 month trip to Costa Rica. I was doing all sorts of research about what to expect and stumbled upon a post Maribel wrote about grocery shopping in Costa Rica. In her post she wrote about how pickleswere both expensive and elusive. As a pickle lover, I knew I had found a kindred spirit. Maribel and I actually had the opportunity to meet in person while I was travelling. She has been so supportive of my journey and I am so thankful she has given me the opportunity to share my story and new project with all of you.

My name is Kate Zealand and I am the proud Creator and Facilitator of a brand new online course called Lead Your Life: 6 Weeks to Learn Who You Are, What You Want and How To Reinvent Your Life. This course walks participants through a step by step process of defining personal values, creating a life vision, eliminating limiting beliefs and creating a personalized action plan to help them achieve success.

But before I go any further, I want to tell you a little bit about how Lead Your Life came to be. For 10 years of my life I was stuck. I was in a job I wasn't passionate about, I didn't have any drive. I guess if I summed it up in one word it was that I felt "unfulfilled." In my heart I knew there was something bigger and better out there for me, but I had no idea what that was or how to get it. Instead of dealing with these feelings I just stayed put, where it was safe and stable and where I living a life I didn't love.

It all came to a head when my husband and I decided to take a leave and travel through Costa Rica for half a year. I made the decision that this wasn't only going to be a big adventure, but this was going to be my opportunity to re-evaluate my life and its direction.

So I did.

I had just written my Master's thesis and so I was in full on research mode. I started investigating all sorts of ways to jump start a life, or get your life back on track or get on track for the first time. As I did this, I used my background in Values Based Personal Leadership to create a process I could go through. I wanted to figure out who I was and what I really wanted out of life.

I spent 6 months working my way through a process of self-discovery.  I came home with a vision, a plan and a new zest on life. I left my career, started carving out a new path and opened up my personal coaching practice, ZealandCoaching.

As my coaching practice began to grow, I started taking on coachees and talking with them about their stories. I was struck by how many people identified with my story and felt similar emotions. I found myself often referring back to the processes that I had gone through while travelling. There were so many aspects of my journey that were helping my coachees.  I wondered whether my personal journey  would help others too.