Big Announcement | ep160
Can you imagine yourself in 2 years with your life not changing at all?
If I had to name just 1 superpower for myself, I’d say it’s my ability to know when it’s time for something to come to an end.
I wasn’t always this way. I wasn’t the person who could foresee when something that felt easy wasn’t going to create ease i the future. I wasn’t the person who was ok with burning down what I had created or allowing my dream to evolve and change.
No. Instead, I was the person who would set my eyes on a goal and — come high or hell water — I was going to do it. I would reach that goal, I would get there, and I would be fulfilled.
But, I soon started to realize that had I just listened to that soft whispering that was gently nudging me about a year in saying, “Hey, maybe we need to rethink this,” I wouldn’t have poured so much of myself into something that I kind of knew I no longer wanted.
The moment I really learned this lesson of listening to that voice sooner rather than later was when I made the pivot bring being a singer to a coach.
I’ve talked about this pivot before. It’s one of my origin stories to becoming a coach and really becoming who I am today. But I think sometimes I glamorize or gloss over some of the more difficult parts of that shift because it really was a difficult one for me.
My shift from International Opera Singer to Life Coach
Before I became a coach, I was a professional opera singer for over 10 years. I was singing all over the world! Europe, Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera. These were things I’d dreamt about.
While I was living what I considered my “dream life,” it felt like a nightmare.
While I loved to sing, I didn’t love being a singer. It was really heard. I didn’t like the lifestyle, the competitveness, the politics of it all. It was exhausting.
But, even though I was miserable and exhausted and burnt out, I kept at it for so many reasons that I know you probably experience, too.
I kept at it because…
I was worried about what other people would think
I didn’t want to step into uncertainty
It was something I had once wanted
I had poured so much of myself into it that it seemed like a waste of time NOT to keep at it
As I kept trying to push through, there was this persistent voice saying, “I don’t think this is it.” It wasn’t super strong at first and it came up just once in a while. Honestly, I think whenever it did, I was suppressing it because I was so scared to listen to it. Doing so would mean that I would have to make some big changes. And… I didn’t wanna.
I wanted to keep going on that goal that I had set my eyes on. And this worked. For a while. But then it got to a point where I just couldn’t not listen to the voice.
That’s when I asked myself the question that I now ask so many of my clients and myself:
Can you imagine yourself in 2 years with your life not changing at all?
Can you imagine yourself in 2 years with the same job?
Feeling the same way that you do now
With the same community that you have now?
With the same life that you have now?
That question really woke me up. What came up for me was dread. It was “No way! No how! No thank you!”
I could not imagine existing like this for another 2 years. I could not put myself through the same BS for another 2 years.
Asking myself this is one of the reasons I started working with a life coach. I realized I needed some help to figure out what I wanted, what I wanted to change, what the life was that I wanted to live. And love, that changed my life.
It also brought me to the work that I do now. Working with a life coach made me realize how much I love the modality of coaching and as I have built Wholehearted Coaching, I’ve now come back to the 2-Year Test.
When I started Wholehearted Coaching, I wanted to be a coach that did one-on-one coaching. That was my dream and I loved it for a really long time. But, about a year into it, I asked myself the question and realized there were other avenues I wanted to explore.
So, I created Wholehearted Woman, my group coaching program that combines one-on-one coaching with group coaching. And once again, I loved it! It allowed me to work with a bigger community.
After about 2 years of that new program, I sat with the 2-Year Test again. I realized I wanted to work with an even bigger community, so something needed to shift. I then created The Alchemy Collective - my 12-month group coaching community.
I often say that our dreams are just the first draft, just the first iteration. It can be scary to change them, but they’re meant to grow alongside of us as we grow and evolve. That is exactly what Wholehearted Coaching has been for me from the start.
My Big Announcement
So, a few years ago, I sat with the question once again and I allowed myself to realize that the dream was changing because I was changing.
I realized that I wanted move from being a coach to being a guide and facilitator for other coaches. I realized I wanted to create my own coaching certification and not just any coaching certificatio program, but a decolonized approach to coaching.
This certification is born from my love for coaching because it truly changed my life. I have seen its transformative power in the lives of so many other people. But, after years of being in the world of coaching, I realized I have seen how much harm and toxicity exists within this world.
Coaching is a modality that is thousands and thousands of years old. We once called a coach an oracle, a viliage elder. Coaches are space holders. They are those who can create a space in which others feel empowered and supported enough to reclaim their own wisdom and knowledge.
My deepest desire and reason for creating this certification is for us to go back to reclaim the roots of coaching, to reclaim the space holders that we innately and intuitively are. This coaching certification program is about bringing the soul back to coaching.
I created this program as a love letter to my former self asking what would I have loved to have learned, what has helped me as a coach?
This has been such a thrilling and terrifying experience all at once. After years and years of building and creating new things, I have come to realize that the roller coaster ride of doing the thing that you know you’re meant to do is part of the experience. Never have I questioned myself more and never have I been more proud of myself.
And now I can announce that The Wholehearted Coaching Certification Program is a result of the 2-year test.
I’ve actually launched a beta group for the certification and I am currently working with 12 incredible human beings and if you’ve ever wanted to be a coach, head to wholeheartedcertification.com/programs to join the waitlist to be a part of the official first cohort.
This path we are all on is one that is always changing. We can either be forced to change or choose to change. Which one will you choose, love?
If you enjoyed this, you’ll also love these episodes:
156 | Reclaiming your Roots with Emily Anne Brant
In this series, we are going to look at how we can decolonize our professional lives, our dreams, our spirits, our wellbeing and we are starting off with a wonderful guest, Emily Anne Brant – an Indigenous author, speaker, & mentor on a mission to decolonize the personal development industry. No matter what, I know you’ll get something out of these episodes, love.
157 | Reclaiming your Dreams with SharRon Jamison
SharRon Jamison joins us to talk about how we can decolonize our imaginations and our dreams, and if you're part of the Wholehearted Community, you know that this is something I talk about often: how our dreams can be limited within this box of what people tell us is possible for us, and today, SharRon Jamison is telling us to break out of that box.
158 | Reclaiming your Community with Marla Teyolia
When we think of decolonizing our lives, that is not a solo mission. It is an endeavor, a journey that we take in community. In this week’s interview, what really stood out to me was the importance of and the power of community as Marla Teyolia so vulnerably shared her story of decolonizing her life. I can’t wait for you to get to know her better.
159 | Reclaiming your Self with Asha Frost
Our final interview in the Decolonizing your Life series is with someone so incredibly special to me: Asha Frost. I truly see Asha as a changemaker. Asha shares openly about how difficult it was for her to use her voice and how she listened to her body and spirit in order to reclaim her self and her courage.
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About your host, Shirin Eskandani
Hi, love! I’m Shirin.
Coach, speaker, writer, and life alchemist.
I teach you how to listen to your intuition again, tune out all the BS, and let your heart lead the way.
Because once you strengthen your inner GPS, decisions become easier, boundaries become clearer, and belly laughs become a daily thing.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT ME:
I’m a certified life coach (accredited through the International Coach Federation)
My husband and I met on Instagram and we live in Brooklyn, NY with our plant babies
I have a masters degree in Music and was a professional opera singer for twelve years. I worked all over the world singing on stage at Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera (more on that later…).
I believe in the woo just as much as I do the work (internal and external). No amount of crystals and affirmations will make up for a lack of a healthy mindset and aligned action.
I love all the Real Housewives franchises. Don’t make me choose one… seriously, don’t.