And It All Comes Back Around

I've been thinking and writing about forgotten dreams a lot lately (it's one of the things I help clients with through my Next Life Adventure coaching program). In the process, I noticed something interesting about my own journey. Pieces of my own dreams that I had forgotten about or shelved a long time ago are reemerging. Not necessarily in exactly the same way they looked back then, but the themes are there. Some pieces that were vague or unclear are making sense now too.

For example, I just finished reading The Hero and the Outlaw, a great book on branding and marketing. As I explored which archetype best fit my coaching business, I had an a-ha moment about the very essence of who I am in the world. Several years ago, I did quite a bit of work with my own coach around the topic of who I am, the impact I want to have in the world, etc. If you'd asked me at any point since then, I would have automatically told you I was the "explorer" archetype. Well, with this new information in hand about my business, I realized the same archetype applied to me as a person too (the "magician", if you're curious). Wow, suddenly, I'm looking at my life purpose in a whole new way! Pieces that had been vague—floating around the periphery—now fit and make perfect sense.

My coaching business itself is another example. As a serial entrepreneur and chronic idea person, I can start to feel like a bit of a flake sometimes. I started my own business as a career coach over a decade ago. I love everything about business strategy, and before too long, people in the careers industry began seeking out my advice to help them grow their businesses. Hence my venture into business coaching. Yet my own major life experiences and transitions left me wanting to contribute to my coaching clients on a deeper level than merely their career or business. Now here I am, more than 10 years later (and with no intentional design on my part), coaching clients in a way that combines it all...I help women turn their forgotten dreams into exciting, successful next life adventures. Sometimes this takes the form of a new business, sometimes a new career, and always a journey of deep transformation as they transition from one thing to another.

And the lesson of my observation? Don't discard the fragments of your dreams. They may not make sense right now, and they may not be feasible in this season of your life. But pay attention...tuck them away in your heart or your mind or a journal for future reference. I guarantee that somewhere down the road ahead of you, they will resurface in some form or another, and what seems confusing now will someday make sense.