A summer of coaching – it’s actually a good time!
Summer time - and the living seems easy…
What about you? Are you already on a summer break or in the final preparation for it? Living the good life? Where I’m at, we usually get a summer break by the end of July – until then it’s a bit of a frenzy. Rest assured that August and the first half of September will be calm days!
And here I am actually proposing a “mental self-care through coaching time”. No, I’ve not gone completely off the rails, there’s method to my madness, for several reasons.
First off: an (extended) summer break at schools and work forces us to do things differently than usual. It gives us the excuse we need to lay off the tight regime we subject ourselves to and take a more relaxed stance. It might also mean that priorities shift, and I’m well aware that for quite a few of us the school break actually means more work per se.
In itself, that will probably be different than what the other 9, 10, or 11 months of the year will look like. Changing things up will always, and I mean always, give us a fresh new view on our life. If you’ve read my posts on habits here and here, you might have noticed that habits and routines are our way of dealing with complexity and stress. They re great – and put the blinders on us. Relinquishing them can be rather insightful. The question is if we’ll want to have a look and see.
Which will bring us to the next reason on my list (reasons for the method to my madness that is, in case you were wondering): Life seems to be lighter in the summer months, at least a lot of us perceive it to be. Meeting with friends for a coffee and a chat, an evening with a cool beverage on the patio, getting an ice-cream, going for a leisurely early morning or late evening walk (whatever floats your boat), breakfast and / or dinner outside: it’s all the tiny little things that recharge our batteries without us even realising that do add up. Recharged batteries also lead to a fresh perspective, as well as renewed motivation.
And lastly, for a lot of us, there’s also an actual summer break on the horizon, a chance to let your hair down, and live your best life for a moment.
All these are excellent sources for fuelling your resolve. Much more so than say, the turning of the year (whether it’s your birthday or New Year’s), mainly because the latter is an external event that will occur in any case, and often at a time when you’ve depleted your energy sources (think party preparations of varying scales).
Well then, what does your energy level have to do with seeking coaching? Quite a bit, at least in my experience both from my coaching practice as well as my own learning curve. What I see is that people will often wait to seek out help until their level of discomfort has already reached a certain level. They might find themselves in a situation where they can’t find a solution on their own anymore. By that time, they usually have spent a considerable amount of energy trying to hold up a turning tide with their hands and feel a certain level of exhaustion.
While this is a very much understandable human reaction, lower energy levels are not conducive to finding good solutions. At all. On the contrary, these interactions start out with the wish for someone please just giving them a solution. That’s when all the self-help tidbits in books and social media come into play. The thing is, like with clothing, this will only fit them and their life just so. At that point, more often than not, it can be the only thing between utter exhaustion and stemming the flow, and we’ll resort to them until there is a modicum of energy resources built back up.
Having the energy level and the state of mind to reflect on what you want to do and how – that’s when you come to your own custom-fitted solutions.
And that’s why I’ll always recommend doing it not when it hurts, but when you have the time and (mental and emotional) resources. Think of it as mental injury prevention instead of healing an actual injury.
Or, imagine two persons with a bike: one is leisurely cycling along. The other is pushing theirs at a stiff pace, maybe panting a bit, still keeping up and determined to not be left behind. Once there’s a bit of headwind added to the game: who do you think has spent less energy and is likely better prepared for dealing with adversity?
Spending time mentally preparing for fall, the return to work, school, and then the end of the year madness while you have the bandwidth – that’s getting on your bike with the least amount of energy spent.
So – are you in the mood for some light and fresh summer coaching? Get in touch!
Here’s more on on the “how to”…
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