If only life provided you with a roadmap, right? It could say, “Good job, congratulations on deciding to depart on your growth journey. Are you ready to embark on your journey? Please take 18 steps to the right, look for the city park with the big trees and then make another right. When you come to the stop sign – stop! You have arrived at your new destination. Welcome to your new life.”
Easy? Sounds like it. Too bad that isn’t what happens – at all. However, there is a tour guide, so-to-speak, that can direct you on your journey – a life coach.
What is a life coach?
Let’s start with what a life coach is not – a therapist, a teacher, or a doctor. Their name, in general, speaks for what they do. Life coaches help coach people to be winners at life. When you complete your treatment program and enter recovery, it can be scary to face life’s challenges alone. Perhaps you lack the self-confidence to face life or maybe you are stuck in your past and how your past choices got you to where you are. It can be discouraging.
Life doesn’t have to be that way. Having someone by your side like a life coach can simply help guide you in the path that you want to go. They won’t tell you want to do, but rather support you as you make your moves through life.
Benefits of utilizing a life coach in recovery.
When you find yourself at Point A and you really want to get to Point B, it may seem overwhelming. How do you get there? Where do you even start? It is hard to climb a mountain when you cannot see the top. That is where a life coach comes in.
There are many benefits of utilizing a life coach in recovery, including:
- The ability to always have someone by your side who is full of support and encouragement.
- The opportunity to let a life coach show you that there is always hope, no matter how many times you may think you mess up.
- For individuals who are alone, a life coach may be a sole source of having someone who believes in you and your abilities to overcome.
- A life coach knows your struggles and challenges in recovery and he or she will help you make healthy and beneficial choices.
- Life coaches can act as your mentor.
- A life coach can help you live up to your fullest potential.
- A life coach can guide you in your choices and, when you see you are making progress, they will be there to congratulate you. Your forward progress can then lead to an increase in your self-esteem and confidence.
- Simply, a life coach supports you in leading a healthy life – both physically and mentally.
Face challenges
Daily challenges may seem simple, but when you are facing life and trying to maintain a successful recovery, you are going to appreciate some support. The chores of maintaining your home, handling family dynamics, and getting a productive balance between work and life can be stressful and overwhelming. When you are in a state of recovery facing even the simplest of challenges may lead you straight into a delicate situation.
Let a life coach support you in making these positive decisions and empower you to continue making them.
Goal setting
Setting goals are important to help you excel in life. How many times have we heard that? Throughout life you are told to set your goals – a big one and a few smaller ones to help you check your progress along the way. But how often do you do it? Probably not very often. But what if you have someone by your side along the way – kind of like that little birdie whispering ideas in your head – “Geez, you better get on that goal setting. Why don’t you decide on a goal today and then we will work on smaller goals tomorrow?”
A life coach can be that little birdie. They support your decisions and can show you neat tricks and tools for growing. If you are not sure how to decide on a proper goal or how to set it up in a way that you can check your progress, they will guide you. No, they don’t tell you what to do, but if you tell your life coach what you want to do then they can empower you to get there on your own!
Look toward a positive future
You came from a past that may haunt you some days. You made some bad choices. You hurt people along the way. You hurt yourself, most of all. But, guess what? A life coach will help you see that those dark times are in the past. Just because you have made mistakes or have taken the wrong routes or detours, you still made it. You are still here. And, well, that is a start.
Life coaches are influential. They are interested in seeing other people overcome obstacles and conquer their fears. So, what – you don’t like where you came from. Well, you can change where you are going. You are the only one with that power, but your life coach can support you along the way.
Life coaches in recovery can help you build a bridge from where you are now to where you want to be. They are a constant supply of positive support. You have the power to change your future and to be all that you were meant to be. It’s okay to need someone by your side to get there – it is even a smart choice. You are on a path to great things – just leave your past in the dust and propel yourself into a great future – life coach in tow!
Dr. Deena is the Chief Clinical Officer of Westwind Recovery®, an award-winning outpatient treatment center in Los Angeles where she oversees the clinical and administrative program and treatment methods. Dr. Deena is a doctor of psychology and licensed clinical social worker since 1993. LCSW #20628. Originally from the East Coast, Dr. Deena has worked running treatment centers, worked as a therapist in psychiatric hospitals as well as school settings and currently has a thriving private practice in the LA area. Dr. Deena has appeared regularly on the Dr. Phil Show as an expert since 2003. She has also been featured on many other TV shows, podcasts and has contributed to written publications as well as podcasts.
