One of the most consuming aspects of being a twenty-two year old college graduate is the fact that the question "What am I going to do with my life?", is constantly bombarding my brainwaves, filling me with a sense of urgency and confusion. So, a couple of weeks ago, when I saw a life coach advertising a special deal on "Shalom Sessions", I knew I was just desperate enough to try it out.
About a week before the scheduled meeting, I found a set of questions sitting in my inbox. These questions were meant to help customize the Shalom Session and, because I'm really good at talking about myself, I had a good time responding. As I clicked send, I thought to myself "These answers will help her decide what I'm going to do with my life."
If only life were that simple.
Thursday night, I walked into a local coffee shop to find Brandy, a life coach and writer, waiting for me, notebook in hand.
Going into this, I was sure that I would end the hour long session with a whole lot of answers, that I would just know what I was going to do and who I was going to be. Instead, I came out of the experience with even more questions than I had going in.
But that is what was amazing about my Shalom Session.
Brandy started asking questions about my dreams and goals. She asked what kind of message I wanted to send to the world, and what my perfect day would be like.
Through our conversation, she seemed to know things about me that I had never taken the time to recognize.
She asked how "gentle" I was with myself, a question that hasn't stopped resonating with me since I walked out of the coffee shop.
She pointed out that I seem to have high standards for myself, and as I explained to her that there are a lot of people who have high expectations for me, I realized that I can never make important life decisions based on what others expect. I need to make my own dreams come true, not their dreams for me.
After it was over, I was left with a lot of great ideas and starting points that will help me to figure out what it really is that I want out of life.
One of the biggest things that I took away was the realization that I have a lot of life left. I can do more than one thing. I'm twenty-two not ninety-two, and I have time to make all of my dreams become realities... just as soon as I discover what those dreams are.
I'm so excited for this journey to begin.
