Say Hello, Wave Goodbye!

I do love that song by Soft Cell – check out YouTube if you don’t know what I’m on about!

While this blog post isn’t about Marc Almond or Soft Cell, it is, however, about waving goodbye, finally, after 34 years, to the mainstay of my life – my career in recruitment.  I’ve been working towards this step for several years now and been determined to break away, but it has kept its tendrils firmly around me, pulling me back, time and time again.

But I have reached a point of realising that running the business alongside my coaching practice and other projects are simply not viable.  Whilst I have learned so much about running a small business, I now know that I can best serve the world through my work as a coach, author, speaker, and podcast host.

After all, I really do need to practise what I preach!

It’s been a tough decision, which is probably why it has taken so long to finally arrive at this point; after all, it’s a business that I have invested in massively in terms of time and energy over the years, and letting go of something that I’ve built up is hard, especially when I care about providing a great service to a strong client base, some of whom I have worked with for well over 10 years.

However, it is time to ‘Say Hello’ to a whole new chapter focused purely on all things coaching related, which is where my passions lie, and have done for years now.

My next chapter is set to be very exciting as I pull together years of personal development and focus my energies on helping, in particular, women aged 50 and over who are ready to say, ‘sod it’, get more confident, and put themselves first!  In doing so, I am offering bespoke 1:1 coaching packages and group coaching for those women who are ready to act and transform their lives.

The sub-text to the above is that I am fully embracing being myself and that is an enthusiastic and energetic coach, speaker, an author, host of my Harnessing Happiness podcast, and someone who is loving life being me at last!

As you will no doubt have gathered as you read my blog posts, I really do love my life and have adopted this approach as a rule of thumb for decades.  Even when I didn’t realise that I wasn’t living my life on my terms, I accepted where I was and cracked on.

This approach has worked for me, although it has become what we call in the coaching world an ‘overdone strength’ at times and has meant that whilst I have regularly held my own and stood my ground, I have also put up with stuff that hasn’t made me happy along the way.

Life is, of course, about compromise but it’s not about putting yourself at the bottom of the pile either.  Which is what I have done in the past to create harmony.

My journey has been quite a bumpy one over the last 17 years, and one from which I have learned LOADS about myself.

Now is not the time to go into heaps of detail, but suffice to say, I was with my ex-husband for 20 years and, in May 2005, my divorce was finalised, and the next chapter of my life began in earnest.

I embraced my 20s in my 40s, and then in 2010, I found myself in another very challenging relationship, but from which I once again learned huge amounts about myself.  In reflection, I realised that this man had come into my life as a teacher; those challenges we embrace are always opportunities for us to learn and evolve.

We split up in 2015. In all honesty, he left a few weeks before my 50th birthday.

Great timing!

I was at that point on a huge journey of spiritual development and simply cracked on with that learning, along with sorting my life out.

And boy, did I go on another journey following the break-up of that relationship!

Every time I put my head above the parapet, more stuff was flung at me, predominantly through work though, as by this time, I had qualified as coach (2012) and established my limited company (2014) whilst continuing with my ongoing personal development too.  In short, I was running two businesses, and embarking on various training courses, writing a book, appearing as a regular guest on NottsTV, BBC Radio Nottingham and other local BBC radio stations, and Radio 5 Live.

Then the pandemic struck. This thrusted at me another bandwagon of challenges, as it did for all of us. I chose to see and embrace the positives, revisiting previous training, embarking on further training, creating a digital course … and exhausting myself into the balance, oops!

I get excited about learning and doing as much as I can – another overdone strength that I must rein in every now and again!

And during this period of lockdown, after 5 years of singledom (aside from one very short 8-week and badly judged relationship!) I met Gareth.

Our life together is fab, as you may already know if you have read some of my other posts.

And wow, it makes such a difference to be in an easy relationship!

I realised several years ago that I could find the challenges in life that I love through work – they don’t need to be in relationships!

So now I find myself pulling together all the training that I undertook during and after lockdown with some 1:1 guidance to help me navigate this next section of the journey.

Why?

I have all the notes from the group-based learning that I have done, and I could quite easily spend time referring back to it, had I the time to do so.  But there is nothing quite like working with someone directly, someone who has your back, knows their stuff, and who can help steer you in the right direction and provide the support and accountability required that enables you to achieve your goals / make the magic happen.

Setting intentions, the law of attraction, manifesting your dream reality all takes actual action too.

I am excited to have taken the plunge and invested in myself yet again, as I know that it will finally enable me to let go of the constant anchor in my life that is recruitment.

Recruitment has served me well, it has supported me through a relationship where I was the main breadwinner, as well as life as a single parent, and enabled my ongoing personal development to take place, and for that I am eternally grateful.

The world, however, has changed dramatically within recruitment over the last 34 years, and my passions and the true value that I can offer to the world lie with my 1:1 and group coaching programmes, my Harnessing Happiness podcast, writing, speaking, and radio and TV work.

Where are you on your journey right now?

Do you feel, like I did, that you need some extra support right now?

If so, please do feel free to book yourself in for a free chat with me – I’d love to hear from you.

https://www.sarahjnaylor.com/book-a-chat/

I usually write a reflection here, but to point out all that I have learned would take more than a few bullet points, so what I will state is this:

  • If you want to move from A to B, and beyond, you have to take action and weather the bumpy ride along the way.
  • There are always opportunities to learn and progress.
  • Working with a coach or mentor makes a massive difference to your journey – I should know, I have worked with a wide range of teachers, coaches, and mentors along the way.
  • Reading is a great way to access information and to learn.
  • Group sessions are affordable and from those you can easily connect with like-minded folk and make friends for life.
  • Working 1:1 with a coach makes the biggest difference of all.
  • Relationships don’t need to be challenging!
  • You can bring about the changes you want in your life – you can live your happiest life!

Life is an illusion of your own creation – I know from experience that this is true!

Have a great week and remember, I am only a phone call away!