Hello my dear community!
It feels really good to be writing this today. It has been for a while on my mind to start this blog and get closer to you - my clients, my colleagues coaches and anyone really who would like to learn more about my life's journey to begin with, and then everything what coaching can do for you and have done for me.
It is important for me to share this with you for quite a few reasons. You might understand the reason why I became a Life Coach, why I think I can help you, motivate you or simply spark that inspiration in you to go ahead and reach your goal, find your happiness and live it.
So here we go...Are you ready for this journey?
You wake up one day, you are 21 years old and you decide to leave your family, friends, life as you know it and move to a different continent and just see what happens. WOW! You are excited, and heartbroken, and excited again... you are saying goodbye to one life and hello to another one. Arrived! Landed! You speak their language, you understand their culture, their values, but you are not prepared for the life and people passing you like you were all along there, or you might not be there at all. You are walking the hallways of your new University, trying to piece the parts of your new life together, wondering 'What did I do?', 'Was this a wise decision?','Oh well, I am here now, so better keep pushing'....and life happens, days, months, years pass and you are now someone different...You have these new people in your life, you learnt new things, you expanded your horizons and still you miss your family, you wonder where you truly belong and yet again... 'am I really to be here?'. This was Canada for me. My first expat experience, my first hours long self reflections, my first discovery of endless opportunities and great sacrifices. Beautiful Canada with breathtaking nature, friendly people and home away from home those years. I realised how important is to see through reaching your dreams, to face your fears and to maybe one day you look back and feel grateful you had a chance to challenge yourself and allow new experiences to show you new you.
This started, as I like to call it, my 'World citizen' status. I left Canada after few years and moved to Ireland. Green emerald country, when one moment you are laughing at someone else's joke and then you realise the joke is on you. The country where you are expat but you feel more like you are one of them, and you became one of them the moment you got off that plane and now there is no going back. Once you leave the country, you will still have that green colour in your heart and in your mind and carry it around forever. This was Ireland for me. I was a young professional, I was finding my ways, pushing my boundaries and learning from some of the kindest and most knowledgable people out there. Ireland was a place where my daughter was born and place that taught me many important life lessons.
Often in coaching we start discussion about personal, core values. Something our clients' use as a guide in life, motivation and fuel that keeps them going. Ireland for me was that push and that fuel. I was going through my own personal transformation, discovering who I really was, what I am good at. I felt I had a suitcase of my own, a giant one, an enormous one, and in it there was a realization, knowledge, love, kindness, differences, respect...That suitcase was given to me by parents in Serbia many years ago, and I was packing and unpacking that suitcase since I arrived to Canada and started my young adult life. Now, in Ireland, it seems the suitcase compartments just multiplied and I was able to fit more and more every day. Oh how rich I felt, each day seemed to me like a gift. Being able to explore my limits, my wishes and dreams, but also to look around and face the realization of how different and yet same we are. Those years in Ireland defined diversity for me. I started to listen and really listen and absorb world around me. How and why people do what they do.
Life kept surprising me, things were happening out of my control, and one thing led to another and here I was - Prague, Czech republic. Apologies to my dear Czech friends, clients and colleagues - but that 2012, I was not happy. I arrived to country that I did not know much about, I did not speak a word of the local language, had no friends...Let me tell you, it was tough. But remember that suitcase of mine?! Well, I opened it and started looking through it to find something that will keep me going. I found love and respect at the top. Self love and self respect, then respect for my new country and then items keep coming...slowly, very slowly I found my place. Czech republic did not represent just beautiful landscapes for me but also a new home. Starting life here made me realize that perhaps we all have these superpowers in us. Mine just might be the power to adapt, find the best in every situation and keep going. These were also my career transition years yet again, years when I learned some very rough life lessons and perhaps years that triggered in me thoughts of becoming something more or doing something more with my life.
Being a mom, a career woman, a corporate woman, all that was fine, but I wanted more. I wanted to share my story, I wanted to learn more from my story and moreover to help others because of my story.
Around this time I moved from Finance to Human resources world and started my journey as a people manager. I finally got my chance to help and support my teams, my colleagues and I felt that perhaps now my life lessons, my experiences will come in handy...and they did. I truly enjoyed all those years, being a leader, mentor, coach and I hope - a friend to some amazing professionals and even better people.
But that journey came to an end and the time has home for me to expand my reach. There was this need to share and try to help others who are in my shoes, or were in my shoes, or have their own shoes that might not fit right at the moment. I had ideas and knowledge and I needed someone to give me a push to the right direction, tools and encouragement to leap and become a Professional coach. Here I came across amazing people in Erickson Coaching International who helped me shape my dream, sharpen my coaching skills and become a coach I am today and I am proud of.
I know it was a long read, but it is probably the most important read of this blog. I hope I was able to paint a picture of part of my life at least. Why I became a coach? Well, to support all of you out there, who perhaps left your home countries to look for new challenges, some of you who struggle with career choices, perhaps some of you who are single parents, or lonely and not sure which way to go in your life, new managers, experienced managers, or whoever you are... I am here for all of you. I have a lot of stuff in that giant suitcase of mine and I have a bag of Erickson Coaching principles and knowledge that I carry along my suitcase. If you are curious to try you know where to find me :)
I am excited to meet you and work with you! Till my next post, stay safe and happy and remember - the sky is the limit, your potential and your life can, and will always surprise you.
Duca
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