I was confronted head on with this question, during the months that I developed my new website for Reinvention Life Coaching. There are so many aspects and facets to what I do and who I work with, that it felt daunting to express it all in an accurate and clear manner. Yes, my graphic designer was an expert at his job, but it was up to me, not him, to figure out the exact answer to the question, “Who am I?”
During the weeks and months leading up to my website launch, I grappled with that question every day and often as I tossed and turned at night. I carefully analyzed who I help, how I help them, why my help is effective, and what my positive traits are that successfully drive this entire process. Eventually, I reached a deep clarity that I think has tremendous relevance to my clients. The act of naming my strengths, talents, and what I have to offer the world was in itself, a profound confidence building experience for me.
Naming these positives in my mind was an effective start, but actually writing them in the form of website content that could be absorbed and integrated by the reader, took me to another level of celebrating who I am. Expressing my strengths out loud on video was a further step in solidifying what I know to be true about myself. Now, posting the new site and sharing it with my clients, workshop participants, and the world, is my most dramatic step in saying, “Hey everyone, this is me, this is the company that I have built, I’m so proud of it, and I’m thrilled to share it with you!”
I am profoundly grateful to have been imbued with the traits that I identified during this quest, including the ability to encourage, to connect in an authentic way, to build trust, and to break down any goal into achievable steps. I know that it is my duty and purpose to cultivate and utilize these traits, as they are unique gifts that were given to me, just as some fortunate people have received the gift of musical talent and it is theirs to develop and share with the world to enhance others’ lives.
My website experience totally validated what I’ve been doing with my clients and workshop participants for years. Coaching is a journey of self-discovery and self-esteem building which involves asking the questions that I posed to myself about who I am as well as formulating written lists and learning to articulate our strengths and positive traits. When indicated during coaching, this journey also involves creating an internet dating profile or a social media description which defines our positives and shares them with the world, much as my website does. The process of discovering our gifts is in a sense more important to our confidence than the gifts themselves. This process is always what I strongly believed would empower my clients. Now I have experienced a new journey for myself, so I can fully join you on yours at an even deeper level, and completely share in the excitement of answering the question, “Who am I?”