In 2008 my friend Mike encouraged me to become a life coach.  Mike rarely makes a recommendation without a resource to go with it so he followed with a link to a certification program.  I looked at the cost and kept moving.  However, it was not the cost that made me discard the possibility.  It was the fact that I wasn’t able to connect with what he saw in me. 

About three years later I was diagnosed with pemphigus vulgaris, a rare, chronic autoimmune disorder.  There’s something about your life being shaken at its core that creates an open door to the discovery of dormant gifts.  I rediscovered journaling, which helped me begin to find my way through the pain of the illness into purpose.  Journaling created space for me to find and own a new version of my voice.  One day I wrote “I will work in women or children’s health”.  That clarity led me to shifting careers from education to healthcare.  I landed in pediatrics.  God reminded He had His hand on my life when He placed me at the hospital where I was diagnosed.  

Three years after shifting into healthcare a colleague called me to tell me she enrolled me in the healthcare network’s new coaching cohort.  I agreed, although she was clear that it wasn’t really a choice.  We were trained in the GROW coaching model with the goal of being a resource to colleagues across the network.  Within 6 months of completing the program the COVID-19 pandemic hit. The first case in NJ was diagnosed at my hospital.  Leading in a pandemic requires a different skill set.  My training in the GROW model was invaluable, but it also did something unexpected.  Something shifted in me as I coached my team members.  I  loved connecting with people in this way.   It brought me back to what Mike encouraged me to do 15 years ago, what he saw in me that I wasn’t ready to see in myself…coaching. That gave birth to Kitt White Coaching.  

Is there something you have always wanted to do but keep moving to the back of your mind?

Has a friend or colleague seen a gift in you, but you dismissed it?

Is there a life experience that ignited new things in you?  Make this the moment you begin to write your next chapter.