Ep. 36: Life Coaching in the Age of Trump: Does Any of This Still Matter When the World Is On Fire?

It's really easy for life coaching, personal development, or any other self-help or wellness work to feel pretty shallow, self-centered or just pointless when we're in an acute crisis. But personal development work can also be the exact fuel we need to propel us forward during and after times of personal (or global) emergencies. In this episode you'll hear a life coach's perspective on how she balances being an aware, concerned, active global citizen with personal development/coaching work. - and why it matters.

All right, I just wanted to pop on here and talk for a few minutes about coaching in the time of Trump. And so I've been thinking about this a lot and I mean for a while now, for a number of months, and I certainly thought about this in our previous experience with this administration. In particular, obviously woke up to news this weekend like we all did about Trump's unbelievably reckless decision to strike Iran and pull us potentially into a very scary, very dangerous, very costly in so many ways situation, which we don't need to be in. This country has seen that before. We've seen how that's played out. This is not up for debate for me at this point. So if you are somebody who believes this was the right decision, that's your right to believe that. But I'm not going to argue any other way on this.

But that being said, it is hard to get up and feel like, OK, now I'm going to jump online and like sell life coaching when I know kind of the world's on fire. And I was thinking a lot about it today in particular, and I spent some time alone with my journal just trying to figure out how I wanted to approach all of this. It was really important for me as I move forward and as my coaching business grows, I really want to make sure that I'm staying in full alignment at all times with how I genuinely feel and how that shows up in my coaching and in my business. Coaching right now in a moment like this can feel really frivolous and can feel like it doesn't matter and can feel very small and it's like well who the hell cares if I'm like thinking good thoughts when the world is literally on fire and that's all true I have those thoughts often like what does it matter what's the point like no no matter what, there's so much going on that's just devastating and heartbreaking and terrifying.

Here's the thing: It's always been that way. And I know right now it feels like we are, at least to me and to many people I've been talking to, like, feels like we're in this even more heightened and scary moment than usual. But the reality is, on a global level, there has always been crisis. There has always been terror. There has always been war. There has always been challenge that we are fully creating as humans on this planet that didn't need to be there, okay? And disaster and victims of those disasters. That has been a part of our human experience since the beginning of time, and it rolls on today.

On the flip side, we all also personally have crises. We all also have things going on that we're wrestling with that feel very large, scary, and maybe are very large and scary and monumental and life-changing in our own worlds. It might not impact an entire country, but it would impact somebody in your own world, and that can feel like an impact across the globe, right? So I just want to acknowledge like whether it's a global crisis or a personal crisis, whatever it is, these things have been going on since the beginning of humanity and they will continue to. It's not to say they're okay or that we should turn a blind eye or ignore them at all, but it's just to acknowledge the fact that this is a part of our human experience.

And I keep thinking about this because there is no point in time where everything is great all the time for everyone. Like if that's what we're waiting for to celebrate or enjoy life or continue to build toward goals or do anything that makes us feel good, then we're never gonna get there. You're gonna be waiting an awful long time, like forever. That is not an effective way to be moving through the world, is just waiting to experience joy or happiness, waiting to feel good until everything is calm, whether it's in your own life or on a global level. It's not gonna get there.

So the key that I keep thinking for myself is how do I balance being a global citizen, an informed, aware, educated global citizen who is active and activated by what I'm seeing around me and who really wants to continue to fight to make change so that we have less crises, so that we have fewer victims, so that the world is a better place than I found it, right? All of those things. I'm never going to give up that part of myself or apologize for that part of myself and in fact I want to encourage anyone who feels strongly about any issue going on globally or all of the issues going on globally. The fight is here and it is real and we need as many people fighting for the good as we can get. So keep fucking going, right?

But you also have to balance that and it's so cliche, but you do have to balance that with putting your own oxygen mask on first. You do have to balance that with a recognition that at the end of the day, one person cannot save the entire planet, right? At the end of the day, that's actually not your responsibility. And so what I like to think about is what is my responsibility? What I'm responsible for is for showing up as the best version of myself in the world and figuring out how to use the talents and the privilege and the resources that I have to try and make things better for other people. To try and make the world around me and that can be the world at large or just in my own house a better more calm peaceful enjoyable place because I believe in the ripple effect of that. It feels selfish sometimes. It feels selfish a lot of the times when I'm just like focused on minutia in my own house when there's crises going on right outside my door or across the world or all of the above. And I understand that. And also, if I am a disaster mentally and emotionally, or physically, if I am not doing well and taking care of myself and cleaning up my side of the street with the things in my life, then I'm definitely not going to be in any position to productively, effectively, efficiently, or even passionately show up to help anything when it comes to a larger cause or a bigger cause or other people who I don't know, who aren't in my immediate orbit.

So there has to be a balance and this is what I keep coming back to. There has to be a balance of both. There has to be a balance of outrage and fear and all of those things that are very, very normal for all of us to feel when something happens such as what Trump has done to Iran this weekend. That has to be there because that is what sparks change. That is what will get us to take action to get him out of office. That is what will get us to take action to get other people like him out of office. That is what we need in order to make change that we want to make. However, it also needs to be balanced with us feeling like there is hope, feeling like there is optimism, feeling like there's reason to believe that things can get better, feeling empowered, feeling like we can make change in our own life and make change in the world around us. There has to be that feeling. Otherwise, we're just going to be sinking into the fear and the depression and the anxiety and all of the things that come with the big events in the world or the big events in our lives. It doesn't have to be as extreme as joy, but it certainly does need to live somewhere in optimism and hope and motivation and inspiration and those type of emotions.

Those are the emotions that I feel tapped into most when I get coached and when I'm coaching others or when I'm creating things that I utilize in my coaching business. That is what the beauty of coaching is for me. It gets me to a place of feeling hope again. It gets me to a place of feeling optimistic. It gets me to a place of feeling empowered. Like I can actually do something. I can't do everything, but I can probably do something. And coaching gives me that shot of adrenaline when I need it to get me to do that. And it gives me the sustained adrenaline that I need to keep going over time. Right? That's what it does. And it also gives me the ability to allow myself to rest when I need to rest, which I'm not great at admittedly, but I'm working on it. It gives me the ability to allow myself to slow the fuck down sometimes and just enjoy the moment in front of me. It gives me the ability to balance both. And that's why coaching is so important. That's why personal development is so important. That's why I think it matters not only alongside kind of a time of crisis or during a time of crisis, but also why I think it's so vital when we are in a time of crisis, just as much when we're not in such an acute place of fear and terror or anxiety or whatever emotions you might be feeling now or when the next global event happens.

So I just wanted to say this. I hope some of this is resonating with you, but if you are a coach wondering if your work matters, if you are somebody that hires coaches for your own life and you're wondering if personal development matters, if you're going through something personal, if you have no idea what I'm talking about and Iran is nowhere on your radar, but you are going through something personal in your life and you feel like personal development or coaching and all of this can wait until later. If you are waiting to cross some sort of like success line until you dig into self-help and personal development and coaching and the rest of it, stop that right now. This shit matters. For all the reasons I just said, it matters because it's going to make you a version of yourself that then feels strong enough and empowered enough and motivated enough and hopeful enough to go out in the world and be the best version of yourself. That's what we need. That's what the entire world needs. Whether the world that we're talking about is the world at large or the world within your own home, you're in your own apartment, within your own family, within your own workplace, whatever that is. We need good people doing good things.

That is how we make the world better.

That's what coaching does. That's a personal development does That's why it's so important to me. And that's why if you haven't gotten involved yet, if you haven't gotten a coach yet, if you haven't gotten yourself into personal development yet, whether you want to pay for it whether you want to read books and podcasts or take advantage of free resources, whatever it is, I just want to encourage you to get yourself in there. Get yourself working on yourself. It absolutely matters now more than ever.

I hope this resonates with you. I hope this gives you some hope if you haven't had any. I hope this lifts you up if you've needed a lift up. I am always here if you want't had any, I hope this lifts you up. If you've needed a lift up, I am always here. If you want to coach, if you want to talk, if you want to just chat over DM, you can know how to find me. All the information is in the show notes. I am wishing you all the best in this crazy world we're in. Be safe, be well, and keep going after whatever it is that you want. whatever it is that you want.

It absolutely fucking matters.