What if your dream isn’t practical?

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It’s Kristen here, and I have a confession to make.

I used to think that coaching wasn’t a “real career.”

Let me take you back a few years …

I’ve known for a long time that I’ve had a passion for helping people raise their level of self-awareness and consciousness so that they could take charge of their own lives.

It physically pains me to see people living unconsciously, by default, feeling trapped in their circumstances. I’ve felt a burning desire to create a consciousness revolution for years. And I was (and still am) determined to make a career out of it.

But I’m also very much a realist.

I can’t help but bring a healthy dose of logic and rationality to any decision I make {sometimes to a fault!}. So when I started considering how I wanted to begin this consciousness revolution, I got very practical.

It felt obvious at the time that, as my next step, I should go back to school and get certified as a therapist. I honestly didn’t even consider other paths because this seemed like the most direct avenue. So I dutifully began researching graduate programs.

None of the programs felt like exactly what I was looking for, but since I had to get certified, I tried to find a few that I’d be willing to at least apply to.

Every time I sat down to work on my applications, I felt drained and had to fight a massive wave of procrastination.

But I finally pushed through and submitted applications to three different schools.

It was around that time when I started hearing a lot about life coaching, and everything I read about it fascinated me. I started following various coaches on social media, reading their blogs, and subscribing to their emails. I couldn’t get enough!

In all my excitement and research, I finally decided to work with a coach one-on-one, just for the experience of it. {My coach was Leslie Huber, and she’s amazing!}

I told Leslie, “I really want to help people figure out who they are, what’s important to them, and how they can build a life they’re really passionate about.”

She laughed and said, “Sounds a lot like coaching!”

“Yeah, I really love coaching. But — no offense — coaching doesn’t feel like a REAL career. I mean, you can’t go to grad school for life coaching, and most people don’t even know what it is. I’m going to become a therapist, because it’s more established and legitimate, and I think I can be more financially stable that way.”

Being the great coach that she is, Leslie picked up on my energy when I talked about each option. Whenever I talked about becoming a therapist, I felt exhausted and full of obligation; yet whenever I talked about coaching, I was practically buzzing with ideas and excitement.

{Disclaimer: I think therapists are doing amazing and necessary work in the world. It’s just clearly not the right career for me.}

But no matter how often she tried to bring that to my attention, my practical side would shut her down every time.

Clearly I can be a bit stubborn.

Then, my intuition hit hard.

I got my acceptance letter for my first-choice therapy graduate program … and my first thought was, Oh shit, I might actually have to go here now. The thought gave me a nauseated feeling in my gut.

The next time I talked to Leslie, I had to finally admit to her that I didn’t want to become a therapist. As scared as I was to admit it, I wanted to be a coach!

Thankfully, Leslie helped me realize that I’d been holding on to outdated limiting beliefs about what constituted a “real” job. Coaching felt SO good and exciting to me, that I couldn’t even see it as real work.

What makes any career more “real” than another, anyway?

If I’d let those limiting beliefs rule my decisions, I would have abandoned my real desires and invested tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention several years of my life, on a path that ultimately would have left me feeling drained and unfulfilled. All because it felt like the safer, more logical path.

Unfortunately passion doesn’t come from logic.

It comes from being honest with yourself about what you really want and letting go of the belief that it’s impossible. And that means finding a healthy balance of realism and idealism.

Now it’s your turn: What dreams or opportunities have you NOT pursued because they don’t feel practical? Leave a comment to let us know!

Much Love,

Kristen (+ Rachel)