Coach Sarah Beth Jones and I had an email correspondence which I am sharing with her permission, a few words edited for clarity.
Anne to Sarah Beth:
[Thoughts about outline for memoir mentioned in this post.]
Sarah Beth to Anne:
Absolutely chilling, Anne! There is power absolutely radiating from this outline. So raw, so real, so useful.
What’s your next step?
Anne to Sarah Beth:
May I have your permission to share our correspondence?
I have been asked why I have a coach for writing this book. I’m an excellent writer, I’m a counselor, I could coach myself. I’m organized, driven, can both envision projects and execute them. Why a coach?
Because I go in, and I come out, and I look around and feel sort of vacant. What did I just do? What did it say, where did it go? Did it *work* on some level? And given that I don’t know what I just did or where I am, where do I go next?
During the time we’ve worked together, I’ve kept waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop – for you to be judgmental and directive like so many people to whom I have turned over my direction for guidance. I keep waiting for the reason to flee, to get out.
Not once have you judged me. Not once have you directed me. You have told me what you felt and what you thought and then asked me a question. That is a perfect fit for what I need. There is nothing wrong with me or weak about me. It’s not me that needs shoring up. It’s me and my creative process that need non-judgmental, accepting, conscious guidance and assistance. Help me see what I cannot see! Help me discern what I cannot discern! It’s so difficult for me to go in and in and in and get out what’s there and also see what’s collecting around the edges on the outside of the in.
Something like that. Anyway, it feels both imperative and organic to have you as a coach.
I am so so so grateful to you.
Back to writing!
With inspired gratitude,
Anne
P.S.
I would want to share what you wrote to me personally once and no more. I need the synergy to be between us. I just want to show an example of what the deal is. Then I want to go back in with just us. No witnesses, no critical doubters. Just us doing the thing.
Image: “Brewing a Cup of Identity” made during collage party workshop with Sarah Beth Jones, displayed in Anne’s refrigerator gallery.
Wow, Sarah Beth. Congratulations!
Anne – This is now the second post I’ve read by you. The first being one that SBJ posted a week or so ago. I commented on that one as well, on Facebook I think. It got me thinking, which is perhaps my favorite kind of writing. This post also has me thinking. I did a brief 3 month stint with a coach about 5 years ago now and found it to be a very meh experience. But I couldn’t put my finger on why. It seemed like it should be amazing, in theory, but in practice it felt too impersonal to be useful. I felt cheerleaded rather then inspired, which I now see as a very fine line. Long story short, your glimpse of coaching with SBJ is a refreshing one. A reminder that many variables contribute to the “success” of an experience. And persistence, a willingness to try again differently, is perhaps the one most overlooked.