From Healing Others to Healing Ourselves

A Resilient Career Coach’s Journey to Prioritizing Self-Care

I recently had to step away from my coaching membership and community for a couple of weeks because I desperately needed some self-care. As a Resilient Career Coach who is also a survivor, full-time employee, business owner, and spouse, I sometimes find it challenging to balance the weight of responsibility from all my roles. However, as a leader, I need to set an example and live out the principles that I am teaching my clients.

Healing from childhood trauma is a life-long journey, and there will be times when we fall down on the trail, which is what I did. Falling down and getting back up is what makes us resilient…and I have done a lot of that in my lifetime. My therapist told me at the beginning of my healing journey that “Failure only happens when you quit.” I’m no quitter. This was not a failure…it was a learning opportunity…one that I would like to share with you so you can learn with me and hopefully avoid what I went through.

First, let me provide you with some context. When I started my business (Cyndi Bennett Consulting LLC) as a Resilient Career Coach, it was a calling…I had found my purpose. After much prayer, I decided to give myself four years to get it up and running (make it profitable) so I could step out of my corporate day job. I knew I needed to give myself more time than most entrepreneurs because I am a trauma survivor who needs to work at the pace of my nervous system. I had limited extra capacity to build my business between working a big day job and processing my own trauma. I was okay with that at first.

The challenge came as I started connecting with trauma survivors through my blogs, opening my coaching membership program (The Resilient Career Academy) and the Resilient Career Academy Community. My heart became so burdened to help those struggling in their careers and who didn’t have the support they needed to succeed.

I started to press hard to create a course on a topic that I get asked about all the time…How do I manage my triggers in the workplace? I started writing a book to capture all the lessons I learned on my journey so I can help survivors and give them tools. I worked to redesign my coaching membership program so I could manage it myself with many more members once I re-opened the doors. Ultimately, I was trying to move up the timetable for when I could leave my corporate gig and focus on my calling…and I was over-functioning. I was operating outside of my window of tolerance for too long, and I crashed and burned.

Thankfully, I have a robust support system surrounding me that I reached out to when I had a meltdown. I am so grateful for my dear coaching friends who are willing to support me, hold me accountable, and speak the truth. They were willing to step in and run my weekly coaching groups when I stepped away to regroup.

It was a difficult decision for me to step away from the responsibilities of my coaching program, community, and business for two weeks, but I knew in my heart it was what I needed to do. I received so much encouragement from my coaching members, which really touched my heart. Some actually thanked me for leading by example…that meant a lot to me.

I will not be the kind of leader that never falls down. I am human, after all. I will also not be the kind of leader who covers up when I’ve fallen down. One of my top core values is authenticity, which means that we cultivate the courage to be imperfect, to set boundaries, and to allow ourselves to be vulnerable.

If you have a career goal that you are pressing hard to achieve and find yourself overfunctioning, there is no shame in taking time out to rest, recover, and re-prioritize. The journey is long, my friends, and we all need to move at the pace of our nervous systems.

So, move slowly. Be mindful when your nervous system starts sending you warnings. Rest when you need to…but keep moving forward. You’ve got this!!! I’ve got this!!! We’ll all get there together.

An Invitation

If you’d like to join an online community of other resilient overcomers focusing on their careers, I invite you to join The Resilient Career Academy™ Community. (RCA Community)

The RCA Community is a FREE group dedicated to helping/supporting those working to overcome adversity and achieve their full potential in their careers.

The benefits to you are:

• Community — The community provides support, encouragement, the ability to share frustrations and get feedback from people who understand the struggle
• Workplace/Career Resources — The group provides tools, resources, and templates to help you with your career journey
• Available Coaching Support — The community is supported by trained and certified coaches who are available for individual sessions
• Learning — You will have access to various trauma/workplace-related online courses developed by our coaches to help you in your journey
• Workshops/Webinars — You will have access to practical workshops/webinars targeted to help you in the workplace grow your career

If you are interested in joining us, click here: https://resilientcareeracademy.myflodesk.com/community

As always, you do not have to walk this journey alone. Contact me to schedule your free discovery call.

Trigger Tracker Template — This is a FREE resource to help you keep track of the triggers in your workplace and plan the coping strategies you will use to get through the experience.

Get on the waiting list for The Resilient Career Academy™. You won’t want to miss it.

If you want to stay informed on the programs, tools, and training I offer, sign up for my mailing list.

You can also visit my website for more information on courses and other freebies I offer at: https://www.cyndibennettconsulting.com.

Photo by Jackson David on Unsplash