Dear Reader,
It’s been a while….
Today is Summer Solstice, and high time to sit down and finally write to you all.
On the 14th of May it was 15 years since our baby daughter Ingrid’s passing. She has been the big reason why I am so passionate about helping others move through grief and heal their hearts. And this upcoming September it will be 10 years since I started my first, very wobbly steps as a Grief Recovery Specialist®.
As those two anniversaries showed up in the same year, I needed to get quiet for a while, and give myself time to reflect on these 15 and 10 years.
I started my business in order to be of help to others in a more professional way, and it took a lot of hard thinking and moving in circles before I actually realised that I get to choose what I offer and how I want to work. It was both mind-blowing and scary to realise that it’s OK to switch focus, and I won’t be abandoning anyone needing my help by doing so.
So here are some of the results of all these hours of reflection, crying, feeling hopeless, mulling things over with amazing friends and colleagues, and a lot (I mean a lot!) of walking in the forests have taken me…
I will take a step away from the Grief Recovery work I’ve been doing for 10 years. I’ve had this massive pressure on myself to know exactly what to say and how to react to each and every individual in grief (clients, friends and family alike), because I’m a professional grief coach and “should know exactly how to handle things in most perfect way possible”, and over time that demand I’ve had on myself has left me feeling pretty exhausted and useless.
This step has already had the effect I so was looking for, namely to just be there, listen, and hold space for people with similar stories as ours, and show up to those meetings as a fellow bereaved mother instead of ‘the Grief Coach’.
Instead I will focus a lot more on working with clients who feel royally stuck, unhappy and resentful with their current situation, helping them dig down to the root cause, and release old beliefs about themselves and their abilities.
I just love seeing the transformation from “hopelessly stuck and without a clue as to move forward” to “I wholeheartedly know what I need to do next in order to move forward”. It gives me so much joy and energy to spread the message that there are simple, yet funny looking, tools out there to help you forward in both life and your career!
Why Emotional Resilience? Because the more we know about our own emotions, how and why they get triggered, and why they are there int he first place, the better we will be able to handle any situation life throws at us (because those situations are inevitable). It’s like knowing how your apps work on your phone in order to get the best help when using them!
The other big change is that as of mid-August I will finally be nourishing my ‘hospitality and service side’ more again, as I’ve found a 60% job in a reception (not in a hotel though…)!
I was in the hotel profession when we arrived in Zurich all those years ago, and I absolutely loved it! But the “provide awesome hospitality service and solutions” side of me had to take a massive step back after the loss of Ingrid, and I’ve missed that side more than I realised.
That leaves me in the awesome situation of still having 40% for coaching clients, which I love above everything else!
And on that note I wish you all a lovely Summer Solstice, and Glad Midsommar!
Warm regards,
Karin
P.S.: For all of you who read my newsletter/Blog Post in January where I told you about my 2022 walk goal of 1’572 km, I’m currently on 819 km (today’s date).