Stefanie has always been drawn down paths that lead to helping others. She considered many counselling and psychology programs, but none of them seemed to fully resonate with her vision of service. Then, in 2016, a thought popped in to Stefanie’s head: “What if I’m meant to be a Life Coach?”
“Like most ideas that just ‘show up’, I ignored it,” she admits, “Call it destiny or the internet tracking bots: SWIHA started showing up in my [social media] feed. So, I surrendered, made the appointment and went in for a tour. I was all in, hook, line, and sinker!“
What drew her into the program was the concept of meeting people where they are. She explains: “We spend countless hours of our lives rehashing the past never being able to move forward. Coaching for me is all about forward movement. Yes, we acknowledge the past. Yes, we work through it. Now, how do you pick up those pieces and move on? Life Coaching answers that question.”
Stefanie says she went in to the program “wanting to save the world”, though soon realized she needed to save herself first: “I needed to love myself and give myself the space to heal. SWIHA and Life Coaching gave me that. In exercises like the Forgiveness Circle, I was able bring closure to a family issue that I had carried for decades. This opened up my heart, leading the way for me to love myself above all else.”
Stefanie now has her own coaching practice, the Art of Breaking Through, with the mission to be a lifeline to help women find and fall in love with themselves.
“While dragging myself into the lifeboat from the shark infested sea that had become my life, I looked back and saw so many other women treading in that same troubled water. How could I not reach back and offer them a lifeline?” she continues, “Women are taught to put everything before themselves leaving them depleted, unfulfilled, and a little cranky. My desire is to help them break up with these expectations and break through into their ideal life.“
Stefanie shares this amazing story of connection with one of her SWIHA classmates: “I shared a video I made about how everything in the universe has come together since the beginning of time to create you and that, knowing this, your only option is to show up for yourself. You were designed with a purpose. One of my classmates said to me that she wished her friend had heard my video. Her friend had taken her life a few months earlier. That was a wake-up call for me; I had to do what I was designed to do.”
To those considering Life Coaching, she poses this excellent question: “What were you designed to do?”
“It’s okay if you don’t know yet,” she affirms, “I didn’t have a clue either. You’re off to a good start! The best part about being at SWIHA in the Life Coaching program is that you are going to figure it out. So, keep treading water, grab that line, and pull yourself up. When you’re secure, reach back and help those behind you.”
