We often talk about introverts as people who have a challenge with having conversation with people, too shy, too soft spoken, too, hmmm, afraid? And more over, do you know how energy draining group conversations, well, conversations, more like group individual talks are? How amazing is then when you put the said introvert into a smaller group of people who shares the same interest and ideally know each other for some time and, voilà, you get an energetic person, charged by the conversation and very lively indeed.

I have experienced that first hand today when we’ve met with my three friends I found through Coaching. Two hours of constant talk about Coaching, our lives, where we are right now, what is in-front of us and also, what is behind us as it is just so slightly over a year we’ve met, younglings on the Coaching course organised by a matador of the craft. I can’t say how energising listening, and boy oh boy (girl oh girl) talking about the challenges we face is, especially with like minded folks. Feels really like a proper support circle every single one of us needs to thrive in their life and, it might be a beginning of something bigger. It would not be meet-up of Coaches if there would not be an action coming out of there, or rather a promise of deeper collaboration to be actioned on, combining our unique styles and life experiences could really be quite fun :).

Although, not all is smooth sailing, two of us are trying to find a living in this vast Coaching world and seeing, how difficult it might be. There are so many Coaches so so active on social networks and with the amazing algorithms of today you keep seeing all this brilliant content, which funnily enough, only drives us out of social networks in the longterm. But, but, what do I do without social networks? How will people find me? I need to promote myself, I need to share what I am working on, I need to share what I am thinking about, I need to post and post and post and post. For introvert, this is really crazy and it poses an amazing challenge of, how do people find you without those tools of mass destruction? (ok ok, sometimes, quite useful, depends what you do with them and how you use them, knife can kill and it can, in the hands of good chef, your grandma, create the most wonderful meal you have ever eaten).

Where were we, challenge, yes, my own Coach asked me just the other day “And what, you love challenges right? What is different on this challenge compared to the ones in sports? What could you learn from those?”. That makes you stop right?

How comes I can imagine doing Tour des Stations, 9000m elevation climbed on a bike in a single day, yet this one terrifies me and I keep downplaying myself, joking about me coming back into IT crying in March next year cause I have no money. You can see on that how little I believe it will actually work, yet, I am also thrilled by giving it a go. The wonderful thing on a Coaching circle of support is, you get to see people who are either in the similar situation or who feel how you feel, they do not merely sympathise, nope, you can sense they care. And, I can’t ask for more.

If you were reading to the end expecting some further revelation or deep thought, you ain’t gonna get one. Yet, I want to leave you with the following. As you ponder your life and challenges you face, like a tree facing the strong icy wind coming from the north, swaying freely from side to side, yet staying strong and agile, ask yourself: What are the roots supporting me in here? and, What can I do to keep them healthy and growing so they can continue to do so?