On a recent installment of the radio program called Making Major Moves in the Marketplace, life coach and author Rachel Gilmore discussed her path to becoming a life coach and the reasons she loves her profession. Gilmore also discussed some of the strategies she uses to help her clients overcome personal obstacles preventing them becoming their best-possible selves.
Gilmore was one of nine children from a military family where the parents were constantly stressed by not having enough money to meet basic material needs. Money-related stresses drove Gilmore’s parents to fight almost constantly and occasionally abuse their children. Given her unhappy family life and history of poverty, when Gilmore turned 18 she entered the adult world with a fierce determination to prove her critics wrong and dispel her feelings of inadequacy.
In the years that followed Gilmore’s departure from her troubled home life she eventually obtained most of our society’s commonly-excepted external markers of success. Some of Gilmore’s external trappings of success included being married, having children, and running more than one successful business. Despite having what appeared to be a fulfilled life, the traumas of Gilmore’s childhood were not at rest. For years, Gilmore feverishly buried herself in work as means of distracting herself from the problems created by her early-life difficulties. In her attempts to avoid difficult emotional issues Gilmore pushed herself to the point of sickness by running her thriving personal training business with excessive rigor. Gilmore’s physical and psychological burnout eventually left her business and marriage destroyed; however, this time of personal difficulty had a silver lining. The implosion of Gilmore’s happy marriage and thriving business forced her to finally address the issues from her past in a meaningful manner. Despite its difficulties, this period in Gilmore’s life gave her the inspiration and wisdom she needed to begin a new career as a life coach.
Given her difficult childhood and its lingering aftermath, Gilmore believes that one of the most important issues faced by every one of her clients is the need to come to terms with the present-day effects created by suppressing unpleasant memories of past difficulties. During her interview, Gilmore remarked, “Everybody has a set of conditions based on past experiences”.
Concerning the value of identifying limitations based on old memories, Gilmore responded, “When you have the awareness of the thought process which is holding you back, then you are empowered to make a different choice”. Gilmore also believes her services are valuable because her clients are usually unable to see the limitations their past experiences are creating in their present lives. Concerning the value of hearing another person’s observations, Gilmore noted, “In life we need coaches, guides, and mentors to help us see the things we cannot see”.
Rachel Gilmore can be contacted at www.Rachel-Gilmore.com
Gilmore is also the founder of a new nonprofit organization called Love Leaders Tribe that can be found online at: www.meetup.com/Discover-Your-True-Potential-With-Rachel-Gilmore
To hear the full interview visit: www.businessinnovatorsradio.com/rachel-gilmore-success-coach-grounded-love/