Which Should I Choose, a Life Coach or a Therapist?
So you are struggling with some aspect of your life. You know you need help, but you’re not quite sure who the best person is to turn to for help. Let’s say you are someone who has experienced some kind of trauma in your past. It could have been sexual or physical abuse, watching someone die in front of you, or a whole host of other life events that can seemly break a person’s spirit. It would not be unusual to think that if you have a particularly painful past, that the person to help you would be a therapist. That might be exactly who you need if these traumatic events are constantly in the forefront of your mind.
A therapist can help you gain insight from your past; to focus on, to review, and analyze patterns from your past (Morrissey, 2016). They typically focus on unpacking your past in order to assess the emotions tied to those past experiences (Morrissey, 2016). This can free your emotions so you can gain more self-confidence, self-esteem, or help your make better decisions in your life (Morrissey, 2016). Many people who seek out a therapist are in extremely deep pain and therapy can help them to transform that experience (Morrissey, 2016).
On the other hand, let’s say you have a painful past, but you are not still experiencing deep pain from that event. You know that thoughts tied to those past experiences might be lingering in the crevasses of your mind. They are not in the forefront of your mind, so you might only think about them from time-to-time. But, every once in a while, something might cause you to slip into one of those crevasses. Sometimes you might get trapped there for a while, but you always end up getting pulled out. You want to transform your life, but this slippage that occurs every now and then seems to be holding you back.
In such instances, a life coach could be of tremendous assistance to you. A life coach can help you achieve transformation by looking at your past and seeing what could be learned from those experiences. Then they help you focus on your short-term and long-term goals. A life coach can help move you from where you are to where you want to be and create the results in your life that you are looking to achieve. They can do this by helping you let go of old patterns that might be holding you back and create new patterns that can help you reach your desired outcomes. A life coach does not sit and listen to you replay the stories of your past (Morrissey, 2016). They help you design a life you would love to live and help you live that life (Morrissey, 2016).
This is why I am so passionate about life coaching. I truly believe that therapy serves a purpose. When I was first processing traumas I experienced, I feel that therapy was immensely helpful. But when I would have to transfer from one therapist to another after my previous one moved away, I would have to repeat my entire painful past all over again, even though I was doing well in my life at that point in time. Retelling the tails of my past just retraumatized me all over again, to the point I would have to go home and sleep for the rest of the day anytime I had to revisit my traumas.
Life coaching offered a whole new avenue for healing. It offered me the opportunity to acknowledge that my past happened, it couldn’t be changed, to learn what I could from the experience and to start moving forward. By moving forward, I didn’t keep getting pulled back by the chains of yesterday. I could dream my wildest dreams and focus on making them come true. The farther forward I progressed, the more distant my painful memories became.
To learn how I moved forward from my unchangeable past and how you can do the same, I recommend that you read my book, Transformation After Trauma: Embracing Post-Traumatic Growth. Sign up to begin reading the Introduction and Chapter 1 for free: serotinouslife.com/transformation-after-trauma-book
If you would like to read or listen to the full book, you can find the eBook, audiobook, and paperback on Amazon.
Reference
Morrissey, M. (2016). Life coach vs therapist: Life coach certification. Life Mastery Institute. https://youtu.be/T8tu2ozEzD0
