pink hearts ten

February 16th marked the ten year anniversary of the blog, space2live. As with any milestone, it made me reflect. When I started space2live I was a harried, married, stay-at-home mom, who desperately needed to connect with herself and others. I like to think I am much cooler headed now. I’m still married, but to a different man. I no longer stay at home with young children. My kids are mostly out of the house and I work in special education at the local high school.

Pause on my posts

Writing still gives me a place to connect with myself and others, which is why it has been a hard decision to move away from the weekly posts.

I have written over 500 posts for space2live/brendaknowles.com. That’s a lot of content. That’s a lot of my experiences, mistakes and growth. My current belief is that I need to continue the experiences, mistakes and growth but with a different focus.

Relationship coaching

My coaching career began in 2015. After I settled into writing on space2live, a few readers contacted me asking if I do personal coaching. My writing about introversion and relationships struck a chord with them and they wanted my help and support.

Coaching is mostly an outward venture in real time. It not only helps me connect with others, it allows me to give to them. It’s the real time giving that feels like the next step in my adventure. It is a culmination of all of the reading, writing and thinking I do.

Real time helping people

I turned 51 this week. It took me this long to figure out I like helping people. Feeling useful while doing something meaningful, is the ultimate, isn’t it? I never feel as confident and fulfilled as I do when a client tells me how I’ve helped them understand themselves, their partner or their relationship. I particularly love helping them resolve conflict. Yes, I can do this through writing, but honestly it is a slow process. I want to see the instant relief on someone’s face when they learn their relationship has hope.

An expert, finally

Researching and publishing The Quiet Rise of Introverts, writing for space2live for over ten years and coaching for six years, put me in a place where I feel I have enough experience and knowledge to claim authority in the subjects of high sensitivity, insecure attachment and relationships. I’m not an impostor. Not only have I read, wrote and coached about these subjects for years, I am truly fascinated by them. I do not tire of learning more. My highest glory is using this expertise to mend relationships.

Not to claim too much of an altruistic motive, I also enjoy getting paid as a personal/relationship coach.

Timeframe unknown

I planned to take a hiatus from the weekly posts at the blog’s ten year anniversary in February, but new writing inspiration kept coming to me. So, the pause starts now.

I may run guest posts. I may run my own posts when I can’t help myself and just have to write. Writing is therapeutic for me, so there will be weeks I need to contribute. I am not sure how long this break will last. I just know I need a change.

Coaching becomes top priority

I plan to focus on growing my coaching business. This will involve marketing. There may be some website design and content changes. I may run ads to attract new clients. I would greatly appreciate any word-of-mouth promotion you, my readers, feel comfortable providing. If you have worked with me as a coach and would like to offer a testimonial regarding my abilities and helpfulness, I would be forever grateful.

I also have a desire to create a more structured approach to my coaching. I love tailor-making support and guidance for each client/couple but I think it would be beneficial to have a set of key steps to transition from struggling couple/individual to secure and savvy couple/individual. Some of the areas I would include are: Old relationship wounds (including parental and other primary adult relationships), working with high sensitivity and introversion, values discovery, boundary setting and building personal resilience and relationship security.

I have my work cut out for me, but I am ready for a change and the challenge. I look forward to improving my ability to help others in real time. If you or someone you know would benefit from my brand of coaching, please, please reach out and sign up for a session. I promise I will give you and/or your relationship my very best.

 

Have you ever found it hard to let go of something even though you know it is the right thing to do?