Dawn’s Story
I’m currently going on my third year of coaching with Donna. Yes. 3rd year. Her steady, grounded, soul centered approach - coupled with her humor- and her own powerful spirit led journey- created a super strong coaching container for me to do the inner work I needed to do leave my corporate career. (Something I’d been longing to do for many years- but hadn’t been ready to move on.)
When I got first got to Donna, I was on the verge of burnout.
I’d clocked over 20 years in corporate America, and a decade with my current company. I was exhausted and disconnected from the work I was doing. The last few months had been particularly intense, because we were taking over some new companies and I was having to let people go. People weren’t exactly thrilled when I arrived, and I found myself with all sorts of walls up, in order to just make it through a day. I was growing increasingly more and more frustrated and depleted.
My heart wanted to be doing something meaningful, something where I could be helping people connect to themselves, and to their souls - but I had no clear ideas- nor could I fathom a way to make a living even close to what I was used to doing that type of work.
Needless to say I was stuck, stuck, stuck.
A friend of mine recommended Donna because her work was focused on both the soul and the feminine nature of life. I’d realized part of my burn out came from living my life in a very masculine driven way- and I longed to be more in my feminine- slow down, to spend time connecting with myself and others, and enjoy my life, be able to receive and let go of the grip of needing to be in control. This pattern was showing up both at work and in my relationship at the time.
Slowing down, listening to what I needed, listening for what felt right and operating from that place TOOK TIME.
Took repetition. Took working through my fears that came up whenever I wanted to follow my inner guidance: What if I made mistakes? What if I hurt people? Who was I without my job title? Would I be lonely and struggling without the structure of going to work every day? Would I waste all my time? Was I crazy for walking away from my salary and my compensation packages? What was I even going to do with my time? And on and on and on...those fears came up. And we used our sessions to work with all of that.
We used our time to strengthen my trust in my inner guidance.
It was like going to the gym- except I had to build the muscle of checking in and taking action and watching how life unfolded in real time- versus staying stuck (as I had been!) in the perpetual loops of what ifs and I can’ts- all speculations on what could possibly go wrong.
Before taking on the big decision on leaving my career, I got to practice listening and trusting and taking inspired action in other areas of my life: within romantic relationships, making choices about classes I wanted to take, and places I wanted to volunteer. As my muscle got stronger throughout our coaching- I began to trust myself more and was able to go in and negotiate a 4 month sabbatical so I could test out my fears in a way that felt doable to me.
It was exactly what I needed. I was able to get a glimpse of who I was beyond my job. I got a glimpse of what could open up in my life if I could let go of that position. It was exactly what I needed to take the leap. On November 16, 2018. I completed my job. And I created an ending that honored this completion on a deep soul level. I felt seen, appreciated, valued, and celebrated.
I’m now working on creating a new life for myself. One where my Spirit is leading and where I allow things to unfold rather than jump into something else to satisfy my ego. That is what we’re up to in this round of coaching.
I am so grateful to have invested in having Donna on this journey with me.
To have her tracking with me the whole time, often 1-2 steps ahead so that when I did get lost - she was the anchor pulling me back to shore- was absolutely huge for me. Her experience with the divine feminine and the work of the soul was exactly what I needed at this time of my life. And the fact that she’s walked her walk- having just followed her own truth to leave her career and start coaching full time- inspires me and gives me an even greater level of confidence in the work we’re doing together.
I’m excited to see what continues to unfold in this next year- and grateful to be doing it with her on my team.
— Dawn S. Retired, age 45. Los Angeles, CA
