.png)
.png)
I have experienced that when you really do what you desire, you can actually heal yourself. I have overcome anxiety disorder by following my dream of moving to Italy. I felt so fulfilled by it, that I could stop taking anti-depressants and haven’t had any mind-crippling anxiety ever since. I have gone from being a highly sensitive person to being a thrill-seeker when I finally let go of what was weighing me down. And so by listening to myself, by being true to myself, I cured myself. Now, that is pretty powerful.
I truly believe that when you do what you were meant to do, when you step into your power, you contribute to the world in an extremely meaningful way. And I believe that my purpose is to guide women towards finding their own strength, letting their light shine and blowing the bloody roof off in their own, unique way.
When I sat down on the couch with my mum at Christmas about one and a half years ago, I was telling her about how I wasn’t satisfied with my job of that time. How I felt that it wasn’t fulfilling and that it was actually draining me. I had only switched careers a little over a year earlier and so I felt a bit embarrassed by how this whole adventure had turned out to be a bit of a disappointment. But looking back, this moment of crisis allowed for the real questions to come to the surface again: what is it that you really want to do? What do you care about most? What lights you up even in the darkest moments? Personal development.
Ever since I was little, I have been fascinated by life and why we are here. I remember writing deep poetry at primary school, wandering around the playground by myself wondering about the purpose of life and feeling the need for a deep soul connection with the people around me. I always felt like the odd one out, as if I was the only one who would question things that went beyond whose turn it was to hide or seek.
I was seeking answers to questions that were constantly circling around in my head. I was continuously daydreaming, floating off to different worlds, being touched deeply by the music that my parents would play while driving us around. I felt so connected to the world in spirit and in sense that working with people was the logical thing to do.
At secondary school I discovered that I wanted to teach. I was fascinated by my own age group and I always felt that my natural leadership could be a way to guide them in their development towards becoming themselves. I became an English teacher and worked at a secondary school for three years. Then I came to a point where I felt an itch, a need for change. A break up led to a point in which anything was possible and I decided to follow my heart’s desire to move to Italy and teach English there.
After some years of living my dream and enjoying my new Italian life, the itch came up again. The teaching had become monotonous, predictable and boring. And once I get bored my innate need for fireworks comes back to life. So, I chased another dream of mine: becoming a writer.
I wrote for the biggest Dutch blog on Italy, which was fun, exciting and provided me with a new challenge. I dove in completely and went for it for a 100%, but then, after a while, I realised that the soul connection that I always needed so much was missing. Most of the time it would just be my PC and me, with no interaction whatsoever and I felt like a flower without sunshine. I was literally wilting away. That’s how I came to that point where I found myself sitting on my mum’s couch at Christmas one and a half years ago.
She asked me: ’Why don’t you do something with your passion for personal development? I mean, you’ve been practising mindfulness for ages, you’re always reading about how to improve your life and you have a natural gift for guiding people. Why not become a life coach?’
It was as if my body had caught fire; I was burning all over. I had never felt anything like it before and I knew it was a sign. A sign that my soul had just been set on fire. Since my mum is a coach as well, she guided me through a visualisation exercise and I saw myself sitting in a circle of women on a stretch of grass, talking with them about life. I was leading a retreat, I was inspiring and empowering these women and I saw that this was my purpose. And so I decided that I was going to become a life coach.
I did a course of Acceptance and Commitment Training in Holland and followed an ICF accredited coaching course in Rome. I chose to focus on women because I realised that we as women are so powerful, but very often feel held back by fear and self-doubt. I thought: just imagine what would happen if those limiting factors weren’t an issue anymore. Imagine that all women regained their power and stepped into their true purpose. Imagine that all women let their beautiful, natural lights shine and lit up the world.
Now that would mean real fireworks.
I feel I’m here to help ignite those fireworks by leading by example and coaching women towards becoming real power babes. Being able to do this feels like a true honour and I often feel moved after yet another ground-breaking session. Thanks to my unique six-step coaching programme Take the Leap I help women choose themselves and chase their dreams. I help them deal with fear and negative thoughts effectively and give them tools to tap into their strengths. Thanks to my coaching, my clients feel confident, empowered and finally free to step up their game and take the leap towards their personal dreams. And, as you can imagine, they create mind-blowing fireworks in the process.
About Sophie Kruijsdijk
Sophie Kruijsdijk has a global, online coaching business in which she helps women choose themselves and chase their dreams with her six-step coaching programme Take the Leap. Go to her website to get her free mini guide Move from Fear to Freedom and to book your first free consult:http://lifecoachsophie.com
Twitter: LifeCoachSophie
