People who do what I do for a living (write, research & have theories about self improvement) brand themselves as Life Coaches. It’s just this thing you’re supposed to do. It sells books and lends credibility to your blog, I suppose. But there’s something about life coaching as a profession that makes me want to take a drawn out hot shower with pumice scrub.
I could definitely declare myself a Life Coach and offer sessions. I have some angles… I’ve been a small business owner for over 15 years, so I could focus on the work / life balance piece for women in particular. I’ve been through live-in Alzheimer’s care and hospice with a loved one and could help caretakers. I have Lupus and could help folks with chronic health conditions.
Seriously though, the hubris of it. Especially when you’re not trained as a mental health professional. And then there’s a bunch of life coach MLMs out there, so that makes it kind of skeezier to me because I’m anti- MLM.
On the flip side, we all kind of need this type of thing in our lives at some point. We get to a crossroads and want to do discernment and sometimes we’re too needy for our friends or they give lots of non-specific encouragement. And a therapist is all focused on how you’re managing emotions around change and not interested in the actual change. So I get it.
Seriously, though, charging to care about someone’s life… to just be an active listener who knows how to approach questions and guide self discovery… What kind of price tag is that? And you’re going to know and like the person too and it will feel like friendship so, here I go again fighting the ick factor.
Anyone want to weigh in on the profession of Life Coaching? Curious if I’m the only one who thinks it’s odd to monetize this sort of personal relationship.