The best way to say how my life was before I started getting coached by Ashley is to quote myself in the first message I sent to Ashley reaching out for her assistance: “It’s the last semester of my senior year at the college of Charleston, I have a full course load, I am trying to figure out what to do once I graduate, me and my boyfriend of almost 4 years just broke up, and I’m trying to figure out how to save money while doing an unpaid internship- pretty much I’m feeling overwhelmed and bit lost in my direction right now. I would really love some guidance and mental organizational help.”
These were my feelings right before I started coaching with Ashley but they were really a build up of years and years of trying to achieve what I thought was balance in all areas of my life. The balance I envisioned was actually a perfectionist ideal and set me up for “failure” again and again. Although I have many amazing things to be grateful for in myself and in the world around me I was never meeting my own standards and often lost sight of the truth. I got caught up in fearing what might happen if I wasn’t constantly my harshest critique. These feelings culminated with the stress of my impending graduation and lead me to reaching out to Ashley.
After my coaching program with Ashley I truly feel like a have turned a page and am on much more clear, directed, and peaceful pathway. She has a way of asking you questions that evoke answers and emotions from yourself that open your eyes to your true feelings and desires without you even noticing. Ashley’s gentle guidance of my own mind and thoughts allowed me to make extraordinary internal and external changes.
To get specific I had three main goals when entering the coaching, which were around finding clarity and direction in my career path, what I wanted out of my romantic relationship, and reducing stress and anxiety around my everyday life. I now have fairly concrete post graduation plans, I know what I truly need in order to figure out what I want out of my romantic relationship, and she has given me amazing tools that have allowed me to bring true balance (not the perfectionist ideal) into my life. I still have a lot going on in my everyday but Ashley has provided me the tools to accomplish my goals and work through things in a more calm and gentle way. Part of that was letting go of the inner perfectionist that criticizes and accepting myself as I am, allowing me to not get bogged down in fear. This new level of awareness and consciences I have practiced through our work is truly life changing.
I would recommend this coaching experience to anyone and everyone. I think my lack of awareness of my own core-desired feelings is a common issue many people have even if they don’t know they have it. Anyone feeling stuck, lost, confused, out of balance, indecisive, negative or unclear could benefit from working with Ashley. She was helpful, insightful, and inspiring with her guidance in all areas of my life and I would highly recommend her to every type of person.