The answers are always within us. I see it in action again and again with my clients.

During our session, one of my clients shared her anxiety about her son’s grades despite him studying well.

It started with her son, but as we dug deeper, the real source of her worry emerged as her own 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟-𝐝𝐨𝐮𝐛𝐭. It was tied to her past interviews where she thought she didn’t measure up.

“𝘐’𝘮 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘵𝘩𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯s? 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.”

I asked her - What enables you to easily answer the technical questions?

“𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺 plus 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘧𝘵 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴.

𝘈𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵 too, 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 5-10% 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘮 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭, 𝘤𝘰𝘻 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵. 𝘐 𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘱 5 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴”

That's where she could piece everything together.

She realized that she had been applying the same strategy to her soft skills questions prep- 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒏 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕 𝒛𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒑𝒖𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉."

That clarity was exactly what she needed. She later described the experience as

‘𝑰𝒕 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒏𝒕 𝒅𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒂 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍, 𝒔𝒊𝒇𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒏𝒄𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒍𝒚 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅. 𝑨𝒕 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒍𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒍, 𝑰 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒌𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒓 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒕."

It was the perfect metaphor for coaching—going within to find the answers that are already there.

What helped was her honesty and willingness to own her truth. And a compassionate coaching space where facing the truth didn’t feel daunting, but a natural step forward.

What about you? Are you ready to step into your truth with curiosity and compassion?

It can pull you out of stagnation, just as it did for her. 🌸