Barb Plunkett - founder of Life Choices™ The inspiration for becoming a Life Coach came long before "coaching" meant anything more than someone who shouts from the sidelines at a sporting event. When I was only 18, I told my friends that I would some day lead workshops and help grown-ups decide what they want to do with their lives. I didn’t have a name for the work and I didn’t even know how I’d do it. But I knew it would happen, just not yet. The problem in the meantime was I felt the urgent need to prove that I could handle "business life." I had to do the "business suit and pumps" thing to know that I could. So I did. For fifteen years. I must say that none of my "business world jobs" were entirely traditional. Even during this phase of work life I felt compelled to have my work make a difference. So I did marketing for non-profits, which felt like a good compromise for who I am. About 10 years into this path I experienced a personal crisis in the form of four miscarriages. For Ms. Mega-planner that I was, this was devastating at many levels. First and foremost, I’d always known I wanted to be a mom, and it wasn’t happening. The other part of the devastation came from shattering the belief that "if I planned and worked hard, I could get what I wanted in my life." Nope. Not always. After many anguishing months, a beautiful spiritual awakening began to unfold. Slowly, I felt like I was almost literally shedding the skin of the "happy put-together, business professional/wife/daughter/friend." And underneath that shell waited the me that I knew I always was. I quit my job and started my own marketing consulting business. Promptly and unexpectedly I got pregnant and began, tentatively, living authentically. All during this time, I was anxious to get to what feels like my life’s work. Finally, after the birth of my second child, I began coaches training and launched my long-awaited career as a life coach. Then ZING! We were given the huge surprise gift from God of our third child. With that old skin shed, I was able to greet this surprise with hilarity and as a gift. I figure if one of my dreams is to help women balance work and family issues, having one more child will just give me that much more empathy.
Get your first hour of coaching free! go (Limited hours available, email now.)	So here I am now……twenty years later……FINALLY living my ideal life. I work two days/week from home, helping people live their ideal lives. Our baby sitter comes to our home and brings me the baby when he needs to nurse. I see my oldest son off to school during my work days and get to smooch my daughter when she gets up from her nap. Meanwhile, I do my coaching by phone and give life balance workshops several times a year. I am unbelievably happy and full, both emotionally and spiritually. I feel a huge sense of awed gratitude to be doing what I really love – both as a mother and as a coach. And I know this much for sure…..I didn’t get here just by luck. Living this life that I love happened with a lot of thought, planning and work — plus divine inspiration and an unwavering belief that it could be true. And now it is. That’s what I do with my clients. Help them think and dream and plan their ideal lives…and I also hold for them the unwavering belief that this can be true for them too. Barb
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