Recently a resident of France having immigrated there 6 years ago, I returned to my hometown Spokane, Washington, USA on a compulsive whim.
I was sitting in the beautiful courtyard of my 300 year old farmhouse house one afternoon when an intense compulsion to return to my hometown struck me with force.
I was shocked: I had moved in as an 8 year old 40 years ago, left as soon as I could 30 years ago and had only been back a couple of times for at most a night or two. Why on earth did I have a sudden compulsion to get there?
Sure, the past 6 years (and life before, to be honest) were relatively traumatizing yet I put in a lot of effort to heal and was doing well - why on earth was I suddenly called to go back home? Was I running away from or towards something? I wasn't sure but I'm here to find out.
Unsure, I followed through, confirmed I would have lodging, found inexpensive direct flight tickets - 1/3 the price of the going rates even - secured trip insurance and a one-way ticket to home.
I arrived 2 days later to find my mother, while safe, was in great distress with unavoidable living challenges and was overwhelmed with the responsibilities that kept coming at her.
It quickly became evident I would be here for a couple months as there was no quick way to resolve the situation and she was in need of support.
I am not single. I am married and have 4 kids. I had 2 underage kids move back to the US after immigrating to France because life there was quite intolerable. It did not go as planned at all. So when I returned to my childhood home on a whim, I said goodbye to my eldest (22) and youngest (9) who still had another month of school to complete and my spouse, who after recovering from a life-threatening injury, would remain to hold down the fort while diligently keep applying to job after job and going through interview after interview to never receive a permanent job.
My spontaneous visit home was exhilarating. It was like a mini-vacation when I first arrived on a beautiful sunny June evening. I was able to attend one of my children's graduations and catch up with old friends at my 30th High School reunion. It was grand, I had a plan, I would help my mother handle the affairs of her estate and work on my passion I discovered in the pain that was France.
In fact, there was a lot of tactical stuff I wanted to do for myself while I was here that would establish the foundation for building my ideas into a reality for others to enjoy too.
The summer seemed to be going on track and fine until I broke my knee in late July. I knew what happened as soon as I felt the deep nauseating pain when it happened while I joyfully danced with the crowd at the concert of a favorite band with my best friend of 38 years. I knew this pain as it had happened once before in my other knee 13 years before on one of those rare occasions I had visited my hometown I mentioned before.
My decision at this point was to get an emergency flight back home in France to seek care, or have the care for it here done here in the US? It was touch-and go at first as the medical office I was referred to by the ER couldn't see me for another 4 weeks and it would be up to 4-6 weeks to get in line for an MRI.
This was unacceptable and I asked for more resources and found a walk-in orthopedic clinic that squeezed me in to get an MRI that day. Once I had a diagnosis, we could determine where care would be best received. With confirmation of a completely severed ACL, it was deemed travel was not advisable and to seek care here. Other than waiting for the surgeon to return from vacation, I was on the list for the next surgery day, resulting in an ACL reconstruction within a month after the incident.
I just passed the post-surgery 6 week mark this week and am healing healthy and strong - which I attribute to one of the other 5 MV programs I'm in: Wildfit, and my commitment to stay strict to the program.
But from there to here was not easy. While I'm grateful I have lodging, it is not a "safe" and “secure” dwelling as it was left to neglect and mistreatment over the years. The unframed, rag-insulated windows bleed light and air in through the 50-year old metal frames and a whole wall is missing next to the tub where there should be tiles and insulation before seeing the exterior wall. Memories of a traumatic childhood past appear at every turn and it will be months and months before I get the majority of the rooms clean.
Still, it is a shelter and I'm grateful for that. I am more grateful that I had room in this shelter for my son who, within 24 hours' notice, had suddenly moved in because his previous living arrangements fell through. This happened a week after my surgery and a week before he was to start his 11th year of HS.
My child is adored by the adults that meet him, he's truly a great individual: smart, funny, helpful, well-intended. He's had terrible school experiences up until last year when he returned to the US to attend an American High School rather than continue in the French education system. It was a shock to him and I that he couldn't return to his new friends, his new stability, his new hope.
However, I was here, in my childhood home, ready to take him in, ready to get him enrolled in the HS I attended, ready to support him any way I could. I called in my friends and they helped me and my son through those few weeks and today I am crutch-free and my son has a prominent role in the school play while getting As and Bs.
And all the while I diligently show up for the Coaching Certification Classes- I am hooked!
To be honest, the certification class was an afterthought, not my intention to become a coach, but I was attending the Coaching Mastery to interact with the instructors being brought in for that, and I realized a coaching certification would be a nice new credential for someone out of the workforce for 5 years - that and the AI mastery course, which is reinforcing for me life is whatever I want to make of it at this point. All these instructions would help inform me on the curation of my LifeBook Mastery work.
The material for the Coaching Certification classes is easy to consume - information is delivered in logical sequence giving students structure and flow to easily incorporate into their schedule and if ever I have a question, I know a response will be only a short wait as there are so many community members and coaches here to help out.
What has me hooked on this class is the community of other coaches that are in the program. MindValley attracts individuals of a certain caliber - smart, friendly, focused, inspired. These are the people you get to work with as you learn the skills and techniques to refine your own custom methodology from the vast amount of material provided within the MindValley program.
There is never a question of 'what can I do' - it is always 'what do I get to do!' - there are so many techniques and frameworks to learn from and employ into a coaching practice.
The program connects you automatically with new people in a safe, rewarding environment where you not only get to practice your coaching skills, but also experience the delight of being coached yourself.
Before I came here, before I broke my knee, I had an idea to follow my passion. The MindValley classes have provided tangible, lucrative learning opportunities for me to grow and expand in during this otherwise transitional "down" time.
Only half-way through the course: I'm looking forward to picking up from before my knee injury and proceed with those tactical activities to pursue my passion, this time equipped with a far greater vision of details than I had before and the comfort I'll have of MindValley training behind me. I know I'll stay connected with class peers for years to come and look forward to interacting with more student peers yet to come.
Stay tuned cuz the fun is just about to begin! (Who am I joking, this whole life has been a hoot!)