My Selph health coaching journey - Week 12

I went through Selph’s Coaching Programme and recorded my journey along the way!

My name’s Sarah-Lizzie, and you might have seen my other articles on our Learn page! Like everyone, I have my own goals and challenges to overcome. 3 months ago I admitted that my health needed improving. Holistic health coaching sounded like the right place to start. 12 weeks later here I am - looking back on the final week of my Selph coaching journey.

You can read about my first week to find out why I chose to start my coaching journey. If you missed last week’s instalment, you can read my thoughts on Week 11 here.

Read on for the final instalment of this series!

It was hard to believe this was my final week of the course. My 3 month long journey where I invested time and effort into myself. Time spent forming healthy habits and becoming more confident in my ability to maintain them after finishing the course. But what will come next, when I only have myself and the ebb and flow of motivation to rely on? Can I do it on my own?

For 12 weeks I've had constant daily support and somewhere to enter my daily notes and reflect on my progress. To hear my coach’s insight and her encouragement to set new challenges for myself.

I've succeeded at the key goals I had coming into the program and kept pushing for new ones week on week - be it by increasing the intensity of my yoga practice, doing more with my gratitude journal or adding in more vegetables to the weekly shop.

Others have said that I seem more confident and settled in myself. I feel capable and proud. I’m choosing to make healthy choices today rather than put them off for an unspecified time in the future. I know I can look after myself. I've been improving my self-awareness and spending time in reflection.

I have some of the most clear-cut memories of my whole life from these last 12 weeks. My days aren't a blur anymore because I'm doing something with them. I feel like I’m living them now instead of just waiting for something to happen.

The final call with my coach and resources for this week’s theme showed me that I can and will continue to succeed. I can hold myself accountable because I'm doing things that I enjoy, not forcing myself to do things I don’t.

I feel immense gratitude for the version of myself 12 weeks ago who chose to make a change and start putting her health first. I wouldn’t be standing at this point without her and I’m so much happier and more confident because of it.

This week, one of the suggestions was to make a vision board. I'm a creative person so I was very excited to embark on this project. I envisioned something that made me feel inspired to follow my dreams when I looked at it.

I took a scrapbooking approach, but it could really have been anything you want it to be. I looked through old nature magazines and cut out pictures that spoke to me. I added in quotes from my favourite films and my personal mission statement which I wrote in Week 11.

In the end, I had a magical vision board that felt very true to myself. It makes me happy every time I look at it. It grounds me, reminds me of what's most important and the dreams I have which are within my grasp.

Out of all the projects I've ever done, this piece of art feels the most personal and authentic to who I am at my core. It's such a special, tangible thing to take away from this course which I can always keep with me to reflect upon and get inspired. Even if I’m away, I’ll keep a photo of it with me.

During an earlier week in the course, my coach really helped me to dig deep and figure out why I valued what I did. She helped me visualise what it would be like when I was old and what I wanted to feel when looking back on my life.

I wanted to feel like I didn’t make choices out of fear, miss opportunities I could have taken or live my life inauthentically. What I did want was to have courage, stay true to myself and make choices that would bring me happiness.

When we dug even deeper into why I valued these things, it was all to do with being brave enough to be myself and not let fear govern my life.

Now, in my last week of the course, I can truly see this outcome coming true in my future - I’m looking back over my life with joy. I’m proud of myself and the confidence I had to be vulnerable, open, kind and authentic throughout my years.

The Selph course has helped me get to this point where I believe that in every future endeavour, up until the point when I’m an old lady reflecting on my life, I will be thriving still.

So what does thriving mean for me? Thriving means I am capable and have everything I need within me to succeed at my goals. Thriving means I can keep on going and challenging myself into the future, after the course has ended. It dispelled my worries about falling short on my own.

My coach told me that I was the one who had put in the work and that all the success and progress had come from me. While I was hesitant to believe it at first, I was finally able to accept this and congratulate myself on my courage and the bravery it took to get here.

Thriving has meant I’m now more authentic to myself, doing things I enjoy and look forward to, like yoga, cooking, dancing, walking outside and connecting openly with others. Thriving has meant facing fear instead of letting it have power over me. I have control and everything is within my grasp.

I know I can keep on growing and pushing myself towards the healthiest, happiest version of me. Knowing that I’ve got myself cheering me on is enough support and encouragement to get me there.