I wrote a while ago on my blog about willingness to fail. At the time I thought that talking about failure was something that people are uncomfortable talking about.
Last night I realised that perhaps success is also something that is uncomfortable to talk about.
You see last night I completed the final stage in my Martha Beck coaching certification. I had an online review with a Master Coach. My husband has likened this process to one like becoming a Jedi knight and he is not far off. We spoke about the written review, about the course and then it was my turn to coach the Martha Beck Master Coach. At the end of the call she asked me what it felt like to be a certified Martha Beck coach.
Through the training I have learnt to listen to what my body is telling me. I could feel goosebumps rise on my arms and back and tears of happy emotion come to my eyes. I’ve loved Martha’s books since I was in my twenties and used to look at the coach training information on her website and think that doing the training was just a far off dream that could never come true…
and it has.
My first reaction was not to tell my coaching buddies and not to post it on Facebook in case it seemed ‘big headed,’ or might cause concern for them through making them think about where they were on their own journeys. If I kept it secret, I would not be owning this time I have succeeded.
There are plenty of times I have failed and I have acknowledged all of those so it stands to reason that it would also be good to acknowledge this instance of success.
This reminds me of a Martha Beck coaching exercise called ‘Narrating a Life,’ in which you rewrite a story of your life with you as a heroine rather than a victim. If you are going to rewrite your story with you as the heroine you need to include the parts where you succeed rather than gloss over them.
When anyone succeeds and shows the world what they have done the message need not be ‘I have done what you have not’ but instead if ‘I have done it, you can do it too’. You might choose the same, you might choose something totally different to excel at, but each can have its value and be celebrated.
Turns out when I did post on Facebook I was flooded with congratulations. I am happy for others when they succeed and by stepping over my wanting to play small I have allowed them the same.
Where have you succeeded recently? Did you tell other people about it? Let me know in the comments below.