Celebrating my one year coaching anniversary at the BYCA Inspiration Day
While I was in San Fran speaking on the BYCA panel, I also celebrated my one year anniversary as a life coach! If I’m honest, it was a hell of a year, and I didn’t stop to look up until last week. As I was flying to San Fransisco to speak at the Beautiful You Inspiration Day it hit me:
I'm living my freaking dream.
As gorgeous as the photos are and how amazing the event was, I want to share not only the highlights of my year and photos of the event, I also want to be real about what this past year has been like. Ups, downs, success, failure. It's been a year of coming alive.
One year in business for myself.
One year of love, learning, growth, collaboration, hard work, and well, coaching my gorgeous clients. This past year I’ve been blessed to coach 28 women, speak to over 200 people at gatherings, start a podcast, start a local collaborative in my hometown, be coached by some of the best in the biz, develop the best friendships I’ve ever had, be a part of more beautiful conversations than most people should have in a lifetime, travel to speak, and grow my business to full-time income (YAY!!).
Successes usually don't come without lessons.
You may not know that while all the successes were coming in, I also worked 4 jobs, sometimes working 80 hour weeks, worked opposite schedules as my husband for periods of time, was criticized for my work, felt like I was being stretched far beyond what I was able, deconstructed my faith, learned how to take care of myself, learned to work smarter not harder, went to counseling (a lot), and came alive more than I thought I ever would. I’ve learned much more than a year’s worth.
You can’t make your business about coming alive if you’re not willing to go through the fire yourself!
That’s why I’m sharing both the highlights and the lowest lows, not to get pity or to make you think I had it hard, but to remind you that the journey is sometimes messy.
Your journey won’t be picture perfect. And that’s okay! In fact, I think great years are made up of so much more than glitter, sunshine, speaking gigs, and fun travels.
Great years are the years you let life have it’s way with you.
Where you surrender to what’s coming, unfolding, and unraveling. All the things that I let go of this year turned out to bless me 10 times over. Every moment I chose to lean into my fear and failures, they turned to freaking gold. I have learned more about myself than ever, healed patterns that no longer served me, overcame negative beliefs, and strengthened my relationships because I let myself experience all this year had to offer.
True joy comes from living fully alive and allowing the real you to rise.
I can say I honestly feel fully alive, and I am just so grateful for all this first year as a coach has brought into my life. Celebrating my one year with BYCA at the Inspiration Day was so special.
It was a day I’ll never forget.
^^^Rachel Gadiel killing it.
^^^Travis Barton and I twinning at the event.
^^^Amy Mackenzie of Designing Her Life and I hugging it out. We've been online friends for a year and a half and finally got to meet in person, and share the stage!
^^^ My first Inspiration Day, meeting Julie Parker Summer 2015
Christine Rose Elle pouring her heart out in the most poetic talk I've ever heard.
*All photos used with permission from the gorgeous Fi Mims Photography
A couple of my favorite iphone snaps:
If you've been a part of my journey thus far, from my first Inspiration Day, my first clients, my Bravery Board gals, my friends, every single person who believed in me- thank you. I'm overwhelmed with gratitude.
Cheers to living fully alive and achieving our dreams!
All my love.
xx,
-Madison