After a long and traumatic marriage to an abusive spouse, I had finally accepted the need to get a divorce. And to get myself and my 2 young children separated from their mother. After an exhaustive five-year battle, and a generous settlement I was granted sole custody.

I was emotionally spent and near financial ruin. My business suffered. I owed almost $2 million in personal and business debt. Plus, I was on the verge of having my house foreclosed upon going into bankruptcy. As a single parent I needed to provide a stable, safe and nurturing home for my children.

Running the business usually took 60 hours per week. The responsibilities of being a full-time parent took away from the business. As a result, I slowly became overwhelmed with the challenges of running the business and caring for my children as a single parent.

I became over-stressed and experienced severe depression and anxiety. What’s more, I developed insomnia and for over a year I regularly got only 2-3 hours of sleep per night. My body trembled and I experienced unrelenting rushes of adrenalin in my legs and arms. Just functioning became extremely difficult, let alone running the business.

I realized that I needed to make some changes but didn’t know how to get out of the predicament I was in. Quitting was out of the question, because my 2 children depended on me. Homelessness was looming, which scared me to death.

I called The Coach Connection and talked to Bill. Bill redirected me towards where I wanted to go versus where I had been. Our call opened my perspectives to my real possibilities. And I learned how I could achieve them, just by engaging the right leadership coach.

Together, we discovered and set goals in various areas of life such as family, business, financial, health, spiritual and relationship areas. My leadership coach urged me to keep making my goals bigger than I was able to imagine by myself. It was remarkably difficult for me to visualize a better, let alone a “great” life for myself. Because, I was so limited in my vision and imagination by the depression; anxiety and effects of long term sleep deprivation.

After establishing my goals, my coach worked with me to realize some of them. It felt so good to have an understanding and knowledgeable person guiding me through a phase in my life. My coach became the wonderful gift I had not experienced before. And at first I didn’t know how to handle. Every month, I made progress and I started to feel better. Undoubtedly, I would have not taken many of those small steps toward “reinventing” myself and my life if I had tried to do it by myself. But my leadership coach gave me clarity and someone that I was accountable to.

I made dramatic progress and slowly turned myself and my world around. Every week I looked forward to the call from my coach. It felt good to receive the support and guidance. It felt even better to see the progress I was making each week and each month. After a little more than a year of coaching, my coach told me that she that she thought her mission had been completed. Because I had accomplished ALL of the goals I had established for myself. She was right. It was hard to believe that I had accomplished all of those goals that a year earlier, I felt were “pie-in-the-sky” unattainable.

Thanks to my coach, I was able to find the courage to break through my personal barriers and accomplish more than I could have ever dreamed possible. I truly was able to “reinvent” myself and my life. I sold my business of 32 years and became a real estate investor. Now, my work hours are much more flexible. My earnings are many times what they used to be. I expect to be able to retire in a few years. Four weeks ago I married my “soul mate” whom I’ve known for over 25 years and rediscovered a few years ago. Life is so much better now for me, my children and everyone I contact.