Jeff Has Inspired Me

When Jeff described himself as “a dream catcher,” someone who’s purpose was to discover others’ dreams and help them realize how to fulfill them, I knew immediately I needed to work with him. It was honestly like a bolt of lightning hit… I couldn’t get the phrase out of my head. I felt like I’d lost my dreams; or that I’d retreated into the world of others’ dreams, more accurately, retreating to books and movies to escape the fact that I was frozen with indecision on the next stage of my life. I felt that whatever step I took next was going to change my life, and the fear of taking the wrong step was paralyzing.

I thought I knew exactly where I wanted to go, and what I wanted to do, and that Jeff would help me figure out how to get there. But as we met, the same phrases kept coming up, the same concepts, the same interests and passions and

values… and interestingly, not necessarily where I’d planned for my life to go. I thought those were just interests that would stay on the sidelines forever. I didn’t think they could actually turn into anything. But Jeff kept pushing me to dig deeper, to really think outside the box and look at possibilities in a new way, to reexamine my values and my plans and my purpose. Suddenly, the path I had always intended to take didn’t look so appealing anymore. In fact, it didn’t line up with most of my values or my personality or my core interests at all; it lined up with an old fairytale in my head, one that, if I followed it, I would be burned out and bitter in a few years.

I’ve always heard that the doors of opportunity are waiting to open, and all you have to do is knock. For so long I was too afraid to knock, too afraid to even step up to the door for risk of ending up at the wrong door. I have been so focused on being “practical” that I haven’t put myself out there to pursue my passion. But throughout this process Jeff has inspired me, encouraged me, and pushed me to look beyond my initial ideas and preconceived notions to what lies deeper, and a single tentative knock has begun to open the floodgates of opportunity. This fall I’ll be moving from a comfortable-but-passionless job to entering graduate school, becoming a full-time health coach, and pursuing my love of writing. A “dream catcher” indeed, Jeff!

~ Joy Strickland, Health Coach and Writer