It can be difficult to meet with friends or colleagues in our current climate. So many people are reporting that they don’t seem to talk as they used to, often they feel guilty in sharing minor difficulties when the world is in such a state of flux. There always seems to be ‘something more important’ to talk about. This means that so many of us are brushing our frustrations or worse, difficulties under the carpet so to speak.

I recently had a great zoom catch up with a friend and fellow coach, after our meeting I reflected and thought how liberating it was to have reassurance on a number of areas discussed. Because I do what I do for a living, I often don’t fully appreciate what my clients must be experiencing and still feel not only honoured, but also surprised when they return saying how liberating they have found the coaching process.

This I concluded; was exactly how I had felt from this morning’s meeting. There is something about being able to ‘offload’ in an environment that is not only safe, non-judgemental but to speak to someone who entirely understands YOUR perspective!

I often say to clients that perspective is everything and it truly is for without it we remain stuck and cocooned in our own shell. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard “I never looked at it that way” or “you have certainly given me some things to think about”. It’s music to my ears of course, as a coach that is what I am striving for.

My meeting this morning wasn’t a coaching session but simply a catch up, a chat however, what it did on reflection is to reassure me of my feelings, liberated me from guilt, looked at things slightly differently and most importantly gave me a sounding board.

It’s so easy to assume that we don’t need to talk or share as we often perceive it as being weak or burdening people with our problems. What we don’t take on board is that others may benefit from that sharing as they too maybe experiencing exactly the same issues.

So, the next time you think, “I am not going to share” remember a problem shared is a problem halved!