The More I Learn, The More I Realize What I Don't Know

Earlier this month I started the course of study that will, I hope, prepare me to pass the test for my life coaching certificate. An integral part of this course consists of meeting with "practice" clients and helping them work towards their goals, using the framework provided by the certifying program. I knew I'd be learning a great deal but I didn't expect to be surprised by how much I don't know.

By the time many of us reach our 40s or 50s, we've done a lot of living. When I think back to the year I turned 8, a year when several important changes began, and run a mental movie of my life since then, the number and variety of experiences are almost overwhelming. But since I started working with my clients, I've been reminded that I can always learn more.

One of my people is an 85 year-old woman. As I've listened to her tell parts of her story, I'm amazed at how much she's been through. Yet she's willing to go through the coaching process because she still has many things she wants to do and needs help sorting it all out. As she filled me in on the details of her hardscrabble childhood in the 1930s, I was reminded that hardship is relative; she would have found my 8 year-old life wonderful simply because I had both parents at the time, many siblings & friends, a "real" house and was able to go to school on a consistent basis.

I've been learning from younger people as well. In fact, I'm probably receiving as much as I'm giving during the course of the class. It's been a good reminder that in the best of all possible lives, we not only never stop growing, we help each other grow.