Are you on the yellow brick road? Are you getting a Call…no, not that kind! I’m talking about the kind that upends your life - that shakes you up and ultimately, changes you — the kind that evolves you more into your “heroine-self”.

Receiving The Call

Calls are definitely hard to put a finger on — how they happen, and when. Most usually they begin as something inside of you: a thought that won’t leave you; a feeling that grows stronger over time…and sometimes they arrive as a clear injunction as in, “Go and do this!”

Calls usually let you know when it’s time to leave a comfort zone - or one way of being. They ask you to change. They are at the core of transition — and there are so many of you in transition right now! Calls get you to move out of what you know into what you don’t know so you can grow more.

They signal the start of your very own Heroine’s Journey. I can tell you, they are well worth listening to, but — there is no “Call police” no “Call timeline.” You’re in control, Heroine. But…!

Are You Paying Attention?

Yep, here it is — sometimes if you don’t pay attention to a Call then it gets louder. There is “something” (your soul?? Your higher self? Your subconscious?) that wants you to listen and do what’s being asked of you.

And then there’s this… someone else, something outside of you pushes you into experiencing a Call. What? Yes, remember when you got laid off or your significant other dumped you or there was a pandemic and you had to close your business? It’s a discussion for another day about
where Calls might come from and if, possibly, your own unhappy energy “called” one in.

(I can’t tell you how many women and men I’ve coached because they’re so unhappy with their job and/or with their boss and the next thing they’re coming to tell me they’ve been fired or laid off. Hmmm, careful what you wish for, right?)

The Yellow Brick Road

So, sometimes, like Dorothy, who was very bored and unhappy in Kansas and conveniently a tornado came and spirited her away into her pretty big Call to grow up and learn some big lessons…sometimes we have “tornadoes” of our own that get us to assess and reconnoiter and ultimately, grow.

I love “getting a Call” stories and I invite you to share yours with me. In my podcast, The Podcast for Real-Life Heroines, I’m always interested in starting there…”What got you to this place? What was your Call?” Oh, and just so you know - we get many in our lifetime. I’m thinking, if you’ve somehow found your way to what I’m writing to you today - you might be getting one now!

Let me tell you about how my obsession with the Heroine’s Journey began and see if you can recognize the Call part! (This is excerpted and adapted from my book, You Are a Heroine: A Retelling of The Hero’s Journey):

"As you go the way of life, you will see a great chasm. Jump. It is not as wide as you think" — Joseph Campbell, Reflections on the Art of Living

Going On My Own Yellow Brick Road Journey

In January 2007, I left a frigid, winter-bound Maine and flew to sunny and warm Santa Barbara, California, to attend a three-day workshop called Life Launch: Inspiring New Chapters… A Passionate Guide to the Rest of Your Life. This same fantastic experience is now called Life
Forward.

This workshop, at the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara, was a prerequisite for enrolling in their year-long executive coaching program, to which I was seriously considering applying .

It was during one of the many exercises at this workshop that things began to shift for me. The exercise was called “Life Line.” We were asked to draw a line on a large piece of paper and chart our life’s big “ups” (to go above the line) and big “downs” (to go below the line).

I did the exercise, thinking about how I had done similar things before in various other workshops. On my paper, I noted the birth of my children, my divorce, my second marriage, and my mother’s passing only eight months earlier. I made an entry for leaving the large manufacturing company where I had worked for twelve years. I had a lot to record.

In our small group, we each had a turn to put our paper up on the wall and comment on it. When it was my turn I got up, taped my paper to the wall, explained to the group my life’s ups and downs, and then returned to my seat.

It was then that I saw what I had neglected to note on my chart: my current employment—the consulting firm that had been integral to my life for the last eight years—wasn’t on my lifeline! What? How could that even be?

Organizing My Thoughts

I had noted all the other big and little employments I had had over the years: teaching jobs, waiting tables during my college summers, and my long stint at the manufacturing company. But my current job wasn’t there! Interesting.

On the third day of the workshop, we were asked to write ourselves a postcard from the future, to write out a picture of our life from the viewpoint of the person we wanted to become. Our future could be defined as anywhere from three months to three years from that day. It was a personal choice. I chose to go out two years and write from the perspective of January 2009.

I began writing, and soon my future self was informing me that I would leave my consulting firm in March 2008… a little over a year from when I was writing. No, wait a minute. That can’t be… But we were supposed to let our writing flow and not critique it. That’s what came up, so I wrote it down, even though it clearly wasn’t how I pictured my life going.

The workshop was great. It successfully motivated me to matriculate into the Hudson coaching program. I’d be coming back to Santa Barbara for four more weeks throughout the year and graduating in December. I told myself that I was doing this to add executive coaching to my résumé at the consulting firm. (Yes, the one I had forgotten to put on my chart.) I’d then be able to continue to offer my organizational consulting services as well as be a coach. I’d be more marketable. Yes, it was a good business decision.

Taking The Leap

At some point during my plane ride home to Maine, the wheels in my mind and heart started turning. I had a subtle feeling that I had outgrown my current job. Somewhere between California and Maine, an idea dropped in, the idea that I could (and should) leave my consulting firm that year in March 2007! Yes, that very year. (Good, an A+ to those of you who recognize this as my Call.) Hold on! This would be a big, big Leap!

The Leap was daunting. I had no other job lined up. I’d have to find clients again. I’d have no biweekly paycheck or person to do my billing. There would be no well-known firm to lend me its marketing and name recognition. This would be a Leap into the void. And it would be a solitary Leap.

Enter In The Hudson Institute

Studying for a year with the Hudson Institute and acquiring my coaching certification would be like going for my master’s degree, I reasoned. Over the years, I had taken plenty of courses to supplement my organizational consulting practice, especially in the mediation and conflict field.

But life hadn’t opened up a space for a graduate degree. This could be it. I figured my clients would remain with the consulting firm. I had even trained the perfect person to take my place. I could continue organizational development consulting on my own, while focusing on coaching and on my side business, Ruby Slippers, LLC, which provided self-development workshops for women.

I did it! I left the consulting firm in April 2007 to venture out on my own. (And yes, if you recognize that as I was leaving my comfort zone - I sure was! That’s what Heroines do! They act on their Call.) I was still consulting, but now as a sole practitioner.

I wasn’t even halfway through my coaching certification program when I crossed that imaginary Threshold. I felt excited like I was unloading an old coat that didn’t suit me anymore. It wasn’t so scary. I had the
framework of the coaching studies in which to operate, so it didn’t feel like free fall. And somehow, work kept coming to me. My old clients stayed with the firm, and some new consulting gigs appeared. Money kept coming in. My Leap was working.

Being On The Yellow Brick Road: You Can Do This

There’s more to this story that I’ll tell you in my next blog post. There was more to this Call that I didn’t even know about! That “something” that sends Calls had so much more in store for me. My brain that had so glibly thought (because that’s what brains do) I was doing this to expand my resume…didn’t even know how much more would open up because I had said “yes” to my Call. I had taken action.

One more thing…so many people lingering in their comfort zone believe that it’s their security. They would say to me, “I’ll never make as much money if I do this than what I’m making now.” Or…”Why would I leave what I know; where people know me - it might not be ideal but I know it.” So they say, “no” to their Call. Security is never without, Heroine.

It’s inside of you - your guidance and direction come from within. That consulting firm that I left went out of business. If I had stayed…well, my story would have been very different.