When I started my coaching sessions with Lily I had a too many goals that wanted to achieve, part of it was being fit and eating healthy. I was 7 months post partum and was just moved into a new country. I was frustrated with myself for not being able to eat healthy everyday, follow a workout schedule and sleep and wake up early while taking care of a baby and helping my family get settled into a new city. In short, I was being hard on myself. This was the way I was always used to - I take action through negative self talk. But this time around though it wasn’t working. Before jumping straight to trying to achieve those goals, Lily took the time to hear my story first, she patiently listened about my life as a new mom, how things have changed, and eventually we managed to understand where my frustrations were coming from. She helped me navigate through my thoughts and the negative thinking and she helped me get a better and deeper understanding of myself and my values. In the end, I realised that the goals I was setting for myself were just a byproduct of a deeper need and issue I was going through within myself - I was trying so hard to fit my old goals into the new life I have. With Lily’s help I was able to see things differently and I focused on creating a new version of myself instead. She shared with me tools that helped me assess my priorities and evaluate if they matched and served my life now as a new mom and a wife. Towards the end of our sessions, I did not only overachieve my fitness and health goals, but I also was slowly learning to be my own source of support and my own friend. I started to recognise and listened to the kind voice in my head especially at times when I was being too hard on myself. Another important thing I learned during my sessions with Lily that really stuck with me was the concept of “just showing up”. This idea of “just showing up” helped me to jumpstart my goals regardless of the outcome. Telling myself to “just show up” allowed me to appreciate the effort I was making to be better instead of focusing on targets and expectations and failing to achieve them. This mentality led me to not only overachieve my goals but it made the pursuit of it into a positive one. I will always be grateful for this experience with Lily - for her patience, empathy and professionalism throughout our sessions and above all the positive impact her work and service has left in my life.