Meet Tracy Baranauskas | Life Coach for Women & Author
We had the good fortune of connecting with Tracy Baranauskas and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Tracy, how do you think about risk?
You cannot get anywhere in life without taking risks. As a life coach, this is an important perspective that I help my clients develop because no human has ever accomplished anything great from the confines of their comfort zone.
Growth, creativity, and innovation require us to move outside of the familiar—into the scary unknown—but it’s where the juicy part of life is. We are here for expansion.
Unfortunately, many cultures are risk-adverse, and most of us have received a lifetime of messaging meant to scare us out of living our precious one-and-only life to the fullest.
This was the conditioning I received growing up, and so it wasn’t until life threw me a curve ball and I found myself unemployed at almost 50 that I was forced to truly stretch and start my coaching business. I was warned by advisors that it was a risky venture at the time—they said the odds were stacked against me and recommended I go back to my career in social work . . . blah-blah-blah.
But I quickly learned that challenging myself, pushing my limits, and taking risks inspires me—and makes me feel alive!
Feeling scared and moving forward anyway has helped me build my confidence, and now I help others do the same. People often think that you must wait until you feel confident to make a move, but it actually works the other way around. You must feel the fear and do it anyway. This is how your confidence muscle gets stronger.
In my opinion, the only thing to truly fear is living a safe, complacent life where you take no chances and waste your one-and-only opportunity to knock it out of the park!
What should our readers know about your business?
I am a life coach for women, and my mission is to help women discover their true passion, fully step into their power, and share their light with the world.
Over the years, my clients have opened successful businesses, up-leveled their careers, and completely changed professions – all to bring more fulfillment into their lives. And they’ve tackled goals that had traditionally kept them feeling stuck, like financial fitness, weight loss, and other health goals. They’ve also made lifestyle changes, including transitioning to being single and finding new love—and they’ve initiated grand adventures into their life, like taking a year to explore the country in an RV or running a marathon overseas.
I love seeing my clients challenge their own limits and expand what they think is possible. Seeing them courageously leap forward and surprise themselves by accomplishing goals mightier than they’d ever imagined is a joy and honor for me to be a part of. Each transformation is both heartwarming and inspiring.
As mentioned, life threw me a curve ball at almost 50, and so my transformation is a real-life example for my clients of what’s possible.
My confidence and self-esteem took a hard hit in 2014, after a long career in the community mental health field. I had just accepted a job at a new agency—and a few months later, I was fired after going to the agency’s board to report troubling issues that were causing clients to be neglected in the system.
As you might imagine, losing my job at this point in my career felt devastating. My confidence was shaken to its core. Even though I knew that I was dealt an unjust hand, I still felt ashamed and humiliated. I didn’t know what I wanted to do, but I knew I didn’t want to go back to social work.
Several of my former clients encouraged me to consider a career in life coaching—and I had to admit, it seemed like a natural fit. I knew in my heart of hearts that I had so much left to offer the world.
Yet, I thought: How can I help anyone else when I’m feeling so down? I knew I needed to help myself first. And so, I had to implement all the tools and personal development practices that I’d helped others to follow over the years.
I designed affirmations that ignited my spirit and calmed my fears—and I repeated them all day long. I read every self-help book I could get my hands on, listened to audio books while driving, and rocked-out to inspirational music to lift my spirits. (Space)
I created morning and evening routines that were both practical and spiritual in nature, and I stuck to them like my life depended on it—because it did! These routines included walks by the lake, prayer, meditation, gratitude journaling, goal setting, and visualization.
I also hired a life coach, even though investing in myself while unemployed seemed like a radical idea at the time. I knew that I desperately needed the support and guidance though, and it turned out to be one of the best decisions I’d ever made. (Space)
By our second appointment, my coach helped me muster the courage to choose and enroll in a life coaching school. While attending school, I consistently worked on my self-belief—and six months later, I was ready to take brave steps back into the world as a life coach and business owner.
As I reflect on all this now, one of my biggest takeaways from the experience is that you can’t wait until you feel confident to move forward with your dreams and desires. You must take the first few steps (or more) scared. This is how you develop confidence. Confidence comes from showing yourself just how fierce, courageous, and mighty you truly are.
Today, I am so happy that I committed to rebuilding my confidence and moving forward despite my fears and insecurities at the time. Not only have those first few brave steps transformed my life in a million, magical ways—but they’ve powerfully impacted the lives of the hundreds of amazing clients I’ve now served for almost a decade since tiptoeing outside my comfort zone!
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever.
A must see for anyone visiting the area are the parks and trails of our Lake Metroparks system—especially the parks near Lake Erie.
Some of my favorites are Lakeshore Reservation, Girdled Road Reservation, and Indian Point Park—but my daily go-to is the Lake Erie Bluffs.
Nothing beats the beauty of the Bluffs! This park is a mixture of trails, wooded areas, meadows, wetlands, and beach-lined shores that host a variety of common and rare plants and animals. And there is a 50-foot coastal observation tower that provides an incredible view of the water, as well as the surrounding woods. It’s a fantastic place to spot bald eagles and other wildlife!
My pup, Ginger, and I walk at the Bluffs every morning—a habit that has become sacred. It’s a great way to start the day, as it allows me time to quietly meditate, reflect, and become centered before connecting with the human world.
I recently published a book called, REFLECTIONS FROM THE LAKE: A collaboration between a seasoned life coach and the source, Mother Earth, which was inspired by my walks at the Bluffs.
I encourage any reader who enjoys nature and uplifting, short stories to check it out on Amazon. REFLECTIONS FROM THE LAKE is a small book, but it’s mighty enough to warm your heart, deepen your perspective, and fire up your soul!
Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
In 2014, I picked up the book, “You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life,” by Jen Sincero, and it’s played a pivotal role in helping me get back on my feet and build my life coaching business.
Sincero’s ability to open my eyes to a wider (and wiser) perspective in a light-hearted and humorous way is one of the reasons I am such a fan. This is what she has to say about risk taking:
“Making a big fat deal out of anything is absurd. It makes much more sense to go after life with a sense of, “Why not?” instead of a furrowed brow. One of the best things I ever did was make my motto “I just wanna see what I can get away with.” It takes all the pressure off, puts the punk rock attitude in, and reminds me that life is but a game.” –Jen Sincero
Website: https://movingforwardcoaching.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/movingforwardfamilycoaching
Image Credits
Shannon Baranauskas
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