Why I Have a Coach and How It has Improved My Life

For most of my life, I’ve always associated coaches with sports teams.

Whether it was football, my high school swim team coach, or my daughter’s basketball coach, I’ve only ever had that kind of person in my head when I thought about coaches.

For some reason, it never really occurred to me that there were so many kinds of coaches out there or that having a coach was something that a person like me needed

• Why on earth do I need a coach?
• Aren’t coaches more for people that play sports?
• I don’t need a coach; I can do fine and accomplish everything that I need to on my own

All these thoughts and more have run through my head, especially that last bullet point, I can do things on my own. I don’t need someone else to help me accomplish my goals. Man, was I ever wrong about that…

Matthew 18:20 states, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

God created us to live in a community with each other, to be social beings. For reasons too numerous to go into, I never bought into that belief. I truly believed that if I needed to do something, I could do it on my own. And if I couldn’t do it on my own, then it wasn’t meant to happen for me.

Looking back at this mindset of mine, I realize how self-centered and egotistical that was of me. I was so full of pride that I didn’t think I needed anyone else to help me, certainly not God.

2 Christian counselors and a Christian coach helped change all of that for me.

I’ve mentioned before that when I started on my health journey, it initially began as a desire to change my physical appearance, which was it really. I wanted to lose weight so that I could feel valued and valuable to my family, and I tied all that self-worth to how I looked. It was 100% for the wrong reasons.

It wasn’t until I worked with a couple of Christian counselors that I realized I was doing things, a lot of things, for the wrong reasons. They helped me see who I was in God and helped me along my path to understanding God’s infinite love for me.

I didn’t even know there was such a thing as a Christian counselor, but I’m forever grateful to the 2 of them for helping me change my life for the better.

I never knew there were Christian counselors out there, and I had never heard of a Christian coach either.

My first real experience with a coach, outside of my coaches in high school that I had for sports, was with a Christian coach back in 2017. She, along with the counselors that I worked with, helped me to understand the role and value of working with someone to achieve a personal goal; in this case, it was improving my overall relationship with God.

The help that I received from my coach was invaluable in helping me understand my relationship with God. She helped me work through my feelings and beliefs around being a wife and mother and provided me with tools that I still use when I have interactions with those around me, family, friends, and co-workers.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 stated, “Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.”

That’s the amazing thing about having a coach in any aspect of life where you are trying to reach a goal. They are there to help you back up when you fall because, honestly, you’re going to fall. I know that I did. A lot.

It’s not only that, though motivation and assistance are a huge benefit of having a coach, they also provide guidance and accountability. It’s those things that I found that I genuinely needed on my path to accepting God into my life again, and it’s those same things that I still need even now as I walk along on my journey of wellness.

I’m a health/wellness and functional fitness coach, but I also have my own fitness coach. His name is Billy, and he’s amazing.

I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support, education, and guidance from my current coach Billy. He’s a CrossFit Level 2 trainer and Head Coach at his gym, South Landing Fitness in Knoxville, and he has been an enormous influence on my life. He helped me get ready for my CrossFit Level 1 class and pushed me constantly in my training.

He takes the time to push me in the areas of my fitness that I’m not comfortable with, like running and conditioning. I hate running, but I know at some point, I need to get better at it. Thanks to Billy’s programming running drills and workouts, I’m now a better runner than I was last year. I’m by no means. a world-class sprinter or marathon runner, or even a fast jogger, but I am better today than I was a year ago or even a month ago, and that’s honestly all that really matters when it comes to gauging my own level of fitness.

The best thing about Billy is that while he knows the things that I am good at, he also knows what my areas of opportunity are, and he takes the time to help me get better in those areas even though training for those opportunities is difficult for me.

Ecclesiastes 4:12 states, “And if someone overpowers one person, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not easily broken.”

The true impact of this verse really hit me in the last year or two. I had spent so much time trying to do things on my own that I grossly underestimated the power of God and community in strengthening me and my life.

Having someone to be accountable to, someone that will push you but motivate you at the same time, is a powerful tool to help you achieve your goals, whatever they are.

I know me, and without having someone like Billy program workouts that target areas of weakness for me, I would never work on them on my own because I suck at doing those things. It’s unpleasant and uncomfortable for me, so, being a human, I will usually avoid putting myself through that level of unpleasantness. The problem with that mindset is that I will never get any better at those things, and my overall fitness will suffer as a result.

God meant for all of us to work together in community, with Him at the center of it all, to improve ourselves and thrive as people.

I thank God every day for granting me the humility to learn from others, to be open to the instruction and guidance of others.

To all the coaches that have helped me, I am eternally grateful for your support, motivation, and accountability, because without your help, I wouldn’t be where I am now, in a position to help others the the way that I’ve been helped and supported.

Ultimately, that’s what a coach does; we help guide others. We help those that feel compelled by God to make a change walk along a new path, one that’s oftentimes scary because it’s so unknown. But, as God reiterates in the above passage from Ecclesiastes when he is present at the center of a coaching relationship, even the hardest change becomes doable.