I recently completed my year long Coach Training Programme as part of my journey to being a full time life coach. It has been an extraordinary year, in which I have had some of the biggest highs and lowest lows I can remember. I also have a new set of friends – best friends – who have seen me at my best and worst, and with whom I have forged connections closer than I imagined was possible 12 months ago.

The intensity of this experience also uncovered my relationship to things ending. I wanted this year to go on forever – the structure, the support, the learning, the love, the whole experience. I knew this couldn’t happen, and yet I couldn’t face life beyond, I just couldn’t imagine what that looked like. There was fear, definitely, that we would drift apart and so much of the work I had done would fall away. There was also a desire to pretend it wasn’t happening, to avoid it, avoid the emotion, avoid having to acknowledge that something so amazing was ending. For others in the group, their response was to look for the next thing – dismiss this as done, over, move on as fast as possible.

When I looked hard, I realised I could create it a different way. I could be grateful that it happened without having to be afraid of it ending. I could create what came next while still honouring the completion of this programme. I could create structures and support to continue what I loved about the training programme without being bound by it for evermore. Ultimately I could accept the experience for what it was, be grateful it happened, and be excited rather than afraid about what came next.

Because every ending is also a new beginning. It is a chance to create something new and better. For me, that is growth of my business, and expansion of how I can impact the world. It is meeting and working with new, amazing people, while keeping the connections to those I met through this experience. It is my growth as a coach, as a person – in my relationships, in my work, and in how I see myself. This experience has helped me see that this is not something to be afraid of, but to experience and embrace as a step onto what comes next.