To start, I’d like to share a bit of my personal story. When I was young, I was raised Mormon, and at 12 years old, my parents were excommunicated from the church. It was a tumultuous time and a kind of culture shock. We went from being deeply religious Mormons to not being Mormon anymore—and not really anything else, for that matter.
It felt like being thrown into a completely new culture. This experience reminds me of a thought by Ludwig Wittgenstein: “The limits of my language mean the limits of my world.” Language shapes culture and thought. In fact, developmentally, language is how thinking arises. We first learn to talk as children, and then we internalize that speech, which becomes the foundation for our thinking.
Of course, I don’t believe that language is the ultimate ground of consciousness, but it’s crucial for shaping thought. A culture’s language, along with its history and environment, shapes what it feels like to be a human being within that context. When you move to a different culture, you experience this shift firsthand.
Experiencing a Different World Through Culture and Belief
This shift is also similar to what happens when someone with a deep religious conviction explores or adopts a different religion. They end up living in a different world—a distinct metaphysical universe. The way they experience life is fundamentally different.
What Coaching Means: A Call to Your Greater Self
So, what does this have to do with coaching? Why am I talking about cultural shifts and language? Well, because coaching is life calling you to your greater self. This happens naturally as we face the challenges life brings. In a way, life itself coaches you if you lean into its challenges.
But having a coach takes this process further. A coach is someone who embodies that life force in a human form—someone who speaks your language, who can meet you eye-to-eye and draw you out of your current space. A coach acknowledges where you are, validates your challenges, but also encourages you to recognize that there’s more ahead—you’re not done yet.
Growth Through Coaching: Identity and Cultural Shifts
Growth through coaching is not just about gaining external skills or making more money, although those things are important. It’s about growth in identity—an expansion of what it means to be human. This process is a cultural shift in itself. Your perception of what it is to be human, your “personal culture” if you will, evolves as you grow.
Why I’m Excited About Coaching Expat Dads
This brings me to why I find working with expat dads so exciting. You’re already living a life that’s calling you to be more than you otherwise might have been. The expat dad life is inherently challenging, but it also offers a unique platform for growth. Having a coach who understands these challenges from the inside can help you rise even further.
I understand the expat experience, and I get the struggles. But I also know there’s more to you—more that you are destined to become.
Wrapping Up: Coaching and Life’s Meaning
So, that’s my five-minute version of what coaching means to me—and a little bit of the meaning of life thrown in! I hope you found this insightful, and I look forward to seeing you in the next video.