As a physical therapist she was a success — she enjoyed the study of the human body, she was good at what she did and her clients loved her. But as Fagan says now, “I knew the picture was much bigger.” When her patients got on the table, she found herself drawn not simply to their physical ailments, but to what was in their minds — thought patterns that could either improve their health or get in the way of healing.
“I knew there was a way I could help to raise the level of human awareness so that people could accomplish anything, whether physical or mental,” she says.
Meanwhile, the profession of life coaching was gaining mainstream popularity, and friends and family were telling Fagan that it was a career she should consider. “One of my neighbors kept dropping off Martha Beck books and saying, ‘You should read this,’” Fagan says with a smile. Beck is the life coach for the Oprah Winfrey show and a regular columnist in “O: The Oprah Magazine.” After deciding to make the leap from physical therapist to life coach, Fagan trained with Beck to become a certified life coach.
“It was an intense program,” Fagan says of the eight-plus-month process which included a week of on-site training with Beck in Scottsdale, AZ. “I grew more than I ever thought would be possible during that time.”
Currently, Fagan is working with Beck to become a master life coach and instructor, and the business she has set up for herself, Awaken Your Purpose (www.awakenyourpurpose.com), is thriving. Up until about a month ago, Fagan was still doing a little bit of PT on the side, but she let that go to create more space for her fast growing life coaching business.
In addition to working with individuals and groups in the Greater Portland area, Fagan has clients in Seattle, New York, Florida and Las Vegas. She coaches in person, over the phone and via email and says that surprisingly enough all of these formats work equally well.
“The purpose of a life coach is to set the stage for success,” Fagan says. It differs from counseling because instead of focusing on examining the past or diagnosing problems, life coaching is geared toward helping clients affect change so they can move forward. “It’s not about what has happened in your life,” Fagan says. “It’s about the thoughts you hold on to that stop you from making progress — thoughts like, ‘I’m not good enough,’ ‘I’m too old,’ ‘I don’t have the money’ or ‘What will people think?’”
Fagan recalls having had similar limiting thoughts before taking the leap to become a life coach. After all, she’d invested time and money in her career as a physical therapist, and, though she wasn’t miserable, she had a feeling that her real talent in life lay elsewhere. But no more. Today, Fagan is certain she’s in the right place, and she has a deep sense of gratitude for her ability to trust her inner light.
“When I finally decided to claim this as my gift and my talent, the world changed,” she says. “Everything I wanted started coming into my life.” From the money to pursue her training (which wasn’t easy to come by for the then single mother) to the time needed for study and travel, Fagan was able to find everything she needed to make her dream a reality. And now she has a career that’s dedicated to helping others do the same.
— Belinda Ray