Check out THIS PAGE for all of my free resources. Thanks!
ICF and National Board Certified Holistic Life & Wellness Coach
Subscribe to our Newsletter!
Recent Posts
looking for something?
It's rarely the big betrayal; it's this:
It's the phone that gets glanced at mid-sentence.
It's the plan that gets cancelled. Again.
It's the explanation that never came.
It's the "I'll take care of it" that somehow didn't happen.
It's the yes that really meant no, and everyone kind of knew it.
None of these feel like a big deal in the moment. But over time, they add up to something that is a very big deal:
A relationship where something feels off, and neither person can quite put their finger on why.
Here's what I know from years of coaching conversations: most trust issues aren't dramatic. They're accumulations. Little deposits that never got made, small gaps between what was said and what actually happened, moments where someone needed to feel seen... but felt invisible instead.
And the hardest part? The thing that's eroding trust is usually someone's blind spot. They're not trying to break anything. They just can't see it from the inside.
Which is exactly why this stuff is worth paying attention to BEFORE things feel broken.
This week on the Beyond the Type podcast, I'm talking about:
- what trust actually requires (spoiler alert: it's three very specific things)
- where it tends to break down depending on how you're wired, and
- how to start noticing your own patterns before the people around you feel them first.
Link in bio, or find Beyond the Type wherever you listen to podcasts. 🎙️
1 week ago
Think about a relationship in your life right now where trust feels a little... off.
Not broken, necessarily. Just wobbly.
Here's what I've learned: there are really only three reasons trust wobbles, and they are *not* all the same problem. Ask yourself:
Is it that you don't feel truly CARED FOR?
Is it that something doesn't add up LOGICALLY?
Or is it that someone keeps saying one thing and doing another? (That's the follow-through, or INTEGRITY piece)
Those are three completely different problems when it comes to trusting others, *and* when it comes to having others trust YOU.
And each problem needs a completely different solution
And here's the part that gets interesting: the wobble you create for other people?
It's probably your blind spot. You can't see it from where you're standing.
This week's episode of Beyond the Type is about exactly this: Trust, what builds it, what breaks it, and what to do when you feel a "wobble".
Link in bio, or find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
#trust #respect #empathy #logic #integrity
2 weeks ago
You are not "starting over".
I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions we have about life's transitions.
When someone gets laid off, they often feel like they're back at square one. When a marriage ends, it can feel like all those years were somehow "wasted."
When we retire, move across the country, or watch our youngest child leave for college, it's easy to wonder who we are now.
But here's what I believe:
You're not leaving with empty hands.
You're bringing every lesson you've learned, every mistake you've survived, every skill you've developed, every boundary you've practiced, every relationship that shaped you, and every ounce of resilience you've earned along the way.
You're bringing wisdom, experience, and courage.
You're bringing a version of yourself that knows things your younger self couldn't possibly have known.
That's not starting over.
That's starting from experience.
In this week's episode of Beyond the Type, I share seven questions I often ask coaching clients who are navigating life's biggest transitions, whether that's a career change, divorce, retirement, becoming an empty nester, grief, or simply wondering what comes next.
One of my favorites is this:
What do you want to take with you?
Sometimes the answer changes everything.
🎧 Listen to the latest episode of Beyond the Type. Link in bio.
#lifetransitions #changes #startingover #motivationalquotesoftheday
3 weeks ago
There are seven questions I ask my clients when they're going through a transition.
Career change. Divorce. Empty nest. Losing someone they love.
And there's one question that almost everyone skips - not because it's hard, but because we're so eager to move on that we forget to do it.
It's this:
What needs to be honored before you move forward?
Even good endings deserve our attention. Even the chapter you're relieved to close had something worth acknowledging.
I invite you to try this. Before you rush into what's next, take a moment. What deserves gratitude? What deserves recognition?
The full list of seven questions is in the latest episode of Beyond the Type. Link in bio.
#transitions #lifetransitions #change #gratitude
3 weeks ago
I hear this a lot.
From clients who are waiting. Waiting for the conversation that never came. The apology that isn't coming. The explanation that would finally make it all make sense.
And they are putting their entire next chapter on hold, waiting for something that may never arrive.
And I get it. The desire for closure is so human. We want things to feel finished. Tied up. Resolved.
But here's what I've learned, both in my own life and in hundreds of coaching conversations:
Closure is rarely handed to you.
Most of the time, you have to create it yourself.
And that can look like a lot of different things.
It can look like writing a letter you'll never send, getting every single thing out of your head and onto paper (without editing!), and without wondering how it will land. Because no one is going to read it. It's for you.
It can look like a ritual: make it something simple, something physical. One last walk through the old neighborhood. Erasing the whiteboard on your last day. Rearranging the furniture. Washing your hands, literally, and feeling the water, and deciding that was the moment.
Closure doesn't require the other person.
It doesn't require a perfect ending, and it doesn't require complete and total understanding of everything that happened.
It just requires a decision: A decision that you are done waiting for permission to begin again.
You can grieve what didn't get resolved. You can hold space for the messy, unfinished parts. And you can still choose to close the cover on that chapter and set it down.
Both things can be true.
Where are you waiting for closure that you might actually need to create for yourself?
🎧 I'm talking about this in the latest episode of Beyond the Type, including a few simple ways to create your own closure during a life transition. Link in bio or find wherever you listen to podcasts.
#lifetransitions #personalgrowth #closure #findingclosure
3 weeks ago
Every time I move, I find boxes that have apparently traveled with me for years.
Completely unopened.
At some point I have to ask: if I haven't needed this in a decade, does it really need to come to the next place?
Life transitions ask us similar questions. And those questions get a lot less tangible:
- What beliefs are you carrying that no longer fit?
- What expectations can finally be released?
- What old identities are ready to be set down?
Maybe it's the belief that your job title determines your worth.
Maybe it's the story that you're too old to start something new.
(I launched my coaching career at 47, so.)
Maybe it's guilt.
Maybe it's perfectionism.
Not everything deserves to make the trip.
🎧 The latest episode of Beyond the Type is all about how to navigate life's biggest transitions. Link in bio or wherever you listen to podcasts.
#transitions #change #lifetransitions #startingover #personalgrowth
4 weeks ago
Copyright © 2023 Swanson Coaching LLC. Coaches do not treat, cure, prescribe, or heal. The information here is not intended as medical or legal advice and is not a replacement for advice from your medical professional or licensed dietician. All photographs © SandySwansonPhotography.com unless otherwise specified.
- Built using Kale Pro by LyraThemes.