WHAT AM I WALKING INTO?

A CONVERSATION.

You don’t need to prepare a presentation or arrive with everything figured out.

I’ll ask questions. Some will be about the situation in front of us. Others may seem to move away from it for a while.

We may step back to look at the bigger picture, then look more closely at one part of it.

There isn’t a predetermined answer we’re trying to reach.

THINGS THAT SEEM SEPARATE MAY BE CONNECTED.

What brought you in is where we begin. It isn’t necessarily where we’ll stay.

Something happening at work may lead us to talk about home. A decision about time may lead us to responsibility. Something that seems small may turn out to affect much more than we expected.

We won’t know what’s relevant until we look.

THE GOAL IS TO UNDERSTAND MORE.

We’ll look at the situation in context — how different parts of your life fit together, what affects what, and what may change when one piece moves.

THIS ISN’T THERAPY OR COACHING.

We’ll talk about your real circumstances—the people, responsibilities, decisions, constraints, and possibilities that shape your life.

I won’t diagnose, treat, or tell you what your life should look like.

WE’LL END WITH WHAT WE LEARNED DURING THE CONVERSATION.

That may be something worth exploring further, something to try, information to gather, a decision to consider — or simply a different understanding of the situation than when we began.

We don’t have to force a next step where there isn’t necessarily one.