Let’s face it, very few people wake up in the morning and think “I think I need some coaching”. Most of the time, we’re running from one thing to the next, trying our best, juggling life and work challenges, keeping our head above water. Throw in a global pandemic, and no wonder we’re all surviving rather than thriving.

All of us are multi-faceted; we are made up of all our lived experiences. A little bit of us is our relationship with our parents, another bit is our relationship with our friends. A bit of us is also that 13-year-old who felt left out at school. However, You Do You is not about being selfish and self-absorbed and saying “p*ss off” to the world. It’s about being more you, less someone else.

It’s been a tough week. I’m having a wobble. I could feel it coming, and tried to push it aside, but here it is, in all its glory. At first, I was frustrated with myself. Get a grip Claire. You’re a coach. You should have your sh*t together. Then I realised that I was being daft. I’m human. No-one has their sh*t together all of the time.

How do we figure them out? And once you have defined them, then what? What does it actually mean to ‘live by your values’? By really honing in on my own personal values, it’s given me better self-awareness, and connection to myself. They feel like they sum up my attitude to life, which means I am much clearer about what I’m doing and why.

Do you know what’s really important to you? Most of us have a sense of it, but many of us haven’t truly figured it out. After all, what are values? Put simply, your values should reflect the things that are most important to you; not just at work, but in how you live. But more than that, they can determine how you behave, what motivates you and the decisions you make.

Most people will agree that the last year has been all about re-evaluating. I’ve heard a lot of people say “I’ve realised what’s really important”. But as the world starts to open up, it won’t be long before we’re back into the routine of life. More and more external factors will start to influence us, and we’ll be left wondering what happened to all the good habits we implemented, or the changes we wanted to make.

“Last year was uncertain. The future is uncertain. And with all this uncertainty going around, it’s hard to stay focused on the present”. So, what if there was a different way of looking at it? If certainty is never guaranteed, we need to learn to embrace the unknown.

We’ve made it, just about. There’s light at the end of the tunnel, and slowly but surely, we’ll begin to emerge. Plans are starting to be made. Hands up though. Who’s feeling anxious, and a little scared? And I don’t just mean about the virus itself. How will life look now?

Girl moves out of London and lives happily ever after in Cornwall with Boy, where they walk hand in hand on the beach and eat delicious food forever more. Is this the story? Well yes, it is. But here are the other chapters....