A wild woman of the world

Guest post by Michelle Ward for Oh, these Wild Women: Stories from the tribe

I don’t consider myself a risk-taker, an adventure-seeker, a rebel-rouser. I’ve never been on an upside-down roller coaster. I don’t have any tattoos or piercings. I don’t have the yearning to jump out of a plane. But yet….

I’m a Wild Woman, because I’m an Entrepreneur (although I much prefer the title Woman of the World. Maybe I need to put a “Wild” before it).

Sometimes it still takes me aback, telling people that I’ve been coaching full-time for 14 months now. I come from a family of salesmen and women, and even though my Dad once co-owned his own company, he bought it from his father, who founded it. They taught me the American Dream of benefits, 401Ks, and job stability, while also being fully supportive of Michelle’s Dream To Be On Broadway. It was odd, how those lessons co-existed, and how they both became embedded in who I grew up to be.

Now that I think about it, the lesson that was most deeply embedded in me was the one to Do What I Love, which lived alongside You Can Do Anything You Set Your Mind To. And those lessons…they made up the wild perspective I’ve always held that I would not live an unpassionate (no, it’s not a real word – yes, I’m still gonna use it) life. I would not settle for a career that didn’t light me up from the inside out and set me on fire. I would not live my life counting down the hours until 5pm or the days until Friday. It was just not acceptable.

It saddens me that my perspective is one of a Wild Woman, that more people don’t take their discontent by the horns and send it flying, out of their cubicle or corner office or bedroom or – well, wherever it lives, really. I always wanna shake it out by the shoulders, the sadness and helplessness that comes with feeling like you don’t have a choice / aren’t in control / this is How It Is.

When I was little and my Dad would come home from work, we’d ask him how his day was. He’d usually respond, “It was work. It’s not called ‘play’ for a reason, but I have to go back tomorrow.”

Wanna hear what’s Wild? Now, in my grown-up life, my work is my play. No wonder I have no interest in jumping out of a plane.

Michelle Ward, aka The When I Grow Up Coach, has helped over 100 creative people devise the career they think they can’t have – or discover it to begin with!

A certified life coach by the International Coach Academy and a musical theater actress with her BFA from NYU/Tisch, Michelle has been been featured in Newsweek, Etsy, and Psychology Today as well as leading workshops for South by Southwest, CUNY and the Etsy Success Symposium.

She encourages everyone to claim their uniquity via The Declaration of You, refers to twitter as “my boyfriend” and blogs her heart out 4+ days a week.

Connect: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter: @WhenIGroUpCoach