I was surprised – honored, but surprised – when a friend and former coaching client contacted me recently and asked if she could interview me for her podcast. I felt honored, because my friend is amazingly accomplished. She has a PhD and is an ordained minister. She is certified in several areas of healing arts, and has a thriving business helping and teaching others to live an authentic, happy, purposeful life. She has published a book, developed a spiritual growth app, and produced dozens of podcasts with experts in their fields.
The main reason I was surprised to hear from her is that I’m no longer as active as I was in the work that brought us together in the first place. Since my husband retired and we moved to Georgia, I’ve continued the writing, speaking, and coaching I’ve been doing for years, but on a much smaller scale. I haven’t been actively pursuing speaking engagements or coaching clients, so they’re few and far between.
I explained this to my friend, but she thought my message – Find Your Buried Treasure – was still one worth hearing, and I’m glad she did! For the past ten years, helping people find what I call their buried treasure – the gifts, skills, strengths, and talents they don’t even realize they have – has been my philosophy, my passion, my mission in life.
This is something that’s still important to me, and that I still want to do, even in this “mostly retired” stage of my life. I’ve come to realize that it doesn’t matter whether I’m speaking to a group of several hundred people, or talking with some friends over a cup of coffee. It doesn’t matter whether I’m working with a coaching client, or chatting with someone I met at the health club. What matters is that I have something to offer that can be of benefit to others, and can make a profound difference in their lives.
I don’t think I’ll ever truly retire, and my friend helped me realize I don’t really want to. Whenever any of us finds something in our lives that we enjoy doing, that we’re good at, and that makes a difference in the lives of others, not to mention our own, why would we ever want to stop?
In fact, I can’t think of any treasure greater than that.
If you’d like to hear it, here’s a link to the podcast – “Find Your Buried Treasure, with Betty Liedtke” – as well as other podcasts and information from “REV with Rachel,” by Rev. Dr. Rachel Wetzsteon:
https://www.ewnpodcastnetwork.com/podcast/rev-with-rachel-with-rev-dr-rachel-wetzsteon/
April 5, 2019
©Betty Liedtke, 2019
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