Your Future Within

A Culmination

Coaching, along with writing and speaking, has become the sum total and vital part of a life lived. My current calling as a Life Coach has blossomed from a steady building of experience, based on choice and circumstance.

The Early Years…

My brothers, sister and I were blessed to have acquired the adaptability that comes with living all over the U.S. and Canada, due to my parents’ military career. They were good parents and strong teachers. My mother, Eileen, lives in her own condo near D.C.

Upon earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from an Eastern Women’s College, Dunbarton of Holy Cross, I took a position in copy-editing for medical journals and did graduate work in Communications and Tech. Writing.

It was a natural progression to another 30 years of writing and speaking: producing and writing for community television; developing newsletters; writing promotional copy for newspapers; grant writing, 3 years of technical writing. My experience led me to an opportunity in the corporate search industry—recruiting and career coaching IT professionals for 16 years.

Joseph and I met my senior year in college in D. C. at the Arena Stage, a theatre in the round.  We married the next year, living in Maryland 3 years while he finished his Masters work  at Johns Hopkins.  Then we made the long trek with 3 young children and a U-Haul to Washington State, where Joe took his Doctorate in Physics.  Our next and long-time home was Colorado-the best of Joe’s  5 career offers and very attractive to us, both being avid skiers.

Over these years our family grew larger and with them we often skied and hiked the beautiful Colorado Rockies.  As a family we re-built an historic building and established a family book store, Brandywine Bookshop.  Into this project of love we poured our ideas and energy for five years.

This is the one gift I am most proud and thankful for: our children, who are now happy, responsible professionals who are helping to build their communities with life, love, energy and vision. They contribute in the fields of Software Engineering, Medicine, Ecology, Law, Veterinary Medicine and Business Development. Some have started their own families.

The Big Turnaround—coming about—at sea… In late 1997, life was going well for us. Joseph, a book addict and lover of classical music taught himself and me to sail. He had sailed to Hawaii and to Tahiti after reading 600 sailing books—twice. He was loving sailing and his retirement.

After returning from a restaurant one evening, we both noticed he had major jaundice. Two weeks later we finally heard the news– he had pancreatic cancer. Joseph was immediately reading every book he could find on the subject.

By now he knew he had a 1% chance of surviving even two years.

Final Passage

I wanted him to be out on the ocean again-he loved it. But now he could not sail a boat ! I talked him into taking a 2-week cruise together from Tahiti to Costa Rica. He enjoyed the first half of the trip, then slept through the rest. I worried about getting him home. The ship arrived late to Costa Rica because of diverting for a storm, so we missed our plane and spent the night in that beautiful country, although neither of us could really appreciate it then. After calling home, we lifted off in the morning and flew into Denver to our welcoming family. Twelve days later he had passed on — he was gone from us.

It had only been 5 months since we first knew Joe was sick. Thirty years together with my soul mate. And now…there was suddenly a terrible void…an unthinkable void.

A New Chapter

I stayed with corporate career coaching and recruiting for only one more year. I retired from corporate America in December of 2000. Although I had gained valuable experience, this was not enough for me now.

It was time for a career of my own making. I did not know what it looked like yet; but I was confident that with more than 30 years of personal and professional development, all I had to do was to look within . It would take time…and I had lots of that! However, I had so many interests that it would be 6 years before my decision formulated.

The Big Aha!

For five years I built my own health and wellness business. Then, following months of advanced study and personal growth with goal-achieving seminars and soul-searching, my call to Coaching was loud and clear! Helping Women Who Have Lost a Spouse, to find their way, and to build a New and Rewarding Life.

“When she is not Coaching or Writing, Patricia can be found: working out, enjoying the beautiful Colorado outdoors, enjoying her family or dancing Argentine tango!”

• Patricia counseled and coached career-search professionals for 16 years
• She is certified in Life Coaching with Coach Training Alliance (CTA)
• Her specialty is women who have lost a spouse
• She is an active member of The Denver Coach Federation

Boards of Directors: American Telecommunications Corp; United Bank; Church Council; and the historic Denver Turnverein. Active with the League of Women Voters, American Association of University Women.

Contact Patricia Directly:

Phone:  (303) 794-7824  | E-mail: Patricia@YourFutureWithin.com