Shhh, don't tell anyone.

I met up with a friend on the weekend to 'talk shop'. We talked about Inner Beam and marketing and revolutionised the way I am going to do the 'inner beam thing'. Sipping coffee and nibbling delicious boysenberry baked cheesecake in a cosy cafe on a cool Melburnian winters day was highly conducive to me enjoying numerous 'ah huh' moments. After confessing to my dear friend and marketing consultant the reasons why I'd rather keep what I currently do a secret, we were eventually able to nut out what it is I actually want.

In a nutshell, this is what I said: I do not want to be a counsellor, the connotations of  being a counsellor make me shudder and shake. Disclaimer: I do not intend to diss the counselling profession and I think counsellors can be wonderfully helpful and the good ones are worth their weight in gold.

That said, the concept of spending my 'working' hours nodding knowingly and using verbal prompts such as hmm and 'tell me more' make me want to shrivel up like a neglected indoor plant. Again, I feel the need for a disclaimer. Good counsellors don't just do the aforementioned, what they do is an artform, my issue is that as a counsellor you can spend a fair bit of time sitting passively and using verbal encouragers; it's not how I get my kicks.

When I talk with clients I like to be able to express emphatic 'woohoos' and screw up my face in disappointment when I feel it, aswelll as raising my fists excitedly in moments of victory. When you're called a 'counsellor' people really don't expect you to show alot of energy, enthusiam or emotion, they expect a level of passivity and a consistent temparement (incredibly challenging for moi, silent internalised punching fists in the air is not as fun).

So that's why I spent lots of time making sure my marketing consultant wouldn't tell anyone I am a counsellor, or anything much like it for that matter. She realised that a marketing campaign would be useless if I wanted to keep my business a secret, so cleverly assisted me to re-define what I love to do. The result was deciding that I work in the field of 'life design'. Upon coming up with that concept I felt a whole lot more comfortable and spacious.

As far as a title goes, I'm still not sure, I like life design co-conspirator (because I love to conspire with others to design a life that feels awesome). Synonyms for co-conspirator include ally, associate, assitant and accomplice. What are your thoughts? I'm most open to feedback and suggestions.