The Short Version
I’m Carrie Spaulding. I help thirtysomethings who are not where or who they thought they’d be with their careers, relationships, and lives.
The Longer Version…
The Panic
I never thought I’d be one of those people.
As a 20something, I would hear my slightly older friends moaning and groaning about their impending thirtieth birthdays.
Though I didn’t say anything, inwardly I thought, What’s the big deal?! It’s just a number, not much different from any other birthday, really! If we weren’t in the base 10 number system, 30 wouldn’t even be remarkable.
While I tried to say encouraging things to my friends who were panicking on the precipice of 30, I took comfort in knowing that I wasn’t the kind of person who would freak out over something so superficial.
Cut to a few years later, and imagine me near hyperventilation.
How did this happen?! I inwardly screeched.
I thought by now I’d have it all figured out. I have a good job and I’m good at it, but there’s something off and I’m not sure I’m on the right career path anymore. I’m totally compelled by an on-again, off-again relationship that isn’t working. I don’t have kids and I’m not even sure if I want them, but if I do, how am I ever going to do it in time??!? Meanwhile, friends from elementary school are posting pictures of their third children on Facebook!
If I were in my twenties this would be fine, but now time is flying by. What if I just keep doing what I’m doing because I don’t ever decide what to do? I wish I could just pause my life while I figure all this out!
Having thought I was somehow immune to thirties panic, I was humbled by my own cascading angst.
I didn’t know it at the time, but I was to discover that thirtysomething panic is a near-universal experience, and that on the other side of the panic is a remarkable opportunity for self-discovery and creation.
The Process
I decided it was time to get clear about what I wanted.
I decided to take 100% responsibility for my life.
I got courageous about looking closely at my life and asking myself how much of my potential I was really living up to. I had to admit that the itch I’d had to explore other career paths wasn’t going away. I started to notice patterns in my challenging personal and professional relationships—to pick things up and look under them to see what I could find. I got real about my own contributions to the challenges.
I began studying relationships and communication and careers in earnest—what makes them work, and what makes them struggle. I stayed up late at night reading, voraciously exploring, reluctantly turning out the light…and wishing I could do this all the time.
[Looking back, this was clearly a sign of what was to come.]
I filled a binder—page after page of loose-leaf paper—with lists and questions and plans and exercises and observations.
[Later, my binder was what prompted one mentor to say to me, “Did you ever think about being a coach? I feel like a lot of people could use what you’re creating.”]
Little by little, this binder started to become a sort of roadmap for change.
As I sought to figure out and improve my own relationships, I became fascinated by relationships, communication, and happiness in general. I started to realize that my interest in these topics was more than just personal.
I was teaching third grade at the time, and as I dove deep into exploring relationships, communication, fulfillment, and transitions, I started to notice the parallels between my students’ challenges and those of my adult friends; between what kids need and what adults need.
I began bringing my discoveries into my work with children and parents, even as I was using them to radically shift my own life. I saw massive transformation and empowerment in the kids and their parents as a result of my new tools and approach.
What had started as a personal quest had evolved into a professional mission.
And gradually, what I’d started to cram in to every available minute became what I wanted to do all the time.
A LOT of soul-searching, questioning, learning, support-seeking, exploring, and daring later, I began professional coach training. This was the culmination of my years of formal and informal studying, creating, honing, and experimenting.
I clearly remember the moment on the Sunday morning of my first module of coach training. I sat in the classroom breathless and stunned. “Oh my god,” I thought. “It’s like they made a job for who I am.”
The Passion
That’s how I feel about my work. It’s more than a job—it’s a mission. A mission to help you on your own journey to fulfillment.
Today I have the job of my dreams and even on hard days, I know that I am “on path.”
My mission is to help you design and create the life, career, and relationships YOU want.
I’ve been where you are, and I know how scary it can be. I also know what you are capable of.
I know that you can be in the driver’s seat of your life, navigating with a roadmap that’s custom-made for you.
As painful as it is, the freakout that you feel as your 30s approach or advance is a catalyst for you to check in with yourself and take stock—of where you are, and where you want to be.
No matter what level of fulfillment you have or haven’t reached, you can get there.
I know because I have been in your shoes—lost, on autopilot, wishing I could just pull over—and my own panic led me to create a process that will help you create the thirtyAWESOME life you were meant to live.
Whether you’re going to work at a job where you watch the clock every day…
finding yourself with the same wrong partners over and over [or having the same fight with the right partner over and over]…
uprooting yourself and moving, on your own, to a new city, at a time when you thought you’d be more firmly rooted already…
struggling to communicate with your partner, family, colleagues, or children…
dreaming of making changes, but way too scared, overwhelmed, or confused to move forward…
you are right where you need to be to do the work of creating the life you want. You have everything you need. You are exactly where you need to be to start.
Together, we have what it takes to make thirtysomething panic the best thing that ever happened to you.
It would be my privilege to help you.
If you’re ready, don’t spend another minute wondering if your life is passing you by. Right now, do these three things:
1. Learn how you can work with me.
2. Get in touch.
3. Sign up to get free tools and articles that will help you move forward: