How much time did you spend on things that made everyone else happy today?
My educated guess: a lot.
Am I warm? It’s not just a lucky guess. For one thing, I was there once. And it’s also a recurring pattern I see in my clients. If there’s one thing they have in common, it’s excelling in doing the right thing for everybody apart from themselves!
Isn’t it time to put a stop to that?
I’m Sarah Stirling, and I believe we all deserve the opportunity to step back, take stock and consider what we want from our lives. It’s not selfish to put ourselves first. In fact, when we do, those around us thrive and flourish, too.
My career always defined me – whether it was senior business development roles or working at 100mph in the pharmaceutical industry. I always pushed for more. But, in my quest to excel in everything, it left no time to question what I really valued.
As my children grew up and my career lost its shine, I was left feeling quietly unfulfilled.
I needed to get out of auto-pilot and start paying attention. Less corporate box-ticking, more soul searching. But the fast-paced corporate world doesn’t leave much space for inner truth! I needed a space for reflection and a challenge to my current thinking.
Enter my journey and love affair with coaching and self-development.
After two decades working in the nursing and pharmaceutical industries, I trained with Barefoot to become professionally certified with the International Coach Federation. And I am always learning. I’m currently undertaking a coaching Masters, as well as a course in Mental Health First Aid to broaden my practice and bring different perspectives to my coaching clients. I’m also training in new personality defining tools. Why? We all tick differently, so better knowledge of those intricacies will increase the depth of my coaching.
I truly believe that we all have the tools within us to live a fulfilled life. But with so much external noise – career, financial pressures, unforeseen changes – it can be hard to focus on the internal compass that shows us what we want. Through coaching, I act as a human mirror for my clients, sharing an unbiased perspective on what reflects back.
My approach is “non-fluffy”, but my values of compassion and commitment form the backbone of coaching where you are seen without judgement. There’s nothing better than seeing clarity and crystalisation emerging, as each individual finds the tools to create and initiate huge change themselves. It’s a privilege and joy to be part of making that happen for you.
My experience with adoption also drives my work. I understand how being adopted can shape your inner truth, and how that default mechanism (and sometimes outright denial) affects our habits, career, relationships and life in general. That’s why I trained professionally to offer my Parent & Family Dynamics coaching programme. Through it, I share the tools and resilience from my own experience to help others navigate complex family set-ups and get past mental and emotional blockages they may have held onto for years.
Are you ready to embrace not only change, but transformative and long-lasting change?
There is never a perfect time. But there is no better time than right now to begin.