What makes us who we are?

What makes us who we are, shapes the person we see in the mirror each day and creates the personality we project to others?

Below is a poem I wrote a few years ago in which I attempted to answer that question. Now that I look at it from a Coaching perspective I find myself considering how those people I mention in the poem that influence us actually Coach us in one way or another through our lives.

Right up until the last line in the poem I think that those external influences have a greater impact on us as individuals than we perhaps appreciate. Certainly in the respect of our own will and intentions I feel that it is not until we reach our true adulthood that we come into a sense of our own identity in many respects, whether in personal relationships, family life or of course our chosen career paths.

It is this in particular that interests me as a Coach. As through learning more about ones own strengths, weaknesses, anxieties and potential a person can grow as an individual and change who they are and/or who they want to be. Whether through conscious decision or by accidental realisation many people feel that they want to change but do not have the confidence to do so. As a Coach I feel that through helping people find that confidence and helping them empower themselves to change peoples personal lives and careers can be drastically changed for the better.