I just got a message from one of my clients that she would like to discontinue our coaching, and instead start up with a local running coach in her area. She completed the mandatory 3 month package and extended it by 2 months. This particular client did not really do the work that was required from her in coaching, and was not as committed as my other clients (she would often miss sessions, not do her homework etc.). Although she did see results, they were not major breakthroughs.

I responded by saying that she can absolutely do this and that I would like to chat with her about it more in our coaching call this week.  The thoughts going through my head are:
“She didn’t find my coaching helpful”
“She finds me a waste of time and wants to discontinue coaching”
“A running coach will get her to learn how to run, but she still hasn’t gotten the hang of her emotional eating”
“I haven’t done any groundbreaking work with her yet, and feel like this is premature”
“She is not learning anything new with me anymore”
“I failed her”
“She hasn’t reached her goal yet, and she is leaving. This must mean she isn’t finding me helpful”

I want to show up to our call this week being open and honest about what I truly think she needs. And how I truly believe that if she had to pick between me and a running coach, why I am more of a priority because of her goals. She wants to lose weight and keep it off and still hasn’t done a lot of the emotional eating work yet.

While running is a great habit to build, it won’t solve her emotional eating etc. My brain then wants to say that it’s not going to sound authentic because it will sound as if I am just trying to keep her on board because it’s my program and so that she can pay for an extra month of coaching. Please help coach me on this.