Life Coaching Vs Counseling: Which One Is Better?

Many individuals from all walks of life are suffering from problems such as obesity, anxiety, stress, depression and other abnormal conditions on a daily basis. While most of them would pre-fer visiting experts such as counselors, with the rise of the self-help industry and experts such as Tony Robbins making it more widely accepted, some of these people are now turning to life coaches to assist them with their needs. Counseling has always shown to be a methodology that is effective and useful over the years when it comes to addressing the traumatic experiences people are having. It has a shortcoming though which is the fact that it emphasizes on the past of such persons. This doesn’t help them to see reasons why they should move on with their lives. For instance, individuals who are feeling depressed because they aren’t happy with the way their lives are. It could be from their places of work, not being able to make something out of life or even relationships with others around them. At this point, frustration begins to mount and this will lead to a negative state that will frustrate them and make them feel depressed. Through a platform such as talk therapy, counselors are able to help their clients understand what brought about their depression. This platform will enable them to search their past emotional states thoroughly. Such a process enables them to reflect on their choices as well as behaviors. However, online life coaching uses a different approach and philosophy as it helps people focus on that which they want to achieve. In order for such goals to be achieved, they are presented with a series of tasks or assignments over a given period of time. Through these, they will be able to overcome their traumas and adversities and get their life back on track. There are individuals who have testified to feeling much better after coaching sessions as com-pared to counseling. This is because while the former focuses on the positives, the latter empha-sizes on the negatives which led to the condition. This point is clearly illustrated in the statement of Esther Jno-Charles who explained that whatever is being focused on is going to expand. Having said all of these, there are life coaches who have pointed out that it is sometimes difficult helping clients as they are still connected to their past – they just won’t let go. Although a coach can help his client get a better future, he isn’t trained in the aspect of trying to dig into his past in order to find what could be hurting him (the client). Although there have been plenty of arguments about which of these concepts seem to be much better, it is obvious that both of them do have their strengths and drawbacks. Counseling will emphasize on the past of a client while coaching focuses on his future. Eventually, it is really all about what you plan achieving. In case your past seems to be affecting how you live your life presently, then you may want to visit a counselor prior to meeting a life coach. But if you want to focus more on moving your life forward, then working with a coach would be the best way to go.