When You Ignore the Whispers, You May get Walloped!
Shannon Pickering is a warrior, a bright light in the world, a wise woman, and gifted coach in numerous areas. Laura and Shannon met when they were both in DC for a week, earning their Gallup Strengths Coaching Certifications several years ago. Since then, Shannon’s life has been a bit of a roller coaster ride, and the two women dive deeply into what happened, how it happened, and how we all might learn something from Shannon’s story and not have to experience the same things.
Shannon began her professional life as a Psychologist, which was great in some ways and destructive in others. Feeling lost and longing for something she couldn’t quite define, she shifted into corporate life, ending up in sales. Each of these roles and experiences fed some things, filled some needs, and cut off others.
“My mind, body, and spirit just got sicker and sicker, and yet I continued to ignore the signs,” she explains. “Even after I was diagnosed with several autoimmune diseases, I ignored it and denied it.” Until one day, Shannon was leading a full-day workshop and some of the participants expressed concern as they thought she looked unwell. She denied it, eventually collapsed, and was transported to the Emergency Department in an ambulance!
“I wish I’d listened sooner,” she said. “I very nearly died before I was willing to listen…”
Laura explains the idea that our bodies, minds, and spirits are always whispering to us, guiding us, expressing needs and concerns… and if we don’t tune in, don’t listen, don’t heed what we are hearing, we will eventually get walloped with the proverbial 2×4 upside the head!
What Shannon experienced is not uncommon. Our inner talents and unique gifts long to be expressed in the world, allowing us to add value and be of service. When we don’t find healthy outlets in which to contribute, we shut ourselves down and a destructive cycle begins… which eventually plays out in very real mental, physical, and spiritual illness.
Gallup training was the catalytic experience for Shannon; she finally found a place where her passion and talent collided: She could step into her giftedness, serve at a high level, and move forward with greater clarity about her life and work.
And then she experienced some very real and significant resistance: Systemic Lupus – attacking her entire body, including her DNA! At 43 years old, she received what is commonly a death sentence, but she was determined to fight. Learning everything she could about how to heal and nurture her body, her being… she re-emerged and began building a thriving coaching practice. Only to be walloped again with a cancer diagnosis – Stage 3!
Laura notes that it’s consistent with doing powerful work in the world; the closer we get to expressing that thing we are called to bring forward, the more resistance we experience. Its explained in Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art.
The conversation shifts somewhat to more depth into the natural hard-wired strengths both women work to uncover, define, and bring to life in their clients. Shannon expresses the idea that the thing we are criticized the most for, is likely the thing we are meant to share with the world.
To hear their deeper insights and encouragement for how you can show up more fully and authentically in your life, listen in and then check out these links:
Shannon’s Bio
My life has truly been a journey. I am hard-wired for achievement and for many years I worshiped at that alter. I reached every goal I set my sights on attaining, achieving great success in both the clinical and corporate worlds. On the clinical side, I have been a practicing psychologist and career counselor, and I taught psychology at a university. While this was a fulfilling career in many ways, it wasn’t satisfying enough in terms of achievement. So, I jumped into corporate life and for the next 15 years, I held roles in sales, national training, and management for a Global Fortune 500 company. While my inner Achiever was being fed, my inner Empath was suffering.
And what no one knew was that I had been suffering with very serious illness for 30 years. You see, by the time I was 44, I had been diagnosed with 7 autoimmune diseases including systemic lupus. I had endured many surgeries, hospitalizations, and procedures, and I had too many doctors and prescriptions to count. My defining characteristic is perseverance: My motto has always been “obstacles fear me.” I prided myself on pushing through any adversity. So, I just kept pushing my way through illness after illness, living in fear of anyone finding out that I had a weakness in the form of health issues.
What I discovered the hard way is that if you don’t take care of your mind and body and soul, your body will shut you down for maintenance. And by 2014, my body was trying to shut me down permanently. Lupus was attacking my GI tract, my heart and lungs, even my DNA (which is terrifying because you can’t get a DNA transplant). I was completely disabled, I had to retire from corporate life, and I was convinced I would die soon. I was told I needed to start taking chemo and steroids for the rest of life and I needed to accept the relentless progression that lupus was going to make through my body.
And do you know what happened next? I said, “To heck with that!” If there was a way out of the inevitable, I was going to find it. So started the next chapter of my life: I spent the next 5 years studying mind-body-spirit wellness and I successfully clawed my life back from the abyss. After 4 years of healing, I was ready to begin a new career. Which is when I was diagnosed with Stage 3 cancer. And the rug was once again yanked out from under me.
But I accepted the challenge and I am happy to say that as of the end of 2019, I am free of both cancer and autoimmune disease. I don’t even have autoimmune antibodies, which is truly a miracle. And what I treasure today is very different than what I treasured in the past. I am truly grateful for my journey. Facing death has allowed me to truly blossom and release my gifts to the world. During my illness, I obtained several life and health coaching certifications and I am now in my third and final career as a Performance & Wellbeing Coach, the magical career where my strengths and passion collide.
My mission is to help people reach greater levels of performance and wellness in their critical work and life roles through improved self-regulation, interdependent communication, and radical heath restoration. My passions include helping people unleash their authenticity, transform suffering into purpose, and achieve true mind-body-spirit wellness so they can release their unique God-given genius into the world. My journey has taught me that having mental, physical, or spiritual illness will prevent you from becoming who you were created to be.
I have learned there is something of a blindness in our society to the rich variety of human talents. I meet people every day who believe they have no special abilities or genius talents. Well, I am here to tell you, definitively, that you are unique among all people who have ever lived or ever will live. You have genius talents that are both easy to use and obvious to see if you only know where to look. You are, indeed, a very special snowflake. My passion and purpose is to help people achieve holistic wellness so they are free to pursue their passion and their purpose – because the world craves each of our unique contributions.
