Barbara Childs, RN MSN CCM Certified Life Coach

I am an RN MSN CCM and Certified Life Coach. My focus is on the brain, thoughts, feelings, and how they all influence the actions we take or we don't take and the results we get in life. I also focus on vulnerability and the courage to show up in life.

I have raised four children, been married a few times, most recently for 25 years, and I am an author of my newly released book "Life Unpacked." I also have earned three Master's degrees in Nursing, Healthcare Administration and an MBA. And now... I've left it all behind me to live my dream as a Certified Life Coach and help others find their way through life.

I raised my children by myself for most of their lives. I was very lucky as a mother of a child with Leukemia that my children told me as they got older "mom, we knew we couldn't do anything to stress you or upset you because we knew you had so much on your plate". (Later I learned all the things they did and thanked them for not telling me back them. I also thanked them for never making me have to bail them out of a jail.)

I used to dream about working for myself, but I always worried I wouldn’t have what it takes to run a business. I only knew my life as a nurse, but now I was retired and still had the desire to help others in crisis.

I found The Life Coach School owned by Brooke Castillo, Master Certified Life Coach and began listening to her podcasts and I knew this was my path. I became certified as a Life Coach through The Life Coach School and my dreams have become a reality.

I love coaching, I love my clients but I especially love that I can show them how they can become advocates for themselves and their family and build better relationships with their significant other simply by managing their brain and the thoughts and feelings they have causing their anxieties.

My life growing up included being the daughter of a U.S. State Department Diplomat and growing up in Beirut, Lebanon from the age of 11 in 1965 through 1969. During that time, we were evacuated with the other Americans in Beirut due to the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It was very scary and that was the beginning of my journey finding my strength and courage no matter what comes my way. I also learned that my father was my best friend and continued to be throughout his life.

I became the caregiver for my father and my mother because he had Alzheimer's and my mother had Dementia. My husband and I continued to care for them in our home until their passing. It was a struggle, but we made it through all the ups and downs. My son Daniel who I spoke of on my Home page, was such a help to us during that time. Daniel turned 40 this year and is doing very well.

We returned to Beirut after the war only to find everything had changed. The world was not so nice anymore. The numbers of Palestinian and Albanian refugees was enormous, but I'm grateful that at 14 years old, I was able to not only be educated about war and the unintended victims, but also about their plight, homelessness, and feel the sorrow and grief in their eyes, which touched me to the core of my soul.

We then moved in 1969 to Frankfurt, Germany where I graduated from Frankfurt American High School. Even though we were not military, we lived amongst the military and I learned to love the military culture and life. I am now married to a 26 year U.S. Air Force Veteran.

In 1996, I worked for the Army & Air Force Exchange Services which is the Military stores. I was the Loss Prevention Manager. In 1995 when the war in the Balkans broke out, AAFES sent many of their employees to man the stores at the camps set up for the military. I volunteered to serve under NATO which was named Operation Joint Endeavor, IFOR or Implementation Force. I lived with the the Army unit from Fort Stewart, Georgia and had my own huge tent, slept in a sleeping bag, had a JP-8 fuel run heater and arrived in Bosnia via a C-130 plane.I learned to stand up for myself, advocate for myself and earn the respect of everyone one I worked with in the field. I was awarded the Operation Joint Endeavor NATO medal and certificate for my service.
I retired from nursing two months before Covid hit. I became a certified life coach through The Life Coach School and in the middle of that training I noticed I was having so much difficulty, not with retaining the information to become a great coach, but I was having difficulty during the coaching practicum getting my brain to vocalize what I knew should be so easy for me. l found Dr. Russell Barkley on You Tube giving a short 15 minute lecture on what ADHD is and how you know the information, but the processing is missing. I sought out a doctor to see if I had ADHD and I tested positive on all questions asked. This shouldn't have surprised me because my son has ADHD (not diagnosed) since elementary school, he has now been diagnosed and is 42. Three of his children have been diagnosed with ADHD. I've also realized that both of my parents most likely had ADHD because of their impulsivity, moving around every few years. I used to joke that my mom was Lucy from the I Love Lucy show because she was so haphazard in her organizing, buying things she never needed. She was also OCD and had loads of anxiety. I wish I knew then what I know now because I would have understood her better. She was the extrovert, my dad was a complete introvert which is what I have tended to be. I graduated with a 3.98 from nursing school and my MBA wondering how did I do it? I know now it's because we were caring for my mom in our home when she got Alzheimer's and my brain couldn't handle both her and my schooling, so I would retreat to my room and just study all day, usually reading paragraphs over and over until I got it. My 25 year career in nursing has been going from clinical specialty to another specialty, never staying longer than 3 years in one area in nursing. I've made my husband move us across country and back on a whim every 4 years, now I know why. I have ADHD and now I am medicated! Did I mention I'm 68 years old now and doing amazing!