***Happy Hump Day Dreamers! It’s Wednesday and it is time for another wonderful Dream Changer post!  This week I am excited to share with you a woman who has overcome great obstacles in life to find her true calling and as we all know life’s path is rarely a straight line and many times a topsy turvy wonderful world of lessons, growth, and evolution and Petra Monaco’s story is amazing.  She is doing wonderful work in the world and I know you will enjoy her story.  Take it away Petra!***

It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly what moment in my life directly led me to this path because in the big picture of it all it all relates in some way.

I grew up in Germany in foster homes since the age of two until I graduated high school at the age of 15. Throughout the years I was exposed to trauma and abuse, neglect, rejection, unable to believe in myself and looking for love in all the wrong places. During all my struggles of trying to find out who I am, I never quit. I was pregnant with my first born at 17, engaged to an American, who I would not marry until later. I moved cross the ocean to find a different life and was left to continue to figure it all out on my own. I married the father of my son and a few years later, we had another child together. We would not work out however due to move beyond our parens dysfunction, but we are friends nonetheless.

Life still wasn’t easy and I continued to move forward believing there is something out there but never quite finding what I needed. I singled parented for awhile, remarried my husband just to once again learn that this is not working out for us. I earned a degree in accounting with the potential of making good money but I was unable to be satisfied or feel happy about it. I wanted more. I loved psychology, I loved learning about the FBI and toyed with the idea of becoming a profiler. But it still did not sit with me.

I learned about life coaching from a television show and thought to myself, now that …that looks interesting.

I began to find solace in my creations and crochet and wood burned whenever I could. I started my first business Hippie’s Creations. I find it therapeutic to create with fibers or burn on wood. It’s been my tool towards healing where I look within, analyze my situations and figure out a way to move forward.

In my 30’s I gave birth to my fourth child who at the age of four was diagnosed with a rare metabolic genetic disorder. I think that this ultimately tipped me over to follow my dreams and pursue what I wanted out of life. But it appeared I was not ready to acknowledge what I wanted and had a few more things to learn. I opened a brick and mortar store but closed it a year later still not feeling good about life. I left a relationship that did me more harm than good and my growth was huge.

I wrote a book about what I remembered of my life which helped me move forward, create boundaries, and live a much healthier life. I still have some work to do but I am enjoying the path I have taken.

In 2010 I started working as an intensive in-home counselor and I LOVED my work. I am still with the same company and continue to help children figure it all out providing them with therapy as they need. But as a mom with a child who has disabilities and remembering the life coaching show I started to explore it more.

I am in the process of writing a book, sharing my son’s inspirational story of survival and his incredible will to live. I have also started Fostered Life, in which I help individuals find the time to balance work, family and live the life they have envisioned. I am offering pro bono coaching sessions to foster children who are aging out and need a little help reaching their goals!

Petra

Petra is a former foster child ready to change the world one pebble at a time. She’s the author of Betrayal: The Journey: Childhood Memories and the Adult Awakening. She is a mother of a special needs child and is in the process of writing a book about his journey of rare genetic disorder and surviving three liver transplants. You can get a glimpse of his life at www.lennonsworld.com . Petra is also a crochet and pyrographic artist and shares this world over at Hippie’s Creations . In addition to sharing the arts with the world, she is helping individuals foster their dreams by creating new thoughts and habits along the way to be come the person we should be and live the live we want! Connect with her at www.fosteredlife.com .