Who she is: Based in Harbor Beach, Michigan, Eva Ross is a lifelong learner, seeker, and a student of life with a varied professional background.
What she does: Helps people become their own life leaders.
Why she does it: “My experiences include 23 years in a corporate setting, conducting research in a K-12 environment, teaching as an educator in higher education, working as an education consultant, and a full-time doctoral student in an educational leadership program. Because of this varied cross-organizational background, coupled with a lifetime of reflection, learning, and integrating experiences, I am able to use my coaching expertise and skills to collaborate with you to gain clarity about your life path and address those obstacles that may threaten to pull you off that path. I am committed to your development—mind, body, and spirit.
“I believe we all have stories of courage, potential to develop, and obstacles to overcome. My interest is in working with people who are seeking, who want to know and learn more, live more, be more, and authentically move forward with increased clarity and focus, purpose, and joy. I want to work with seekers to know their life story, own it, and proactively live that story with joy and abundance. I bring to the table knowledge of motivational and positive psychology, leadership principles, cross-organizational knowledge, and mindfulness strategies, among others, and a wealth of life experience.”
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One Woman’s Thoughts on Moving Forward After the Election
My life has been dedicated to helping others realize their potential. Currently, as a life coach and lay minister, I find great joy and purpose in working with others to increase their self-awareness and metaphorically take away some of the chains that hold them back, emotionally, psychologically, and spiritually.
As a life coach, working primarily with women, I have seen growth, I have lived joy and hope knowing them—their stories, their journeys, their challenges, and their successes. My coaching colleagues are a constant source of inspiration. That is the world that I live in. That is the world I aspire to.
There is a different world out there. A world of anger, fear, and mistrust. As such, the 2024 election result felt like a betrayal to me and all women. In my opinion, a candidate with a controversial history and legal issues was elected over a woman of color. Inconceivable.
When I heard the election result, I went to an isolated corner of my house, curled up into a fetal position, and cried uncontrollably for five minutes. I felt such a sense of despair. He was elected! Again! How did my country not learn from before?
I had felt the same way in 2016, only worse. Then, I was sure it would be Hillary Clinton as our new President. No way, I thought, could the people vote otherwise. When I heard the election results, I felt such a sense of grief that I wore black for a week, crying uncontrollably and consistently.
I felt my country had betrayed me and all women by voting for what appeared to me to be a bully—a person whose past actions and statements have been widely criticized for being inappropriate and offensive. Someone who demonstrates through his actions that intimidation and manipulation are effective ways to use and keep power. Someone who regularly calls people names—something I learned at an early age was not acceptable behavior as a human being.
For all those, including me, who were unwilling recipients of verbal and physical abuse, including forms of sexual assault throughout their lives, it was incredibly traumatizing to listen to him. It was traumatizing as well to find that the people of my country had voted in someone who discounted the man’s actions in favor of what they honestly believed he could do for them, for the country, or both.
I was bewildered. Did they not take into account his behavior? Did they think that was acceptable in a leader? Did they even give it a thought? So many questions.
That was November 2016. Then, in 2020, feeling a sense of hope with a new President, to be followed by January 6, 2021. However, this President, unlike those before him, did not respect the transfer of power. He stayed around. His name, his face, in the media every day. Unrelenting. And now, in 2024, he is elected again.
However, unlike my reactions in 2016, I spent less time crying and more time reflecting. For something had happened. I had developed some resilience from the last go-round. This time, I felt an awakening, a rebirth, a recommitment to what was good, to what was hopeful.
Perhaps it was because I had gained more life experience. We did live through those four years and all that followed. We made it through COVID. And “We the People” are still standing, albeit perhaps somewhat at times off-balance.
Since then, I have gained more professional experience, and I have seen positive results from providing coaching to, and receiving coaching from, other people. I saw the power of self-reflection, the power of awareness, the power of presence. I discovered the solace of nature, the importance of owning my emotions, of telling my story, if only to myself. I felt the importance of processing emotions, of processing grief.
I have expanded my community, expanded my support network, benefited from the ongoing support of a close circle of friends with whom I communicate weekly. I have read books, seeking to understand. I have participated in workshops from organizations focused on connection, such as Braver Angels. I have learned, slowly and at times painfully, to redirect my grief energy into something positive. So the tools are more refined than before, and I have increased confidence that they work.
I see change happening now. In my father’s town in Michigan, a county historically Republican, I had women come up to me to encourage me to vote against Trump. Women at a local business, grieving, unwilling to participate in their book club’s choice of a book focused on Nazi Germany because it was just too close to home for them at that time. I never thought I would see the day.
I now believe light can come out of the darkness. I further believe that social change can happen, albeit perhaps slower than we would like. The tide goes out, the tide goes in, the tide goes out again. Change is non-linear.
There is no turning back. We can cave to fear, to a fight-or-flight mentality or… We can embark together on a journey of hope. We can stand up for hope, for compassion, for caring, for civility, for—dare I say it—love. Love for one another, love for our friends and family, love for ourselves, love for our country.
I remember a slogan in 2016 from the Democratic Party: “Hope, not fear. Unity, not division. Love, not hate.” (Yes, I have the t-shirt.)
Because it is about “We the People,” not some amorphous “out there” that the media or some for-profit organizations would have us believe. Rather than be reactive, we can take action.
It is not “us versus them”—it is all of us, together. Talking to one another, listening to one another with curiosity, finding common ground. Then, feeling free, in a trusting relationship with one another to express our differences, our frustrations, our pain, our hopes and plans for the future. Moving forward.
Yet, although I am hopeful (a constant theme), there are nights when I wake up in a panic, my brain frozen by the horror of what may likely happen to our country, to our world. I am not naïve enough to believe that we can all grow flowers in a rock garden. I know there are some people that I will not be able to reach.
For the danger that our country faces is real. The danger our world faces is real. But, like the man who threw starfish, one by one into the sea, I can do something. You can do something. And, all of us together, we can do even more. It truly does take a village. Grieving together. Healing together. Moving forward.
We are all in this together, and it is vital that we support one another. When one is full of hope, that hope can transfer to one who is lacking in hope. When one is lacking in faith, another can build them up. A network of women together, using their intelligence and power. A network of women sharing their compassion, creativity, and humor, moving into the future with determination and purpose.
It is bound to be a journey full of frustration, with many twists and turns. It is also bound to be a journey full of excitement and fulfillment. Let us go there together. Let us be the change.