“Getting a life coach was the biggest turning point of my life. That’s why I know it works!” ~ Tronél Hellberg
Hi! I’m Tronél Hellberg. I was born and raised in South Africa and moved to New Zealand at the beginning of 2024. My journey with life coaching began in 2017 when I decided to work with a coach—and wow, it reconnected me with my purpose and had a tremendous impact on my life ever since. I remember thinking at the time, “I wish I had a coach when I was 18”.
I think we all have that inner calling steering us towards fulfilling our purpose. For me and ever since I can remember, I had this longing to make a difference.
When I was in high school, I wanted to become a social worker. I really just wanted to lift people out of the gutter and help them get their lives back on track. But then I spoke to a few social workers who all discouraged me from pursuing it since it’s high stress, low pay and too much work.
For a while, I considered psychology, but then I thought “I don’t want to sit and listen to people’s problems the whole day, I just want to solve them!”.
Having studied the classical guitar, a door opened which led to a 22-year career in music education. … Till today, I smile when thinking of the irony of the social workers’ words. 😊
While I loved teaching, I always felt there was something missing – like the boy in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist. If you’ve read it, you’ll know how it sometimes feel like life takes you on a detour (or at least that’s how it feels) to teach and prepare you for what’s next. However, like Gandhi says, “The path is the goal.” Along the way, you learn to listen to your heart and follow your dreams. Ultimately, leading you to “finding your treasure” and fulfilling your purpose. This brings me to why I got a life coach and became one myself.
There’s a saying, “stand up for what is right, even if you stand alone”. Well, in 2016 I did exactly this and it backfired more than I could ever imagine. Instead of feeling good about standing up for what’s right thing, I felt like the world’s worst person. I was filled with unbearable hurt, shock, self-doubt and disillusionment about what people could do. I ended up resigning as a teacher in 2017. I reached my lowest low and to be honest, I didn’t see the point in living anymore.