What Looked Like a Dead End Became a New Beginning
Written by Sarah Veall, Transformational Coach
Sarah Veall is a transformational coach, inner child practitioner, and Reiki practitioner. She is the author of "Trust", a story of how she reconnected with her true essence and a state of wholeness and healed holistically, following a cancer diagnosis in 2020.
On the final day of my original coach training in 2014, I had an experience that I now see as one of the most powerful turning points of my life, though at the time, I didn’t fully understand why. We were introduced to something called Derive coaching, a practice of walking, noticing, and allowing the unconscious mind to make meaning through the surrounding environment. There was no overthinking or forcing insights, just letting what we see reflect something deeper within us.
I was paired with a partner and brought a question that had been on my mind for the duration of my training: “Do I leave my job and set up my own coaching business?”
As we walked through Shepherd's Bush, I found myself drawn down a dingy, narrow road. It felt heavy and enclosed, like a dead end. Honestly, it mirrored exactly how I felt inside, uncertain, stuck, and slightly afraid that there might be nowhere to go.
But something made me keep walking, and as I moved further along the road, I noticed a gate ahead. It was subtle at first, and then it became clearer. As I got closer, I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. On either side of the gate stood two large cat sculptures.
Cats have always been my heart and soul animals. To me, they represent emotional safety, intuition, and a deep sense of inner knowing. Seeing them there felt significant, like a quiet reassurance that I was safe to move forward.
Then came the moment I’ll never forget. A car approached from behind. As it did, the gates opened electronically, slowly and almost ceremonially, revealing what had been hidden behind them the entire time: a beautiful walled garden with whitewashed walls, flowers in bloom, and light pouring in.
What I had thought was a dead end was actually an entrance. It was a glimpse of something I couldn’t yet fully see but somehow knew was meant for me.
Fast forward to 22 February this year, what I like to call the 222 portal, and I found myself, completely by chance, or maybe not, just two streets away from where that experience happened.
Twelve years later. In that moment, everything landed in a way it never had before. Because the truth is, the path hasn’t been linear.
My coaching practice has evolved in ways I could never have predicted. In 2020, a cancer diagnosis forced me into a level of healing I hadn’t yet reached, a holistic, all-encompassing journey that asked me to look at every part of myself, physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
It was during that time that I began to see how many of the identities I had been living by were mentally constructed, stories I had taken on as truth that were actually keeping me small and, in many ways, keeping me unwell.
Healing became less about fixing something and more about remembering who I truly am. I learned to listen to the quiet voice of my intuition. I deepened my connection with something greater, something I now understand as my Divine self, the true essence of who I am beneath all the noise. I also learned to notice the subtle signs and synchronicities guiding my way.
Looking back now, that “dead end road” was never a dead end. It was a mirror. A message. It was a moment when my unconscious already knew what my conscious mind was still catching up to: What feels blocked may simply be unseen.
Safety comes from within, even when the path feels uncertain. Sometimes, the most beautiful spaces in our lives are hidden behind gates we have to trust ourselves enough to walk through. We are always being guided, even when we don’t yet understand how.
If you’re starting to recognise your own spiritual side. If you’re feeling that quiet pull to understand your intuition more deeply. If you know there is more for you but you’re not quite sure how to access it, this is the work I now do.
Through my coaching, I support you in reconnecting with your inner wisdom, trusting your own voice, and gently aligning with your soul path, at your pace and in your own way.
If you want to understand more about my journey, my book, Trust, shares the story of my holistic healing following my cancer diagnosis and how I learned to let go of who I thought I was and start listening to what I knew to be true.
If this resonates, you’re so welcome to reach out.
Read more from Sarah Veall
Sarah Veall, Transformational Coach
Sarah Veall is a transformational coach, inner child practitioner, and Reiki practitioner. She is the author of "Trust", a story of how she reconnected with her true essence and a state of wholeness and healed holistically, following a cancer diagnosis in 2020. Sarah is passionate about empowering others to love their whole 'self' in order to access a state of wellness where the body can heal itself.
