We get by with a little help from our friends. Or we used to. Lately I've noticed people getting by with a little help from people they barely know. For instance, a friend of mine recently hired a "life coach" to help him make some career decisions. Now, along with having someone else mow his lawn, fix his car and clean his house, he has someone working on his life.

Whatever happened to trusting our instincts? At a seminar at The Women's Conference this week yoga instructor Seane Corn said, "Intuition is not a gift, it's a skill," and one so many of us need to hone. Those who take a leap of faith and succeed (and even when those who fail) have so much more to teach us than those who cede responsibility for their choices. And yes, sometimes we don't leap like gazelles but are pushed like skydivers out of our comfort zone. Even at that point, there are interesting choices to make for it's what we do during free fall that helps us land safely and with style.

Last week I read about one such skydiver. Fashion designer Sigrid Olson once lived the high life in New York as a designer with Liz Claiborne. But in 2008 her line was eliminated and she was faced with choices. Seizing the opportunity for change, she and her husband sold their New York home and moved to a New England cottage where they opened a small art studio and gallery. The photos of where they live and work showed a space filled with light, creativity and people who wander in to say hello or peruse artwork while Olson works, makes lunch or goes about her life. And in addition to selling her art, Olson has found the time to organize yoga retreats and write a cookbook. Clearly, this is someone who took a step off the merry-go-round and ended up with the entirement amusement park at her disposal.

Fresh. That is the word that came to my mind as I read the piece. A fresh lifestyle, a fresh outlook, a fresh new day filled with possibilities. Women's lives have never been linear. Circuitous routes are often taken to reach the end goal as careers stop and start for many reasons, family being the biggest. But men's lives are also changing, becoming less linear, as they too discover that the ladder is not the only way to the top. We are all learning, whether with the help of a life coach or on our own, that the most direct route is not always the best way to achieve our goals. Sometimes the most interesting choice on our journey is the path that leads us sideways.