About Christine
I didn’t set out to become an expert in unexpected chapters.
Life provided the curriculum.
I’m Christine Panka, ACC—a Professional Life After Loss Coach, writer, speaker, mother, Gigi, traveler, and a woman who knows what it feels like when the life you expected suddenly looks very different.
My own life has included profound loss, caregiving, career change, betrayal, divorce, and more than one season of asking:
What now?
Some of those chapters broke my heart.
Some changed me.
And some eventually opened possibilities I couldn’t have seen from where I was standing before.
What I learned wasn’t how to perfectly rebuild a life.
It was how to listen to myself again.
How to make decisions without knowing exactly how everything would turn out.
How to grieve what was true while remaining curious about what might also become true.
And how much courage it can take simply to say:
I want my life to feel like mine.
This is the work I now do with other women.
I’m an ICF-credentialed coach specializing in life after loss and major life transitions.
I work primarily with women in midlife who find themselves somewhere between what was and what comes next.
Maybe something clearly ended.
A marriage. A career. A relationship. A role you held for years.
Maybe you’re navigating grief, betrayal, caregiving, an empty nest, or another change you never expected.
Or maybe nothing dramatic happened at all.
You simply know the life you’ve been living doesn’t fit quite the same way anymore.
That place can feel confusing.
But it can also be the beginning of something important.
My approach is grounded, honest, and practical.
I’m not here to hand you a new life plan or tell you what you should want.
Coaching with me is a place to slow things down enough to hear yourself again.
We may talk about grief.
Or boundaries.
Relationships.
Identity.
Decisions.
Self-trust.
What you’re ready to release.
What you want to carry forward.
And sometimes, what you may finally be ready to want for yourself.
There is room for sadness here.
And anger.
Humor.
Relief.
Hope.
Contradictory feelings.
Because two things can be true.
You can miss what was and still want something new.
You can be heartbroken and hopeful.
You can be uncertain and still take the next step.
I believe in moving forward, not moving on.
You don’t have to erase what happened or become the person you were before life changed.
The goal isn’t to get over your life.
It’s to learn how to live fully in the life you have now—and begin creating what comes next in a way that feels true to you.
I’m much more interested in the woman you are becoming than in helping you return to who you used to be.
And you don’t need the whole map before you begin.
Sometimes you just need the next honest thing.
If you’re standing in one of those unexpected chapters yourself, I’d be honored to walk alongside you.
