Q: Fifty years ago you could get away with only having a high school diploma or GED, but the times they are a-changin'. Par for the course is at least an undergraduate degree from a four year university. While you don't necessarily need one to become a life coach, you'll be running up against people who have a Master's degree or even a doctorate, so it's best to go to college. While "life coaching" isn't quite yet a major in itself, counseling and psychology very much so are. What's more, just because it isn't a major, doesn't mean there aren't classes available in it -- Harvard, Yale, Duke, NYU, Georgetown, UC Berkeley, Penn State, the University of Texas at Dallas and George Washington, to name a few, have all started coaching programs. If you're already out of college and not looking to go back, the other route is taking life coach classes through an accredited school or program. The ICF and IAC (International Coaching Federation and the International Association of Coaching, respectively), have partnered up with certain schools and deemed the coaches they spit out worthy of their certification. Those two organizations are about as legit as the field of life coaching gets. Make sure whatever school you go to works through one of these organizations. If not, it's either a scam, a waste of your money and time, or both. Once you have completed your school's coaching program, you are eligible for certification (either through the ICF or the IAC, depending on which your school is associated with). With that certification, you're basically good to go. Instead of telling people you're a life coach and hoping they don't ask about the details, you've got the cred to back it up. This will be your bread and butter. No life coach can really succeed without it. If you have education on top of it, you'll be even better off. Just remember to include it on your business card! Because there's no life coaching equivalent to med school, seminars are a super common thing. To stay viable in the field, get familiar with all the big names, and to network, coaches are attending seminars left, right, and center. Your school should be able to get you started on when and where to find them in your area. Use these to your advantage. Not only should you go home and try to really take in what was addressed (each seminar should have a different topic), but you should also talk to the people there. Having mentors (or at least friendly faces in the field) will be infinitely useful to you when bumps come up in the road. Someone's gotta show you the ropes!
A: Go to college. Take coaching classes through an accredited program. Get certified. Attend seminars.

Article: Life will not simply go back to "normal" immediately after the conversation.  Remind yourself of the stages above that parents will go through as they work through accepting your coming out. Consider the emotions that parents will likely experience while they process your coming out: guilt, self-blame, fear, confusion, doubt, denial. Your parents will very likely blame themselves and think that they have done something wrong in raising you. This will be a challenging time for them. One of your parents may make their way to true acceptance more quickly than the other. Although you think of your parents as a single unit, remember that they are individual people who process things in different ways and have different personalities. While your parents work through your coming out, it is important that you accept whatever emotions they feel and project.  Be strong even if your parents project anger, hurt, or sadness. In time, they will stop feeling controlled by their emotions and will begin to think about your coming out more rationally. Avoid projecting negative emotions back on your parents. Just like you should avoid anger when coming out to them, you should avoid projecting negative emotions back on your parents while they come to grips with this. Becoming angry or spiteful with them will slow down their process of accepting. Part of their acceptance process could include sharing this news with other relatives or close family friends.  Refer your parents to the other set of parents who have already gone through accepting their child's coming out for support. Encourage them to seek out support networks like PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays).  Have a mutual relative who supports you who can be a point of contact for both you and your parents. It will help your parents to have someone close and trusted to talk to about your coming out. Not all parents will be able to truly accept that their son or daughter is gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, and you will need to learn how to respect that and learn how to interact with your parent(s) in that scenario.  If your parents are willing to learn more, take time to introduce them to your friends who are also gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. This might help them confront stereotypes they hold. If your parents do not want to talk about the matter, then take care in how you approach your sexual orientation with them. They may still need time to accept, so do not force the issue on them repeatedly. If one or both of your parents is unwilling to accept it, reach out to your support system for help on how to handle that. Your parent(s) may come around in time with continued support and positivity.
Question: What is a summary of what this article is about?
Remember that this will take them time. Accept your parents' emotions. Encourage your parents to "come out" to others. Learn to accept how far your parents go on the path to true acceptance.

Q: The most important factor in controlling your feelings for someone is reducing the amount of time you spend with them, especially time spent alone. Avoid the person as much as you can, if possible. If you can’t completely avoid them, make sure the two of you aren’t spending time together alone.  For example, if this person asks you out for drinks, suggest that you make it a group activity to limit alone time. Instead, surround yourself with people like friends and family who are positive, uplifting, and make you feel great. They should be accepting and supportive of your feelings. Also, they should be contributing to your own visions, and understand that this is your own personal story to live. Keeping up with the person online can still influence your feelings, so get some distance there, too. Unfriend them on your social media profiles. If this seems too drastic, download an app that controls your social media usage altogether—if you can’t log onto Facebook, you can’t stalk their page. Commit to unplugging during the times when you’re most likely to cyber-stalk. You might also get help from smartphone apps like Freedom and SelfControl. You also want to limit their feelings for you, too, if possible. Therefore, it’s best to avoid leading them on. Seemingly harmless compliments, touches, or glances can send the message that you like someone. So, avoid such interactions. If you must interact with them, treat them with polite indifference, sticking to “hi” and “bye.” When you are falling in love with someone, your view of them is often skewed. You can only see what makes this person so great. To control your feelings, develop a more sober and realistic perception of the other person.  No one is perfect. Make a list of why this person isn’t. Review the list whenever you start thinking of them too highly. For instance, if you're dealing with an old flame, you might list out why you broke up with them, including reasons like "He lies compulsively" or "She doesn't prioritize spending time with me." Maybe your reason for wanting to avoid falling in love with this person lies in their relationship status. If this person has a significant other, envision that person’s face or name whenever you’re fantasizing about them. This may help you maintain objectivity. Being in love with someone and acting on those feelings are two very different feelings. Sometimes, no matter what you try, your heart can’t prevent itself from falling for someone. However, if you don’t want to be in a relationship or aren’t ready for love, don’t act on those feelings.  Acknowledge that you like the person and really enjoy their company, but remind yourself that you’re not in the market for love right now. One way to do this is by examining key goals in your life that you would like to accomplish before falling in love again. For instance, maybe you'd like to finish your degree before entering a new relationship or maybe you want to travel the world.
A:
Get some space from the person. Block them online. Drop the flirtations. Fixate on their negative qualities. Remind yourself that they’re unavailable. Accept that the heart wants what it wants.