Sherri Gerek had her dream job. As a director on a small luxury cruise line, she was living the high life. She couldn’t help but notice a gut feeling, though, one that was telling her she should be doing something more with her life. 

“It was the best job I’ve ever had in travel,” said Gerek, who worked in the travel and tourism industry for 15 years. “And so it’s odd that at that time, I started to get my first sort of hint, like ‘Is there something more I should be doing?’” 

Gerek got that chance when her husband was relocated and the couple built a second home outside of Columbia Falls in 2002. Originally, Gerek stayed in the travel industry, working at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kalispell for about five years before launching her life-coaching career. 

“I started to read about coaching and thought, ‘OK, that’s it,’” Gerek said. She had found her calling. 

The Gereks also had fallen in love with the Flathead Valley. As soon as construction of their second home was finished, they made it their primary home. Gerek completed her life-coaching certification and officially launched her coaching practice in 2010.

Recently she published a self-help book, “The Hummingbird Way.” Each chapter begins with a story, typically about hummingbirds and their behavior, and then flows into a lesson readers can put to use in their lives.  

“I was always blogging or writing or talking to my clients about ways we can draw lessons on things,” Gerek said. “And we’re all storytellers. We tend to remember a story more than a lesson. We draw meaning from a story. So, in order to help clients anchor an idea, I wrap it in a story.

“I started using things in nature and that seemed to resonate with people. So I decided to use the hummingbird as a metaphor to tell a lot of lessons about life.” 

AS ONE OBSERVES Gerek’s home it’s easy to understand how she gleans inspiration from nature. The homestead is surrounded by mountains and a small fork of the Flathead River runs through the backyard. Wildlife viewing is a daily occurrence. 

A Livingston native, Gerek had never seen a hummingbird up close until she and her husband moved to Massachusetts. She fell in love with the unique, darting little birds. So when she moved to Columbia Falls, Gerek created a sort of sanctuary for hummingbirds around her home. 

“We moved here in the winter, but within a few months, everything was green,” Gerek said. “We were sitting on the deck one day and a hummingbird came right up to us like, ‘Hello,’ and I grabbed my keys, ran to town and bought a couple of feeders.”

Now the Gereks have nine feeders around their property. One day, a fight between two hummingbirds inspired Gerek. 

“There are a lot of different behaviors that they exhibit,” Gerek said. “These two hummingbirds started to fight, spiral chasing each other, one was guarding the feeder and trying to scare the other one away, they were both screeching at each other. . . and then all of a sudden they stopped. They both landed on the feeder and started eating. 

“And I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if people fought that way? That they could be fully heard, say what’s on their mind, and then just go back to what they were doing, no hard feelings, life goes on, and it’s behind us. What could we learn from that?’”

Gerek kept blogging, adding more content and using the hummingbirds and their behaviors as examples. Eventually the blog posts turned into chapters in her book. 

“It’s been a lot of fun to stretch that metaphor out into different lessons,” Gerek said. “I found that it’s just a new way to teach people to look at behavior and kind of reflect on their own behavior.” 

Gerek says she has ideas for a couple of books she’d like to write, but she’s going to let them come to her organically. Right now, she’s focusing on her life-coaching clients and doing workshops, training and events. She’ll speak at the Women’s Leadership Network Conference in Helena in the fall and has done workshops for private companies as well as retreats based on lessons from her book. 

“I feel like I left the greatest career a girl could have in travel, and I’m following my calling now,” Gerek said. “I’m excited to get up in the morning. I’m excited to work with my clients and see their progress. It just feels really good and really right to me. 

“I would have never written a book while I was working in corporate America. I think there’s a lot of reasons that it all fell into place the way that it did.”

Find author and life coach Sherri Gerek online at www.letsstrutyourstuff.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/letsstrutyourstuff, email her at sherri@letsstrutyourstuff.com or call her at (406) 270-8098. “The Hummingbird Way” can be purchased locally at The Bookshelf in Kalispell, at the airport and in hospital gift shops, as well as online. 

Reporter Brittany Brevik can be reached by email at bbrevik@dailyinterlake.com or by calling (406) 758-4459.