“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.”

We all know those opening lines from Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. We are fortunately not facing a grisly revolution but for many of us, these are the worse times we can remember for 45 years. Back in the 1970s we had inflation, we had strikes and we had droughts. This all seems depressingly familiar.

Prices are going up, but wages are staying the same. Something must give.

In our household, with one daughter at university and another (hopefully) going next year, we will feel the pinch. They will both get the maximum student loan, and maybe even a bursary, but our elder daughter has found this only just covers her rent, with very little left for food and none at all for anything else. The “Bank of Mum and Dad” is topping up that student loan. This will double next year as our younger one flies the nest.

My husband’s wages will not rise, so I must look at my business to fill that gap.

Yesterday I attended a training aimed at speeding up the services we provide. I was one of four consultants sitting around the table as we discussed our concerns. The biggest one for all of us was that we didn’t see how we could deliver the same level of service without spending the same time and energy. Our businesses are heart-driven, and we want not just to give our clients information but to transform their lives.

Under the eagle eye of our MD, each of us found, however, there were areas where we were spending unnecessary time. The newer consultants were repeating elements because they didn’t trust themselves and their training. They just needed confidence. After 21 years of doing this, I trust myself, but give my clients too much information and overload them. No wonder all my clients report they are exhausted after their consultation, and no wonder I am also exhausted. I am spending not only too much time, but too much of their energy and my own.

I am now looking at other areas of my life. Where am I giving too much? If I give less, will the result still be the same? How can I streamline my life to use less energy – and maybe spend less money?

At present, I am still in the place I was yesterday morning. I cannot see where I can possibly give less and still be happy with things. I think we are all too close to our own lives and need an outside pair of eyes.

My buddies are very good in my worst of times, telling me what to drop. Perhaps I can ask them to look also at my best of times (in these bad times), to see where I spend unnecessary energy.

We will all be saving energy this winter, to reduce our fuel bills but where can we save emotional and physical energy right now?

Mary

A Moodscope member.