On Saturday I ran out of petrol. Have you ever done that? Rarely I imagine. Luckily, a knight in shining amour turned up in a white van to rescue me. As I stood on the side of the road trying to get to grips with my new mobile and phone for help, obviously looking anxious, a man who looked very much like he could handle anything and anyone leant out of his window and shouted, ‘need a hand young lady’? He was on to a winner already with the ‘young lady’ and the offer of a hand was indeed very handy, so I accepted. Of course he had the necessary equipment for such emergencies and sped off to the nearest petrol station to fill up his can and came back with enough to get me going again. I gave him a copy of my book The Divorce Doctor which he said he wished he had a year previous, but promised he would read and get back to me with his comments. So all’s well that ends well. However…
It got me thinking. What allowed me to ignore the obvious red light in my car that reminds me to fill up? I think it’s probably exactly the same mechanism that allows us to disregard the signals that our relationships are running on empty.
Before any relationship comes to a screeching halt, there are cues and clues, red lights and alarm bells and hints of intuition that for some reason many of us choose to ignore. Its like we become unconscious and numb to the possibility of meltdown and instead of paying even more attention and taking action, however risky that seems to be, we take an even bigger risk and do nothing hoping our love banks will miraculously re-fill themselves without any intervention from ourselves. ‘Doing nothing’ is far worse than ‘doing something’. Very often clients whose partners have walked out on them will say to me, in a state of complete shock and surprise, ‘I didn’t see it coming’. At this point there aren’t often knights in a shiny white vans to rescue them. Filling up your love tank takes more than a full can of unleaded.
If your relationship is running on empty right now, please pay attention. Now is the time to ask the difficult questions, to express the unspoken concerns and take the risk to find out the truth once and for all.
This is one situation in which I really can refuel your relationship and help you drive confidently towards your future. Don’t wait till you come to a complete standstill, just give me a call and I’ll get you moving again.
Till tomorrow,
Love Francine
