A Plan is a Basis for Change

Something I learnt in the early days of marriage, before internet and mobile phones. A time when we we corresponded with letters sent thousands of miles via BFPO. Plans change.

My husband was in the Royal Navy.

He would be away for months at a time, and I'd have a return date in the diary that was always written in pencil - I was used to pencil in diaries having held a client booking system for years way before we had online digital systems! In fact, I still use my Filofax. No digital diary for me! Anyway, I digress and I'm only one paragraph in!

He would say to me, 'a plan is always a basis for change', as his return date could move either way.

I'd erase the plan and create a new one.

When we had our two salons about 18 years ago, we had a plan to have five salons by the time I was forty, then sell them as a chain. I reached 38 and got to the stage where I had to make a decision.

I either had to step away from my clients and run the salons from a management angle, ready to expand my empire, or sell up and work one-to-one with clients who wanted the more holistic therapies - facials, aromatherapy and LaStone. I could teach reiki any day rather than having to hold training at weekends when the salons were closed. What did I want to do for the next fifteen years?

I was tired, and exasperated by all the nitty gritty daily 'stuff' I had to deal with. The older I became, the younger my staff seemed to get. More of them having babies, with time off that I couldn't logistically or financially cover. The same with holidays and the days off sick when they'd had a heavy night out.

Don't get me wrong, I had a superb team of about eighteen therapists, stylists and receptionists. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to sell both my salons as going concerns, but boy oh boy, it was HARD! I decided I no longer wanted to have five salons!

So I pulled the 'A PLAN IS A BASIS FOR CHANGE CARD!

I said to my husband, 'remember that saying?' Well, let's change the plan! Sell the salons and move somewhere I can work alone. No VAT, no staff wages and no responsibility. Just for myself. That was 2006. We looked for somewhere we could place a log cabin, but we ended up converting the biggest garage ever, and I've been here ever since!

Now the plan is once again, ready to change.

I started creating Energy Art in 2017, and it soon became very clear that the next phase of my life would be focusing on placing energy and frequency into abstract art. Pieces that could really affect the dynamics of a space, rather than me treating clients individually. I started creating art that turned in to actual Portals. I began holding workshops for others to experience painting in nature, and offering commissions to those wanting the energy of their land captured on paper.

I have a good few years ahead, and what do I want to do?

If you are a regular newsletter reader, you will know that we put the house on the market in the summer and are planning to downsize. It's too big for us now!

It's interesting, until it happens to you, you have no comprehension of what that actually FEELS like.

Downsizing for us, isn't logistically difficult. We don't have much stuff, and we don't need space for people staying over etc - no family! But for me, it's the leaving the land, the light, the warmth and the friendliness of our home. I KNOW there will something else for us. Somewhere we can make our home, but will this will be really hard?

It will be as hard as I want to make it!

I'm looking forward to being able to paint all the time, because once we sell and move, I will no longer be taking clients - I do still work a couple of days a week with my therapies and clients who still want some Nicki Magic!

This afternoon as I walked the dog in the autumnal leaves, I realised the trees don't find letting go of what they had difficult. When the wind blows, they allow the leaves to freely fall, knowing this is a cycle. They need to rest and await the spring when they will unfurl a whole new wardrobe!

Who knows where we will be going, or when this will be, but one thing is for sure, it's the start of something new. The plan is changing, so watch this space.