(Day 107/122 of the experiment)
Today, in addition to my daily tasks, I have my first personal consultation with a client. To ease my nerves, I rushed into the office an hour before the appointed time and reread a few chapters of my favorite psychology book.
My milestone – first – client is named Ivanna. She was born and raised in the big city. She lived, like everyone else – after school, she graduated from college, got married in her third year, had a son a year later, and smoothly transitioned from university to maternity leave. Her husband works as a security guard in a store on shifts. Everything was like it is for people. So to speak, “so that no one would say anything.” Stable, calm, and… somehow stagnant.
With each passing day, her husband began to pay less attention to the family, justifying it by saying that work simply took all his strength. He started taking on more shifts, but he started bringing home less money than before.
Thanks to her detective-minded friends, Ivanna found out that Yurii had been cheating on her for a long time. And that the other woman was pregnant. All attempts to talk to Yurii ended in a scandal with his statement, “It’s just sex, and I love you.”
After a month of constant tears and hysteria, Ivanna gathered her things, took her son, and moved in with a friend who kindly offered her apartment while she would be earning abroad.
And life stabilized – Ivanna found a few part-time jobs (she is a designer by education), balancing child-rearing with her career. But there is no feeling of happiness in her soul. That’s what brought her to me.
For a whole hour, we talked about her resentment towards Yurii, about what Ivanna was missing, and what she loved to do. We created a plan for the upcoming month – find a new hobby, work through her resentment towards her ex-husband (we outlined step by step what to do), and go on at least 3 dates.
I suggested that we check in once a week, either by phone or in person, to discuss any issues and challenges that might arise in my client’s life. Ivanna thanked me and said that she had realized a lot in that hour. And about how she is still hurt by Yurii, and about how she had not yet met any new men, and about how her life used to revolve around her husband, but now it revolves around her son.
After the consultation, I had a coffee, went live on Instagram, and started preparing for singing.
The whole evening, Tristan and I looked for hotels in different resorts – searching for something suitable for our small wedding. We wanted it to be warm, beautiful, and not cost all the money in the world.
(Day 108/122 of the experiment)
Today has been absolutely crazy. After my morning run and breakfast, I quickly dashed to the gym. From there – straight to the office.
Fortunately, the location of my office allows me to pop into any nearby café and grab something tasty for lunch. After a hurried snack, I began filming lessons for my course. Nina is pushing me in every way – there’s only a week left until the course launch, and I still have to finish filming the lessons and conduct interviews with potential curators – my assistants who will keep in touch with the participants.
After two hours of filming, I turned on some relaxing music and meditated. I still have two clients scheduled for today, so I need to be in shape.
The consultations were radically different from yesterday's. One girl who came in had just finished 11th grade and didn’t know what to do about her self-esteem. So, we chose her love for herself and an objective self-assessment as the main focus of our work together.
The second client came just to have coffee with me. She’s a successful businesswoman who drives a luxury car. She has a wonderful husband and two children. But she has no friends, which is why she came to me. We chatted and quickly uncovered her subconscious fear – similar to one I had – after one of her friends tried to steal her husband, she doesn’t trust women at all.
By the time my workday was coming to an end, I felt exhausted and immensely grateful. All the girls who come to me leave with shining eyes – they believe that they will definitely succeed! And they will. Most importantly, they are ready to work on themselves and do not expect their lives to turn upside down overnight.
To celebrate such a good day, I invited Tristan to dinner at a restaurant. We listened to a violinist's performance, discussed how the day went, and enjoyed each other’s company.