Valentine’s Day advertising implies that flowers, chocolates, cards, pink fizzy drinks, a lovely meal and/or another person will “make” you happy. Of course Valentine’s Day advertising is to get you to buy something. But we do tend to think that we need some external thing or person for us to feel happiness.
How much better to feel good about all our closest relationships on every day of the year?
And rather than expecting a magic wand to “make us happy” we are able to feel happy all no matter what?
I recently spent a wonderful day in Paris with one of my daughters, and experienced happiness which has lasted long after we came back. It was particularly lovely because it wasn’t remotely connected to anything “romantic” and therefore felt much more real. Not that romance is unreal, but it is interesting that the association of Paris and happiness automatically points to romance. Ditto Valentine’s Day.
There is a lot to be said for having great relationships with friends and clients as a solid foundation of life. If you also love your work the whole question of romance is just the cherry on the top of the cake – not the whole cake.
We are lucky if we run our own businesses to have the chance to experience lots of different relationships. You gradually learn who are the best clients for you, who to say No to, and every so often change what you offer to bring you new types of clients. It is the relationship over the long term that is the gold mine, not each individual transaction.
Not very different from romance! It is the relationship that is more important than the quality (or absence) of flowers, cards and chocolate. But just as we take time to appreciate our real life partners, it is important toappreciate our best clients.
I will be discussing relationships on my radio show on Marlow FM (www.marlowfm.co.uk) from 2:00 – 3:30 on Friday 15th February. You can email any questions to studio@marlowfm.co.uk. We will also be making the connection with business.