Page 106 of Be More Octopus

Health and fitness. Although she did a lot of walking now, she hadn't run for months, there was no gym nearby, and she hadn't got a bike. But she hadn't got any horrible afflictions. So healthy but not very fit. A middling score, then. She wrote 5 next to the heading.

Finance and security. Not bad. With the extra money from the paintings the gallery had sold for her, she had started to build up some savings. Not in millionaire territory by a country mile, but not poor either. 7. No, be more positive. She crossed out the 7 and wrote 8.

Creativity. An easy one. Lots of time to sketch, paint and take photographs. And she was pleased with the results too. Got to be a 10. Perhaps life wasn't that bad.

Career. Her current job was not a career, but she enjoyed it. She got to meet people, it was rarely stressful, and she had a supportive boss. And it gave her time to work on her long-term career as an artist. The portrait commissions continued to come in. But she needed to do more, so she gave it a 7. Em took another sip of her tea, thinking about what she would have scored that this time last year. A resounding 1! A big improvement.

Love and emotional well-being. Oh, dear. A year ago, she would've probably written 10 in blissful ignorance of what Connor was up to. Best not to dwell on that. She had a great network of friends, plus her dad. They had all supported her when she'd split up with Connor, but they lived miles away. Nancy was supportive too. But no one shared her life as a partner. Don't think about what could've been with Jack. He'd turned out to be an arsehole, so at least she hadn't wasted any more time on him. 5 then.

Fun. See above. She needed to get out more. Way more. A solid 3!

Work-life balance. Easy! At least she could end question 1 with a high score. 10 out of 10.

Em carried on working her way through the rest of the questions. When there was no tea left in her mug, she looked at the clock. She had just enough time left to finish the last question before heading over to the house to do all the admin she'd failed to do yesterday.

Q10. Identify one thing you can do now to improve each of your three lowest scores.

The health and fitness one was easy. She wrote down 'run at least twice a week'.

Love and emotional well-being. Hmmm. Online dating, perhaps? But she'd heard so many complaints from Lucy about her dodgy dates that she wasn't sure she was mentally strong enough to try that yet. Em needed a few months without any emotional turmoil. She wrote 'Review in Spring 2019'.

She moved on to 'Fun'. If you didn't surf, there wasn't much to do locally with anyone under the age of 40. But there must be something, especially if she looked at the neighbouring towns. She settled on 'Research local groups and activities'.

Em felt happier and more in control already. Lucy was definitely on to something with this technique.

Nancy was in the kitchen chopping vegetables when Em walked in.

'Morning!' said Em.

'You sound happy today. How did things go with Jack?' Nancy looked hopeful.

'Not well.' Em filled Nancy in on her conversation last night.

'That's disappointing. But I'm sure he'll come round when he sees you. He's always had a stubborn streak.'

'I've decided I'm not going to wait around for him to change his mind. I've wasted enough time moping about. Time for a fresh start.'

Nancy stopped chopping. 'You're not leaving, are you?' She looked genuinely concerned.

'No, no, no. I love it here. You've been so good to me. I just meant I need to get on with doing new things.'

Nancy started chopping again. 'I'm very relieved. What new things are you planning?'

Em told Nancy about her action list.

Nancy looked serious for a moment. 'If you're looking at getting back into running, why don't you join me and my new personal trainer for a few sessions?'

'I didn't know you'd got a personal trainer?'

'I didn't have one until this week. Thought I needed to up my game if I'm going to make it to the top of Kilimanjaro next year. Dorothy at the WI recommended him. He's coming here next Tuesday.'

'Kilimanjaro?' Climbing Kilimanjaro was news to Em as well.

'Yes, I wanted a new challenge. But I need to be fitter - the air at the top is so thin.'

'I haven't run for ages. I'm not sure I'm fit enough to keep up with you yet.' Which was embarrassing but true.

'You could have a free taster session with him instead? I did mine yesterday down at the beach. He's very good and not too expensive. Do you want me to ask? He's called Ben, and he's about your age. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.'