What would you like a reading about?

Hi, Jessica.

So they say every tarot card holds its own nuances, dualities, and is not simply a good card or a bad card.

However, Five of Swords, [laughs] all the interpretations I've read in text or online seem to lean more negative in tone and message, ranging from a bitter reflection to a scolding warning.

I recently pulled the card for a full moon tarot spread in the placement of the ember, what we need to nourish and tend to.

I'm trying to understand and expand my understanding of the Five of Swords through this lens, but keep fumbling.

The part of my life this spread feels relevant to is around my boundaries in relationships.

You don't wanna be the bad guy.

Yeah.

With AI and everything else.

So it's fantastic, but I'm at the life stage where I'm just feeling like I want something more meaningful, and I also just wanna take a break, frankly.

I've been saving my entire life.

I've been a amazing saver, I think, with my husband, and been working so hard that it's hard to enjoy now.

I'm finding it's hard for me to enjoy the other aspects of my life because work is always on the mind.

Um, and the expectations are just getting higher and higher and higher, and I wanna take a break, either early retirement or there's a lot of factors around this that I'd have to explain, [laughs] because I'd like to either take early retirement, like or could we do that? Or look at maybe it's just I, I do sort of a job just to get the healthcare insurance-

Can you try that? And you may be a night owl compared to me, but can you try to find 30 minutes a day to do some exploratory looking and see if there's any other job prospects where you might be able to find your way into a situation that's a little bit better without losing the benefits?

And yours?

Louise.

I work for Shared Lives, so I take Robert out on a Friday.

So when they do bike runs and that, we like to come 'cause Robert likes going on his bike and it's good exercise.

How long have you been involved with this group?

We've both been involved since the beginning.

We're both trustees, so, um, we were part of the initial dream of putting it all together and getting it rolling.

... um, the money sort you were losing, um, coming out of the account, did you ever steal or borrow or how bad did it actually get for you?

Um, it got to the point I was borrowing off my mom and dad, um, my children, um, which obviously I'm in the process of paying back out of my wage 'cause it's my debt.

I never stole, never sold anything in the house.

Yeah.

You know, like Break Even has the women's only groups, they have the Green Shoots, you know.

So I'd say that, and admitting to your family that you've got a problem is a major one as well.

That's amazing.

It's always, it was always in my blood.

So anyway, so whenever I had my kids, on mat- my first maternity leave, I'm just not the kind of person who when the baby's asleep you're meant to be asleep.

That's just not who I am.

So my little sister is very creative and I thought, "Oh, why don't we..." We ended up having a card-making business, and then we sold craft supplies online in 2000...

When was my first child born? 2005.

So 2005, we had a crafts website.

Mm-hmm.

And you didn't answer, and Chloe was home, so I rang her just to tell her as well, and, and what happened after that?

Okay.

So I got home, full car of groceries, just, like, taking my time waiting for everyone to come out and help.

No one came out.

I was like, "Okay, I see what's happening here." So I went inside, and I was like, "Chloe, come and help." She's like, "I'm doing a workout.

I can't." I was like, "Cool.

Where's Dad?" She's like, "I don't know, but I heard splashing.

Yeah.

And, uh, okay, first question from Louise.

Do you think not owning a house in retirement in thirty years' time will be as much of an issue as it is now, as lots of people are no longer buying a house as a standard thing?

Yeah

...

in cash.

So I was just sort of wondering if that's still a good plan or if renting in retirement might be nor- more normalized like it is in Europe.

Mm-hmm.

But, um, in terms of my situation and my relationship, it couldn't be more fair.

And I'm ringing in in defense of my husband to just say he's just basically brilliant and I couldn't do it without him.

Um-

Mm-hmm.

And so my husband was up in the night with our baby as much as I was, and it, it was sort of the rules and the routines and the established way of working between us was set really early on.

Um, and I think that's the key in a relationship.

You've gotta, you've gotta set the boundaries early doors, um-