You may well ask: why introduce a blog on a therapeutic website with food?

Well, the fried egg is a wonderful picture of how we can begin to regain some control in our lives, when so much of our sense of personal agency and autonomy has currently been taken from us. And we all know the latter can lead to a sense of disempowerment, increased anxiety, and even depression.

So I come back to the fried egg and invite you to draw it !!

Visualise the rich, textured, tasty, nutritious yolk. This represents those aspects of our life where we have control and personal agency. Now populate that small yolk with your ideas as to what you can control.

The egg white – the albumen – represents those aspects of your life you can influence. Notice the thin spread and how it can go all over and not necessarily in the direction you want.

Finally, the plate on which the fried egg is sitting represents those areas where there is no control ….. and there are plenty of them at the moment! Now identify and populate the egg white and plate with those aspects of your life that you can influence, and those where you have no control, respectively.

It is an interesting fact that we so often focus on, and over-think, those aspects of our life where we have no control; and, ironically, the less control we feel we have, the more we do it. Thus we drain ourselves of energy, disempower ourselves and lower our mood. The trick is to focus our energies on the egg yolk , those aspects of our lives where we do have control and agency because these sustain, feed and energise us. They enable us to build our resilience in the NOW, whether we are in lock down, facing redundancy, loss, or other life challenges.

It is fascinating, the insights and empowerment a fried egg can provide! This is what coaching offers.

If you wish to explore further, please speak to Jane, our Coach. And remember – our offer to key workers in the NHS, also applies to coaching. To make an appointment with Jane, send us a message or call us on 07789 157 300.