This year, during the summer, I went through the hardest four months of running friends1st that I’ve ever had in the last 25 years. I won’t bore you with the details, but I came close to wondering whether I should throw the whole towel in and give up, because the going got very tough.

Towards the end of the summer and in the middle of this period of toughness at work, I went to see an unusual Gilbert and Sullivan operetta: The Grand Duke. There was one line in that play that really resonated with me and that was: “Don’t give up just because it’s hard”.

Now things at friends1st are going better, and I’m feeling very optimistic again. I am reflecting further on those words and on my experience. If I had given up during the summer and thrown the towel in, it would have certainly been just because things were so hard. And that definitely would not have been the right reason to have given up.

As ever I am recounting this to you because I think it relates very closely to dating. As wonderful as dating can be sometimes – especially when you meet somebody who seems to be very lovely – more often than not it’s hard work! And because of this hard work many people do give up!

Now it’s not like they’re giving up a livelihood like I was considering (let alone the livelihoods of all my staff as well in my case), but they are giving up a very important dream – the dream of finding somebody really wonderful to spend the rest of their lives with.

I know from first-hand experience how easy it would be to give up just because it’s tough. And trust me those four months for me were incredibly tough. But now we’ve come out the other side and there really is light at the end of the tunnel, I am feeling so optimistic again and everything feels worthwhile.

So, this is really to encourage you that it’s well worth holding in there when things are tough. As the line from the Gilbert and Sullivan opera said: “Don’t give up just because it’s tough”.!

So I encourage you as ever, even if it feels very tough at the moment, keep going, persevere, it’s well worth it, there is a bright future ahead of you