There are times when being an adult seems vastly overrated. Whilst my daughters swan around with their friends and lie prostrate in bed playing video games for hours on end I’m the bunny who has to make sure all the washing, shopping, cooking, gardening etc gets done. Meanwhile they think that if they hang one load of washing a day they’ve been some kind of hero and roll their eyes at further requests for assistance. You know what. I don’t wanna do all that boring stuff either. But someone has to.

The Emperor is the one who calls on us to be responsible. He comes after The Empress in Life Lessons Tarot (aka the Major Arcana). His appearance signals the end of those first early years when life is all play and no responsibility. You hear your children resisting his initial overtures in that mantra of the Terrible Twos ‘I don’t want to!’ Who wouldn’t want to stay playing in The Empress’s garden rather than climb the mountains The Emperor presents us with?

It’s a mantra we all revert back to at times. Just as my daughters are reluctant to help with housework I’m reluctant to get out of bed in the mornings. Reluctant to cook meals (seriously, why can’t everyone just live on salad like I do during summer?) This week I’ve felt reluctant to write on this blog. Writing requires concentration. It’s work. But as The Emperor card insists, if you want to climb mountains –  i.e. earn a living, have healthy children, be a writer – you have to put in the effort. Look how grumpy The Emperor looks in the picture. He takes no excuses. Like the Commando on The Biggest Loser Australia he expects us to suck it up and push on.

What is it you don’t wanna do in your everyday life but have to?