When did we find that life needed coaching?

How in God’s name did people ever manage to live their lives before the world invented life coaches?

Or has dragging your bones from day to day now become such an arduous task that you need professional help on your journey?

I’m sure that life coaches are eminently qualified, highly successful and hugely beneficial human beings – but it’s the notion of needing a coach for life that’s disturbing.

Unless you’re a bus driver – and even then, they know you’ll only get a decade out of a good coach.

The cynics used to say that Americans needed shrinks because they were short of actual friends; someone to talk to and confide in for free.

It might be the same with life coaches.

Some of them may have spent years studying the secret to success, but even a casual look on the internet offers courses in life coaching that last for all of eight weeks.

You can opt for a part-time course for something over two grand, which will tie you up for six or seven weekends over six or seven months.

So, it’s not like this is nuclear physics then – or that it requires a huge amount of learning.

You wouldn’t have a night-class in knitting done as quickly as that.

Of course, there is the higher end of the industry where practitioners hold psychology degrees and various fellowships – and that’s a commendable thing.

But take a look through the ads on the web; nebulous might be the kindest way of describing their qualifications.

Of course, there’s a benefit to sculpting a new, better, healthier, more vibrant, sexier, better-balanced you – and sometimes that process behind with either an arm around the shoulder or a good kick up a different part, three feet lower down.

But as Tommy and Jimmy Swarbrigg once told the world at the Eurovision Song Contest: “that’s what friends are for.”

For more, read this week’s Connnacht Tribune