http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpaOjMXyJGk

I don’t often write about things that are connected to advertising on here. Either because it’s already been said or, because it’s what I do for a living and I need to minimise the opportunities for  being uncovered as a charlatan (which, let’s face it, is an ever present fear).

But this time I decided to say, “bums to all of that” and tell you why I think this is one of the best campaigns I’ve seen in a long, long time.

To do that I’ll have to tell you a wee story, so bear with me.

Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin.

Shortly before I left Ireland to embark upon my current adventure, I was lucky enough to have a few leaving parties. Opportunities for me to say some fond farewells to people that mean a lot to me.

The last of these was a dinner with some close girlfriends. We’re a mixed bunch – different ages, professions, characters etc. Some of my friends are writers and editors that happen to spend a lot of their time talking about fashion and beauty.

In particular, Emma, who runs a very good and deservedly award-winning beauty blog. Part and parcel of this is that Emma has to take a lot of photos of herself wearing the make-up that she’s reviewing, and for a few months we’d been gently ribbing her about her “photo face” and encouraging her to smile more in her pics rather than pout; because we think she looks infinitely more like her lovely self when she smiles and who doesn’t love a smile?! And, kudos to Emma, she took it on board and started smiling like a good’un.

Copyright – www.fluffandfripperies.com

Talk that afternoon turned to Emma’s new smiley pics as she was taking selfies (trying to see what she’d look like with different coloured eyes) at the table post lunch, and she remarked that she now has to take about half a dozen more smiley shots in order to get one she was happy with, whereas before she could just shoot and go. Emma said that as a general rule, it was that much harder for her to find a shot she didn’t hate. We’d made her life harder. Sorry , bab! Happily she’s come around to the smiling – and look at her, she’s beautiful! That’s the Emma we all know and love.

From there the conversation turned to how much we all hate seeing ourselves in photographs; and eventually, how much I hate seeing myself in photographs. Or the mirror. Or a shop window. Or the side of kettle – actually no, scrap that one – it’s like a hall of mirrors and can sometimes be remarkably flattering.

I let them into a little secret – I HATE my face. Not all of the time. Only about 70% of the time. I think it’s too fat, too jowly, too ashen, too… you name it, I probably hate it about myself. Mostly, I hate the dark circles that I have around my eyes ALL OF THE TIME, and, as I revealed that Sunday, I worry that they make me look like this guy…

That’s right, the Tragedy/Barbie Girl singer and Chicken Factory Worker from the X Factor

Well, because my friends are nothing short of lovely they told me I was being ridiculous. There was a lot of laughing at exactly how ridiculous they thought I was being too. And, much like the women in the Dove videos, I felt silly for the way I feel about myself sometimes. And a bit angry and upset with myself.

And that’s why the Dove campaign rapidly became one of my all time favourites, in just the few short minutes that I watched their launch film – they had genuinely touched upon a real insight about how women think about themselves, versus how tother people see us. It’s sad that a lot of women feel this way – I wasn’t the only one around the table that day that had a similarly ridiculous “lookalike” fear.

There’s a phrase that it reminded me of, that I’ve long since forgotten the origin of  - “If someone talked to you the way you talk to yourself, you’d have kicked them out of your life a long time ago.”

But beyond that, I didn’t feel patronised by it. There was no heavy-handed emotion wrangling from it. It made the point and let the point do all of the work. Just this – be nicer to yourself.

And I’ll try. And am trying – there’s nothing quite like doing the rounds of interviews and hot weather to make you question yourself. Am I really any good at my job and exactly how much like a sweaty pig woman do I look in this heat? But no – I shall channel Emma, and the rest of my lovely friends (you know who you are) when those voices start up.

Et voila.

Well, I kind of shot my load with the title there, thanks to the bastard child of everything that is SEO, but nevertheless, that is indeed my news – I’ve only gone and left Ireland and, via a minor detour to England and then China, landed in Singapore to start anew.

So, nothing too major to report then! Well, it’s major enough for me to dust off the old blog again anyway. Unsurprisingly it feels like something I should somehow mark for posterity – to look back on in the months/years to follow and remember the WTF-ness that was taking up a large portion of my brain as I wrote this, I suppose.

Truth be told, there’s been a large amount of WTF-ness rattling around my noggin for quite a while now (I know, I know. Not new news etc.). The decision to walk away from the life I’d spent almost five years building in Ireland wasn’t made overnight. Anyone that knows me well (and some that don’t) know that I’ve been mulling it over for about two years, on and off. And well, I finally put my money where my mouth was and I did it.

Why leave Ireland? 

Well, that’s a very good question. I’m glad you asked. Lots of reasons brought about my departure. Obviously the catalyst for all of this – the man I love upped and went to China for ten months about two and a half years ago. But ultimately that wasn’t the whole reason for my move. If I’m honest, Ireland had just become a little bit too depressing and introspective for me. I felt suffocated by it sometimes, and saddened by it/about it much of the rest of the time.

It’s not a secret that Ireland is in the shit, economically. But what’s not often talked about without hyperbole is the effect on the everyday Joe Soap. It’s honestly just a tad overwhelming a lot of the time.

Socially it’s much quieter but hey, nobody’s got the money to go out three or four times a week these days, and there are only so many Come Dine With Me nights you can run at home with your friends before you want to gouge your own eye out with the €25 melon baller that you bought back in early 2008 when you thought you’d be Neven Maguire-ing it up in the kitchen thrice weekly.

Not to mention the simmering anger and resentment that bubbles up occasionally (several times a day). Whether it’s more outrage at the latest badly edited piece of news, someone’s called Ireland Britain by accident again (a popular one, but seriously, chill the fuck out, people don’t make mistakes on purpose and the world will always be full of idiots), another politician is getting away with having his speeding tickets cancelled, or RTE have put YET ANOTHER lifer on the Late Late as a “guest”, the level of anger that results is increasingly disproportionate to the trigger. I was as guilty of it as anyone – frustration’s got to come out some way, right? But it gets wearying.

There’s loads of other reasons but honestly it’s not all Ireland, a lot of it was just me. I just wasn’t happy there anymore. Simple as that. Don’t get me wrong, despite the doom and gloom above, I LOVE Ireland. Genuinely love it. It’s a brilliant country full of brilliant people – some of whom I am very lucky to call my good friends, and will do so for may years to come. But whether it was Ireland, or me, or both, it was time to move on.

And so I did.

It was a difficult and an easy decision to make. Easy because of the reasons above and a few others, and difficult because not only did it mean leaving all of my lovely chums and being even further away from my amazing family. It also meant leaving my lovely job. And I really loved my job – am a bit tragic that way.

Side note – if you ever get a chance to work at Irish International BBDO over in Sandymount, leap at it. It is without doubt the best agency I have ever worked at. Full of amazing, talented and really brilliant people. It’s a very hard place to leave.

Another side note – Sorry Gary!

So now I’m here in lovely Singapore, having a cup of tea, eating an orange and waiting for the epic rain to stop pouring so I can go out for a wander and get my bearings a little bit. Not too dissimilar to when I first arrived in Dublin a few years ago then!

The job hunt has begun in earnest and hopefully it won’t be long before I’m plying my trade at another great agency. In the meantime, I’ll just be boring you all with photos of all the amazing food I’m eating – my plan to get Asia-skinny the second I arrived is already under threat because of the amazing food and my innate gluttony. But as soon as I get a place of my own, I’ll get my TRX up and running and get back into it, I promise James!

In the meantime, if anyone in Singapore wants to hire a planner then give me a call. Pretty please with a cherry on top!

I watched this video from Big Think, of Henry Rollins talking about the one decision that changed his life. It’s well worth seven minutes of your time. Plus even if, like me, you don’t really know that much about Henry Rollins, watching a video of him automatically gives you five cool points.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkvEpoqFx6c

One of my favourite moments is when he talks about weighing up his options – he could stay with the status quo or he could face humiliation in the gamble for something incredible. As he says, humiliation is part of being young, and it is. There’s no fear.

It’s a sad thing that most of us lose that willingness to take a little bit of humiliation so we stay with what we know. We adopt a form of loss aversion as we place an irrational bias on the current state of affairs to avoid losing what we have, even though the alternative could bring greater reward. We prefer avoiding losses to making gains.

I got to thinking about how many decisions one is faced with in life that can change it significantly, and what surrounding factors have to be in place to make you take the plunge?

I believe that the recession in Ireland, and elsewhere, has brought about more opportunity for making life changing decisions whilst, paradoxically, increasing risk aversion. Perhaps it has even broadened the gulf between those that will make the choices and those that will stick with what they know. Neither is right or wrong, obviously – different strokes and all that.

I can’t help but admire the people I see making life changing decisions, whether it’s following a passion or seizing an opportunity that you find (or make for yourself). It’s rare you see someone worse off for it in the long run. Like this guy.

A born and bred northerner am I. I draw out my vowels, over pronounce the letter g at the end of words like spring, thing and, um, ding-a-ling, and I say Manchester the proper way (the first letter e being pronounced as if it was an i).

So while it’ll be absolutely nothing like new news for me to say that I have a northern soul, you might not have known that the musical genre that goes by the same name is as deep a part of me as the rest.

Even before I was born, I was being brought into the fold, my parents both being devoted fans and people of exquisite taste. It’s the music I grew up with, it’s the first record I ever bought with my own money and it’s where my name came from. Hell, family parties are noted for my mum (swiftly followed by me) being first up on the dance floor any time a stomper of a track comes on.

It’s why I’ve always had a soft spot for bowling shoes – apparently they were the best to wear for getting a decent spin going when you were dancing.

I’ve always loved loads of different types of music and always will, but throughout my life I’ve never lost my love of Northern Soul. There’s no other genre of music that gets the emotions soaring so much whilst simultaneously forcing your feet to start dancing. It physically compels you to move.

I thought I’d share with you a (very) limited selection of my favourite tracks as a taster, so here goes.

First up is the track, or more pertinently the singer, that brought about my name.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd6G2F_Rhyw

The song that’s the first record I ever bought with my own pocket money was called “Stay with your own kind” byPatrice Holloway, but I can’t find a video of that so here’s a great song by her too that’ll have to do for now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RR_GwHhYfo

This one makes me think of my mum and wish we were dancing in the kitchen. My mum, in case you’ve not been lucky enough to meet her, is an absolute rock star! Anyway the song is called, “Girls are out to get you”by the Fascinations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oq7CkRhDkI8

And here are a few others that I have grown up with and loved since my childhood and will in perpetuity. I hope you enjoy them too.

Eddie Wilson – A toast to the lady

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df8NzMJF6VE

Rose Batiste – Hit and run

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU7mCf63dvg

The Ohio Players with Towanda Barnes – Love slips through my fingers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmhqSk5Exos

Major Lance – Um Um Um Um Um Um (Written by Curtis Mayfield, dontcha know)

Jackie Wilson and Higher & Higher (check out the rig out, now THAT’S an outfit!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1odvp-_bhk

And last but never ever least is Ruby Andrews and “Just loving you” which is impossible not to belt out at full volume.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pW9qdZ5Uqw

And if you ever wondered how to do proper Northern Soul style dancing, check out this “how to” video

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I nearly peed my pants when I saw that! Hahahhahaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahhaaaa (I’ve gone again!)

It’s the SECOND OF AUGUST? How the flippin’ flip did that happen?! Where is the time going? Hasn’t the year flown by? Yada yada…

Well, wherever it’s going we can’t stop it (can you tell I have an impending birthday?) but with every new week that comes around it means that there’s a new opportunity to check out my knickknacks, and for that you’re surely ALL grateful, yes?

<SHOWING YOUR AGE KLAXON> I’ve decided that in my head, when someone lands on this page the “Supermatch Game” theme from Blankety Blank should play, but singing, “Dena’s KnickKacks” instead. I’m sure you’ll all agree it’d be only right and proper.

So, what do we have this week? Well, how d’you like these apples…

It’s the flippin’ ‘lympics!

I know, I know, I wasn’t looking forward to it at all. In true British style I was convinced we’d cock it up. And the northerner that I am has been miffed about the money taken from “up north” to fund it all… but IT IS BRILLIANT! For all the reasons that spring to mind, such as Danny Boyle’s amazing opening ceremony to Wiggo’s gold and Boris getting stuck on a zip line. All stuff that brought a smile to my face.

But there’s been loads of little touches throughout that have really made it for me. Not least of which is @L2012PoolCam – all of the pool cameras in the Acquatic centre hooked up to one twitter account.

There are some amazing shots from the cameras as well as some quality, comedy tweets. Love!

Margaret Atwood gets into Fanado

Margaret Atwood is ace. She wrote the Blind Assassin and the Handmaid’s Tale AND she’s got a fine head of curly hair, so really, what’s not to love? On top of all this, she’s also a wee bit of a technophile and has lent her weight to support Fanado.

Creators want to get their work out to existing and potential new fans. Fans want to get closer to the creators of things that they love. This isn’t new news (I once spent a summer voluntarily posting out Pat Sharpe’s head shots just so I could get close enough to touch his luscious mane of golden hair*) but Fanado aims to make that even easier. Sounds a bit like a Google+ Hangout maybe? Either way, it’s always nice to see artists of all types embracing technology to get closer to their fans, I think.

Manuele Manelotti made me spit tea out of my nose

Well, Popbitch did, I guess, but put down any beverages you had and watch him in his majesty. Reminder: THIS IS NOT A PARODY!

Personally, I think Manuele just watched a lot of “A bit of Fry and Laurie” as a young’un.

Portable Maker Bots

For those times when you just need to make something and you need to make it NOW! I’m being flippant, but this is actually really cool.

Yeasayer launch their album via digital scavenger hunt

With a new album out later this month, these hirsuite hipsters (I LOVE a bit of alliteration) have launched an internet scavenger hunt of sorts. This week, they’ll release individual video clips for each album cut, all created by Yoshi Sodeoka, via websites based all across the world, for a limited time only.

Scarcity and FOMO, working hand in hand to get other hirsute (and non-hirsute) hipsters scrabbling for Yeasayer goodness!

Baby Free Zone

Not just my uterus but now also my Facebook feed (were I still on it). Nifty little Chrome extension called unbaby.me to get rid of baby pics from your newsfeed – next up pugs and kittens.

I know, I know, there’s a swinging brick where my heart should be, but that’s just the way I was made. I love people getting all excited about their babies and everything – who wouldn’t? But I don’t need a running update of every change in bab’s life. Soz.

Anyhoo, that’s it for now. I’ve got things to do, so TTFN!

*The Pat Sharpe thing was a lie. It remains nought but a distant dream. Alas.

My knickknacks are getting a veritable sheen with all of this polishing… so I’m probably going to ditch the polishing metaphor. There’s only so much Carry On style humour that even I can get away with.

So, what goodies do I have to share with you this week? Behold and feast your eyes upon these wares!

A letter to my auntie

More emotional than my usual pieces perhaps, but I really liked it. Every week The Guardian publishes an installment in their series called, “A letter to…” featuring “the letter you always wanted to write”. This week’s letter was really moving. An homage to a relative that became the “first liberated woman in [the] family” and the positive effect that this had upon her nieces and nephews. A touching piece.

Everyone’s mix tape

There’s something that’s always rather charming when it comes to digital replications of analogue memories. Whether it’s Instagram adding lovely vintagey filters to your shots or this lovely site that take Youtube, Soundcloud or Vimeo tracks and adds them to a mixtape – you can even have your friends (and others on the site) add tracks too.

I’ve started one called Northern Soul Stompers if you fancy having a look out for it over on everyonesmixtape.com … and perhaps even add a track or two that you think should be on there too.

#twittermixtape

On a similar note, @dababarian over on Twitter has set up #twittermixtape where she’s trying to get people to actually make up real mix tapes (or, more precisely, CDs) for people. Lovely way to introduce people to new music, get to know some new music and even get to know a few new people too.

Someone makes a mix and gives it to another tweeter. They listen to it and then pass it on, and make a mix of their own and start the process again. Really lovely idea borne out of nothing more than a desire to get people to do a nice thing for someone else and I really hope it takes off.

Michael Jackson’s anti-gravity dance move revealed

Bit of a myth-buster, this one, and therefore a little bit on the bittersweet side of things, but over on Retronaut they have the patent information that helped MJ do this move…

Now I don’t feel quite so bad about having a really shitty set of Achilles tendons and being top heavy. I just didn’t have the shoes!

Why am I unlucky and you’re careless?

Tom over at Mindhacks wrote a column for BBC Future that did the rounds on Twitter last week as it provoked a bit of thought.

“From lost keys to failed interviews, we blame other people for mishaps but never ourselves, because assuming causes helps us to make sense of the world.”

Have a read and let it poke your brainy bits a wee while. On a similar note…

The dangers of self forgiveness (and how to avoid them)

It’s important to be kind to yourself and to cut yourself some slack when you fuck up. But there are pitfalls to it too. Yes it can ease your guilt and shame, but it can reduce the amount of empathy that you have for others and lessen any motivation to make amends.

So, y’know, check yo’self before you wreck yo’self.

The earth at night from the ISS

Full screen. Sound up. Sit back. Watch it. Drop jaw.

Michael Andrews – Bubbles

Over 100 high school students drew 3000+ frames for this new video for the new single “Bubbles In Space” by Michael Andrews. 

And one last thing…

Rob posted this and I agree with him – it’s worth remembering.

Well that was a very emotive peek at my knickknacks, this week. Sorry about that (not really).

It’s one thing to be frightened of change, that’s a natural human reaction, but it’s a whole other thing to just refuse that it’s happening.

A large part of my job is to look at changes – behavioural, technological, political, and beyond. I look at what has changed, what is changing right now and what is staying the same, and then seek to understand the implications of all of that, in order to make the work work harder, better, and more effectively.

Photo copyright of Busy Pochi on Flickr.

But all too often, what I hear is, “Yes, but that change doesn’t really apply here” and it makes me want to scream.

I by no means think I’m always right. Far from it. But I’m not daft and I work hard at what I do, so when I say that something is worth bearing in mind, it is because I genuinely believe it is worth bearing in mind. Not because it’s the latest fad, shiny new toy or an idea that I plucked out of my arse.

I work in a small market (sorry Ireland, but it’s true), but to assume that nothing is changing here and that change is something which happens elsewhere, in order to rationalise a decision to carry on with the status quo is disheartening at times. And often times just plain disrespectful of the work I’ve done.

I’ve got a half-formed blog post idea about Ludditism and the futility of rejecting technological change, but that’ll take a bit more thinking. For now though, I just wish more people were brave enough to embrace the idea of change (in all areas, not just technology), rather than elect to live their lives in a permanent state of Future Shock.

Life is ever evolving. Some of these evolutions impact on what we do, and some of them don’t. Sticking our fingers in our ears and our hands over our eyes to shut them out isn’t going to deliver results though; it’s just going to make things harder and harder to get right.

And it’s going to piss me right off.

It’s the time of the week when I take my knickknacks out of their cupboard for a good old rub with a bit of brasso to bring you some shiny digital goodness.

So what do I have to show you this week? Well, feast your eyes upon these wares…

“Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet“.

Five latin words that everyone in adland is familiar with, but did you know that they come from Cicero’s “The extremes of good and evil” written in 45BC? Well you do now. Find out some other mildly interesting Lorem Ipsum facts over at lipsum.com

Nobody likes a bullshitter, y’know.

From one indeterminable bunch of text to another. Want to check that you’re not filling your writing with a load of old shite? Well, have a gander over at Bla Bla Meter and have the site check your writing for you.

Release your inner McCartney

Well, maybe not McCartney, I’m not advocating that anybody turns into a gimmer rocker with dubiously coloured sideburns and a penchant for giving the thumbs up far more than is desirable. But still, you get the gist.

You might not be able to read or write music, but if you’re the proud owner of an Android phone you can download the SoundBow app and draw your own music. It looks pretty enough to play with at least twice, which is once more than most non-functional apps, and is available in the Google Play store now

I always like the idea of these things but they don’t really do much other than remind me how lacking in innate musical skill I am… except when I’m dancing, CLEARLY!

RGB by Carnovsky

Visually captivating in their own right, these prints are in fact a series of layered RGB images that transform beneath different light colours to reveal a whole new image.

They’re pretty nifty and I’d love to have got to one of the exhibitions, but alas. Still you can also buy yourself some prints hither. Did I mention, that I have a birthday coming up shortly?

After You

Twitter chum Damien O’Connor recently showed his new animated short at the Galway Film Fleadh, about 60 years in the life of a Dublin Doorman. You can see a wee trailer here

Doesn’t it look lovely? And this from someone that refuses to watch Wall E!

(I didn’t embed the video, by the way, because I need to fix the backend of this ‘ere blog that I may or may not have kind of fecked up. There’s a lesson to be learned here, people – NEVER let me loose around your backend.)

Enter the Wu Tang

Nope. I’m not going to bust out a rap for you. I’m a white girl from North West England and that kind of cringe-inducing spectacle is the sole preserve of Coronation Street scriptwriters, for the lulls between serial killings and adultery when they decide to run a talent show in the pub or something (I’m overthinking this).

I’ve become a little bit obsessed with Wudangshan of late, after seeing this panoramic view on the World Heritage site. More specifically with visiting the Tianzhu Feng ancient buildings.

The pictures don’t do it justice, but when you check out the panoramic view it looks nothing less than breathtaking. The home of Kung Fu and some pretty special Taoist temples, it’s definitely next on my list of places to go. You never know, I might come back enlightened. Or just lighter – there are a LOT of steps to climb!

Everything is OK

And if it’s not then there’s a button over at make-everything-ok.com that you can press that will either make it OK, or give you advice on what to do if that doesn’t work. I say, “advice” but I mean it very much in the Dena sense of the word.

Well, that’s it for my knickknacks this week. Buffed and polished they are, with a shine that would have you thinking I’d just read all three 50 Shades of Grey books in one frenzied sitting.

I’ve been having a rough few weeks, truth be told. I’ve not really told anybody about it. It didn’t seem like something I wanted to talk about really. I didn’t know how to talk about it. Or even if there was anything to talk about either. Turns out there wasn’t, which is good. Great in fact.

I found a lump in my boob (I can’t say breast, it sounds too much like “nurse speak” and makes me think of those grey, plastic-looking things that pass for chicken in Tesco), but luckily it turned out to be nothing more than a cyst.

Phew!

It’s great that I’m OK and obviously I’m thrlled and relieved and chuffed and thankful and all that jazz. It does make you think though. I’ve had more than a wee bit of an existential crisis, I guess.

I started questioning where I am in my life, where I want to be, what’s working for me and what’s not. On top of everything else, all this thinking was quite overwhelming. Very overwhelming in fact. But out of all of the head-fuckery came some level of enlightenment, I guess. Or rather, I allowed myself to think about the things that I wouldn’t normally. Consider the options I had previously thought out of reach. Face up to the things that I’ve been frightened or unwilling to think of.

When faced with your own mortality suddenly everything feels achievable. Small. Possible.

What have I learned from having the shit scared right out me? What have I decided to change? A few things, I guess.

Check yourself and don’t be such a fucking wuss about going to the Dr.

Whether it’s a mole, a lump, a rash, some burny pee, just stop being such a baby and get it checked. Yes it might be bad. But it might not be. And if it is, then better for it to be a little bad thing, and not a big one. No excuses.

Just. Fucking. Do. It.

Don’t take your health for granted.

It’s almost the same as point number 1, yes. But more than that, look after yourself on a greater scale. I’m a wee bit of a porker at the moment (not helped by the comfort eating I’ve been doing over the last few weeks) and it’s time I sorted it out once and for all.

I’ve used the money from my lecturing gig and bought a brand new bike so I can finally start commuting to work in a way that’s going to lessen the size of my arse rather than enlarge it, and get me fitter. Whatever you enjoy doing, just get moving. Even a little bit. Life’s too short to sit on your arse the whole time.

Don’t take your mental health for granted either.

Do not hide from the things that are frightening you. You can’t run away from your life. You can’t block out the things that are nagging away at you. That shit follows you.

Think of it as someone knocking on a door. They might knock politely at first, waiting for you to answer. You don’t, so they knock a little louder. Then louder still. And the longer you ignore them the worse it gets until they kick the door down to make you pay them some attention.

That’s what goes on in your head when you ignore how you’re feeling. Sooner or later those feelings will knock down the door/wall you put up to stop them and then you’re in trouble. So pay them some attention. Look after yourself. Look out for yourself. And ask for help if you need it.

Get rid of the things that don’t make you happy and make more time for the things that do.

Whether it’s a job, people, furniture, social media… anything, it doesn’t matter. If it’s not making you smile or giving you pleasure then get rid of it. Be ruthless. Be selfish. Be honest with yourself. But get rid.

William Morris once said, “Have nothing in your house that you know not to be useful or believe to be beautiful”. Apply that to your life – it it’s not working for you it has no place in your life. Removing the bad will make room for something good.

Surround yourself with people that love you (and that you love in return)

It might sound trite, but a lot of this post does and I don’t care, but having people that care about you, on the good days and the shitty days, whether you’re a joy to be around or you’re being a total c*nt, is invaluable.

Go out of your way to spend time with the ones that matter. Visit them, call them, Skype them, email them, whatever. Just make some time for them. They’ll appreciate it and you’ll feel a million times better about pretty much everything. Every time.

There’s nothing like a proper belly laugh with someone that means the world to you to make your day a brilliant one, regardless of whatever shite it’s thrown at you beforehand. So go and get yourself some more belly laughs – also, I firmly believe that belly laughs tone up your stomach muscles so, y’know, maybe do it to get some rock hard abs too (I am not guaranteeing that you get rock hard abs by the way. Please don’t sue me.)

Stop being a bleeding martyr, that’s shit’s pathetic and annoying

If you have a problem, tackle it or shut the fuck up about it. Don’t piss and moan about the things that are wrong with your life and do nothing to make it better. A happier life is not going to land in your lap because the world owes you a happy life. It doesn’t. It owes you nothing. Not a thing.

You make your own happiness.

Listen to TuPac, he might have been a total dickhead in a myriad ways, but he said this and I have to agree with him…

Don’t allow yourself to stagnate
Just as constantly focussing on the problems you think you have stops you from living your life, so does just going with the status quo. Think about how you can be better. Life is about learning all the time.

In 1562, when he was 87, Michaelangelo scribbled, “ancora imparo” in the margins of a sketch. It means, “Still I learn”. If someone as talented and skilled as a veritable genius can still think he’s learning when he’s almost 90, you can bet you still are.

Embrace that. Be open to it. Look for it and push yourself.

Think about the things that you’ve always wanted to do and go and do them. The things you’ve always said you don’t have the time, money, intelligence for. Try and find a way. No, I don’t mean selling your body in return for some salsa classes. But how about a skills swap? For me, I’m going to learn more Chinese with a view to becoming fluent in a year or two.

And I’m going on a Hyper Island course in October that also kind of scares me – it will be FULL of really talented brains from the industry so I’ll need to push myself. It’s going to be challenging but I can’t wait.

That brings me on to the final thing…

Do something that scares you

You know that feeling when you have adrenaline rushing right around your body and you feel more alert, alive and enthusiastic than normal? Find ways to get that feeling in your life more often. Big or small do something that scares you. Make yourself feel alive!

Face your fear, whatever it might be that’s holding you back from going for what you want. The hardest part is to take the leap of faith and know that it will all be OK. It absolutely will be OK. Bollocks to security and doing the next thing that’s expected of you. Do the thing that you want to do, deep down inside. And FUCK the begrudgers and the naysayers. Nothing is really irrevocable.

I’m doing a relatively small thing, although it still terrifies me, as I start lecturing next month. And I’m kind of planning a bigger adventure, but that’s going to take a lot more thinking and planning (and bravery) before I share it with you here, but I’m working on it.

So yeah, that’s what I’ve learned while I’ve been freaking the fuck out over the last few weeks or so. What life lessons have you learned?  Leave them in the comments below and share them…

It’s no fun dusting all your knickknacks, so instead I’ll share them all with you. Here. Thus.

Basically it’s some things that I found whilst traveling through the series of tubes that is the internet.

First up, BBR Saatchi & Saatchi is looking for a “wicked programmer”. First round of applications takes place in the game, Diablo 3, where you get to play for 30mins with a member of the agency team. The “winner” get a work ID badge, an in-game sword and 1million game dollars. Oh yeah, and a job. If you fancy applying or just want to know who to troll and when then you can find out a hellofajob.co.il

Some bods made a dress out of Gummi Bears in an homage to one of Alexander McQueen’s most iconic designs, the Parrot Dress.

One I’d save for a winter event. Nobody wants to stand next to the woman sweating in a dress made from gelatin. You’re just going to attact wasps. Or ants. Probably both. And if it fell apart, well those Gummi Bears would really be bouncing here and there and everywhere (sorry, showing my age there).

Doggerland has been uncovered under the North Sea. I know, you’d expect me to make a joke about rude stuff there, wouldn’t you… well, no. I’m just going to leave it at that, safe in the knowledge that you’re all thinking what I’m thinking. But that’s not the bit that caught my attention the most. No, seriously! It was the map of the land that’s disappeared under the sea.

Interesting, no? Ok, that might just be me and my posse of geography geeks then.

Someone did a line by line analysis of the second verse of Jay Z’s 99 Problems from the point of view of a criminal procedure professor and it’s REALLY, genuinely interesting to read. Hat tip to @Purplesime for the link on that one.

This is an incredibly moving TED piece by a woman called Anna Shaikh about how she’s preparing to get Alzheimer’s.

And this because… well there is no because. It doesn’t need one.

That’s it for now. I’ll be sure to show you my knickknacks again. Ooh, matron!