When opportunity knocks, you get change for the bus and go!

When opportunity knocks, you get change for the bus and go!

Hello and welcome to blog number 5 in the #daneyblogs series. Since blog number 4 (Why the Employ Daney campaign is not a joke), it’s been all go go go here. I’ve been busy applying for more jobs, I’ve set the menu and date for my #ComeDaneWithMe event (6^th October by the way!). Oh! And most excitingly, my Employ Daney campaign got a Retweet and support from my Birds of a Feather idol (I know! So exciting!), Linda Robson (aka. Tracey Stubbs!).

 

 

Ok, before I go off on another Birds of a Feather….  Why am I writing this blog? Simple! today saw me pluck up the courage and attend a big entrepreneur and business focussed event called Opportunity Knocks in order to get myself out there networking again! I’ve made a vow to myself to network regularly to meet more people in my industry, and continue to build on my confidence again.

Coming across this year’s Opportunity Knocks event was purely by chance! I was putting my own event #ComeDaneWithMe on Eventbrite, and it showed up and it made me smile.

Why did it make me smile?

Looking at the Opportunity Knocks details, I smiled as I remembered attending it last year. I proudly networked and represented an organisation, I had my fellow team members in tow for support and to cheer-lead each other on, and life was pretty settled for me then.

This year attending, I attended today currently in-between jobs, I represented no-one but myself…. Now that scared and scares me! But, it got me thinking…. That’s what my entrepreneur friends/ acquaintances are doing every-day! And very well I may add! I was amongst people today who are so inspiring, so dynamic, so ‘get up and go’ that it put me at ease, and once I stopped the self-nagging ‘they’ll be thinking why is he here… he doesn’t own his own business, Employ Daney… what’s that like!’, I really enjoyed it and my dash late at night to Tesco to get change for the bus today was well worth it. Oh and Yazoo Milkshake was the change breaker! You could say that Yazoo got me on that bus? No? Ok then…

Daney highlights

So with the event being all day, and with so many cool people interacted with, I’d like to share with you the best parts of the day for me.

·         Chatting with the stall hosts- they were very welcoming and inspiring! Although I took the time to speak to many, the one who really shone, who was a delight to speak to was Fiona, the owner of BitzBags. She was lovely, approachable, nailed her summary of her business. Absolutely shone with professionalism, passion for her business and I wish her all the best!

 

·         The guys of ‘Flavourly’ on the main stage. Those two were fantastic. I really enjoyed and felt privileged to have been in the audience to hear their story. The water bottles though! Very nice touch! I wish I had thought about that back when I had taken my exams!

 

 

·         Bumping into familiar faces (which is always great and put me right at ease!), I got to bump into an old employer of mine who I really admire and respect. Our quick chat revealed that all is going very well with his business, which is fantastic! And he loves my campaign and said to keep going. Win-Win!

·         I also bumped into a fab uni friend of mine, she’s an account manager for a PR agency. I loved hearing about the great work she’s doing and I’m so grateful for her support for my Employ Daney campaign  

 

Key things I learned from today

 

·         It’s okay to have my ideas challenged – don’t be so defensive – it’s not personal

 

-       I’ve been working very hard to find a new job, and have really worked hard on my Employ Daney campaign, and at times have found criticism of it quite hard and hurtful. However, I’m getting more comfortable with hearing constructive criticism of the campaign. If people don’t tell me, how will I learn and develop it? I’m working on the mind-set that people will challenge my thinking, my approach and this will develop me as a person and a professional. It’s not a personal attack, it’s constructive pointers in order to move forward, and I’m open to this.

 

·         What is it you do? Emm…. I’m working on a PR campaign just now… emm… -----------…....> to get over this emmm… I’m going to work on a 60 seconds pitch to sum up exactly what it is in a succinct way what I’m doing right now- being more succinct isn’t a bad thing is it?

On the succinct note, I’ve purposely made this blog a wee bit shorter (as it’s later at night at the time of writing and we’re all a bit knackered after a fun filled day!), as I’m working on getting my points across quicker J

My Linkedin and Twitter are still abuzz from today, and I’m going to bed feeling good, and that I’ve achieved something today.

Daney over and out for now!

 

 

Why the ‘Employ Daney’ campaign is not a joke.

Why the ‘Employ Daney’ campaign is not a joke.

Hello and welcome to blog number 4 in the Daney blogs series. Can’t believe it’s been a week already since I last posted! The past couple days have saw me very busy working on the Employ Daney press release, website, building a Twitter and Linkedin following, putting bits and pieces on Facebook, all with the aim of raising my profile to future social enterprise employers with PR/Marketing/Communications roles and/or dynamic, client-focussed PR agencies in Edinburgh area or thereabouts.

 

Oh! And I’ve also been busy sampling tasty burritos and margaritas at the fabulous El Toro Loco- a great wee Mexican place on the Edinburgh Grassmarket! Absolutely recommend you go!  Their wee restaurant is top notch!

So, tasty burritos aside, I’m writing this blog as I feel I need to clarify a couple things regarding the Employ Daney campaign.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personally on the back of the Employ Daney campaign, I’ve had an overwhelming positive response from my close pals, my PR and Marketing acquaintances (or in Fife terms, folk I ken!) my mum (of course, everyone wants their mum to love what work they do!), and I’ve had a couple of members of the press email back with the thumbs up.

Professionally, on the back of Employ Daney (bearing in mind I’ve only been running the campaign just over a week!), I’ve secured an interview with a reputable social enterprise supporting organisation, where I was told “you have to be the most positive person I’ve ever met”, I’ve been asked for my CV by 2 different PR agencies, my campaign has been shared on the QMU PR Programme Facebook and Twitter, the East Lothian press seem very keen to share my campaign in their business section next month (which is brilliant!), my numbers of retweets are increasing, the likes on Linkedin are increasing and overall, my morale to keep going on the job search is good, and I’m thoroughly enjoying working on the campaign.

However, I want to write this blog because I want to clarify a couple things which have been raised to me (in a constructive and friendly way of course- I’m very grateful and respectful of my PR peers) regarding my campaign and I would like to address them moving forward. The last thing I want is a miscommunication to hinder the overall goal of the campaign- being employed in a PR/Marketing position in a social enterprise, or in a dynamic, fun, client focussed PR agency.

Let me start by saying my campaign is not a joke…

The whole point of me starting this campaign and these blogs is so that I could free myself, show my skills, my personality to employers without feeling like there’s red tape. What I’ve came to realise is that my campaign won’t be for everyone (which I’m absolutely fine with), people will want to give me advice on how to improve it. I’m all for this. I welcome it. However, I feel I need to reiterate, I, Dane Thomson, am a PR Professional. I’m not making a parody of myself, or punting myself out for the sake of a RT. I’m taking a fun, creative, unconventional approach to grabbing the attention of employers, and showing that I can write, write, write and write to different target audiences, using different software with a creative flair they’ve not seen before. That’s what’s going to make me stand out, right? Yes!

So, I’m going to refer to some feedback I’ve received in the form of a Q+A and clear up any misunderstandings on the Employ Daney campaign:

Feedback I’ve received Q+A

Why Employ Daney and not Employ Dane?

The campaign is called Employ Daney because this title is more eye catching (I’ve generated more likes on Linkedin with this than any other content I’ve posted in the past), it’s fun and it reflects my client (my) personality.

Dane Thomson, the PR professional (that’s me!) is doing all the hard work behind the scenes for ‘Employ Daney’. I’m the one sitting for hours researching companies, applying for jobs, writing blogs, press releases, website updates, social media posts and looking for networking events to attend to chat to people in my industry. I’ve also been working on getting my #ComeDaneWithMe event happening. The positive reaction I’ve had to this so far has been fantastic. People seem to love this idea! Have you received your invite? If not, email me at daneybash88@gmail.com if you’d like to come!

Why does your website have the ‘strikingly’ on it?

Due to financial restraints I’m under whilst job searching, I genuinely can’t afford payments for domains for my blog, website etc. so I have to do things strictly for free or for even less! Once I get together some money I will get the domains purchased to bolster my personal brand’s credibility.

Also on that note, personal brand: another valid piece of great advice I received this week…

Be careful with your personal brand…..

This is excellent advice I received this week. Having looked at my Daney brand (if you like), it represents what I want it represent. I’m communicating my brand to represent a fun, hard-working, warm, approachable, original and not afraid to take a chance and try new things out PR/Marketing graduate genuinely looking for employers interest and buy in. I’m building and shaping my brand as I go along and I would love to share with you the 3 key messages/takeaways of my campaign.

3 key messages of the Employ Daney Campaign/ 3 things I want you to take-away from it:

·         I’m a self-starting PR/Marketing graduate who pro-actively makes things happen. I don’t sit around and wait for people to come to me, or for good things to happen. I go out and make them happen! I’ll go to networking events, I’ll approach senior people of an organisation, respect their position, treat them like a valued friend, thank them for their time, and take heed of any advice they offer

·         I’m learning by doing. ‘You don’t learn by doing everything right, you learn by doing and falling over’ I’m not just giving rhetoric on my CV telling you how fabulous I am. My CV is detailed with examples of HOW I’m using my skills, and through this campaign you, employers, can visibly see me using my skills and see how I overcome challenges I face pre, during, and after and turn them into opportunities.

·         I’m employable. I’ve got a strong communications background, a warm personality with a down to earth attitude, and the skills in digital, writing and networking that you need for your social enterprise/ or PR agency organisation.

For more information on the Employ Daney campaign- please see the website- http://employdaney.strikingly.com/ or alternatively, drop me an email – daneybash88@gmail.com I’d love to hear from you!

 

Daney over and out for now!

So…. #comedanewithme, aye? #employdaney, aye?

So…. #comedanewithme,  aye? #employdaney, aye?

Aye!

Hello and welcome to my third blog (wow, 3^rd blog already!) in the daneyblogs88 series, which follows on nicely from my: Would you give me your last 99p cashback voucher if you saw me selling the big issue? Blog. Again, I’d like to add, that I put these random titles to intrigue you…. I’m not really selling the big issue at the moment. I do, however, have a lot of respect for those who do, standing in all weathers trying to make some money, make a living like the rest of us. Anyway, I digress…

So, today, I’ve woken up feeling very drained, very flat, and very ‘things will never get better’ on the job search front. Screeds and screeds of ‘no experience necessary’ marketing, commission based only door to door ‘sales! (not marketing at all!) positions are clogging my feed, roles that I’m too qualified for- ‘marketing apprentice’ where the only requirements are for standard grades and an ‘enthusiasm’ for marketing are what they’re looking for. I’m sorry ‘enthusiasm’, I’d like to think have passion for what I do, not just ‘enthusiasm’ for it. So, I then thought how can I make this job search more interesting? How can I make it actually a lot more fun? How can I use my #daney personality to own my search and to get into the job I actually want?

It’s simple really. I’m going to start by inviting you, my professional peers to #comedanewithme.

Still my favourite professional style photo!

 

It switched on for me like a lightbulb. I realised that I have the drive, the connections I’ve built up through the years, my daney personality- which has been going strong since 1988 (okay…. Maybe my eyebrow game isn’t ‘on fleek’ but my personality is at the top of my game since then!), and both the interpersonal skills to host such an event, and cooking skills (I make a brilliant homemade chicken and chorizo homemade lasagne) to host a fun wee #comedanewithme get together, and ultimately I thought ‘why not’? What is stopping me? Nothing at all!

What is #comedanewithme?

#comedanewithme is a fun, play on words for Come Dine With Me, it’s where I, Daney am going to invite 5 professionals I both know, am keen to get to know over for dinner at the flat, serve dinner, catch up, get to know you and use it as a platform to raise my profile and awareness of my #employdaney campaign, which I’m working on to find myself a job as  PR/Marketing Assistant in a socially conscious organisation as soon as possible.

Why do I think getting you round for #comedanewithme is a good idea?

·         It’s a great chance for you to see me in my relaxed environment, see my attentive side (no one who comes for dinner with me gets to touch any of the washing up afters!), and how I make sure food ingredients are always tweaked to suit taste, for e.g. a close friend of mine loves onions, so I always make sure that I put extra in for him. This is crucial in the PR field, being attentive to our work clients

·         It’s a great chance for networking, not only am I meeting, getting to know you, you’re catching up with other likeminded professionals- your fellow  table guests. I still believe that networking is absolutely crucial and why not network over some fresh, homemade food?

• It’ll be FUN! When it gets to about Wednesday and you’re just looking for the weekend to hurry so you can get together with closest people, this will be a nice wee mid-week pit stop to get you excited for the weekend, and break up your week!

 



Homemade tomato and rice soup- perfect out the freezer for mid-week night tea!



 

Also, ultimately, hosting #comedanewithme is a cracking, inventive way of using and developing new digital skills. Revisiting handy software such as Bitly (the one stop shop for shortening links for twitter to increase the amount of words you can say!), Canva (the simple guide to creating amazing graphics on the quick and on the cheap!). It’s also a great excuse to try new software. I’m dying to try Periscope, see what it’s all about!

#comedanewithme is also a great way of developing my writing skills even further. I’ll be drafting a press release for this, in the hope it’ll be shared by my professional peers on social media, and of course, drafting and scheduling social media posts too, which on 1 hand is second nature to me, however, on the other, as I’ve never fronted my own event before, it’s a new challenge, it’s exciting!



So…. What’s next? Well, I’m going to select who to invite, make sure I have all your dietary requirements and work on a date which suits of course!

Homemade Chicken Carbonara & homemade sticky toffee pud :) Yay or nay for the menu?

Before I leave you, the blogosphere for now, check out below my 3 #daneypositives

3 #daneypositives

·         You can do anything you can put your mind to- 1 month ago, I’d have laughed if you told me I’d start a baking craze for myself (you remember my #daneybakes of course!), and blogging? I wouldn’t have dared typing a single word of my own blog, instead preferring to blog professionally under an organisation

·         Be creative, be inventive, the old way of applying, finding jobs, making contacts is dying, it needs spruced up and I’m just the guy to do it!

·         Be true to yourself, in my job pursuit I’ve had to admit to myself ‘no, I would not like to spend all day every day data inputting for minimum wage’ whilst that’s all fine, well and good- it’s a job, I haven’t spent months getting my mental health and self-esteem back on track for to place myself in such an unsuitable position for me

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this blog below!

Daney over and out for now!

Would you give me your 99p moneyback voucher if you saw me selling the big issue?

Would you give me your 99p moneyback voucher if you saw me selling the big issue?

 

Hello all, and welcome to blog 2 in the #daneyblogs series. Firstly, I just want to say how thrilled and touched I am by the overwhelming positive response I’ve had to the first blog! What’s your favourite sitcom? I picked that random title for the blog as I wanted to intrigue people, make their nose bother them so they’d read, and then once in they saw I was actually talking about a recent episode in my life, not about my favourite birds of a feather episode!

Although, speaking of feathers though, I’ve had my feathers ruffled today. I’ve been nervously awaiting my new job to start with a large banking organisation X  which I applied, was interviewed and *congrats, you’ve received the job* praised through a well-known recruitment agency, for me to be told coldly today that the job is no-longer going ahead Okay, I’m going to take a deep breath before I go any further…..  

**************breathes********************

Still with me yeah? Great!

Ok, so, you’re telling me that an organisation can just coldly say ‘nut, there’s no work for you guys’ to you, after you on their behalf having put me through every loop (and Christ I’m finding it hard to fit through them- I’m not as thin as I used to be!), from hours’ worth of forms to fill out (and you still get my name wrong!), to having to chase up my own references myself (which is costing me money on my phone contract as it’s out-with my tariff), to having to keep phoning to check progress, to the person who interviewed me, mysteriously leaving having all my sent documents to them, resulting in the documents processing being held up? and getting attitude on the phone when I asked about this. I’m sorry… WHAT? Am I understanding this correctly?

I’m all for any help available in order to find a job (it’s fiercely competitive and tough on that job market) and I genuinely respect that recruitment agencies have and do play a massive role in the job market, but, this kind of service, (from just one recruitment agency- I’m not demonising all! And I won’t be revealing who it is on here) which to me takes a sales target driven approach over a personal, client centred approach, just astounds me! Do you know why? This astounds me because as a person, I’m person centred. I’m about helping others when they’re in their time of need.

Personally I’m about:

·         Handing that Tesco difference voucher worth 99p to the homeless person selling the big issue instead of keeping it (trust me, in my current financial situation, that 99p goes a long way)

·         Running to get a struggling elderly lady a basket in the supermarket so she can carry her shopping (she was trying to balance things which were too heavy for her, and I couldn’t just walk past and let her struggle!)

·         Helping the person I saw struggling to find the street they were looking to find by looking it up on google maps for them!

 

Professionally I’m about:

·         Apologising when I’m at fault, and using phrases for clients such as “I’m going to make this really easy for you, don’t worry”

·         Treating people with respect and sticking to commitments- if I’ve said I’m calling you back, I’m calling you back, and if I’m late in doing so, I will apologise, and then make sure you get all the information you need when you’re off the phone to me

·         Putting myself in the customer, clients shoes, have they understood what I’ve just said to them? If they look/sound puzzled or bewildered, how can I help them? I don’t want to give them extra, unnecessary work!

What’s this specific agency about? What are they giving me? Apart from:

·         Emails misspelling my name

·         Failed call backs

·         Job non-starts

I’ll tell you what….they’re giving me, aggravation!

Now, I’m not dissing recruitment agencies overall, I think they’re fantastic when things go right! I would like to note, that they’re in a very, very difficult position when clients cancel on them, which is life, and it happens. However, how they deal with it, is ultimately telling on what their approach to their clients is.

I loathe being a ‘job seeker’ just now, it’s genuinely dragging me down. For someone to make me feel like a number, like they have no genuine interest in helping me get in and succeed in the job, when I’m doing everything I can and looking into more effective ways to do it, is actually more soul destroying than just getting the blank ‘dear candidate’ rejection emails. And also, as much as offering me to apply for something else I’ve done previously is all well and good, but that propped up with even more forms to fill in and having to re-take a test for the THIRD time for the role (when I've reported glitches with it), is just unacceptable.

I want a recruitment agency to work with me to help me find a job just now until I find or create my dream marketing job in the third sector. Is that so hard to find?  Is anybody out there? Or, are you that agency that can help me get my dream job?

How am I going to be pro-active and deal with this job cancellation?

·         I’m going to get more creative with my job search. Watch out on social media for #employdaney ‘comin atcha’ where I’m going to experiment with some eye catching ways to get noticed by employers

·         I’m going to re-visit my CV and make sure it’s saying exactly what I want it to say!

·         I’m going to sign up for more networking events and get myself out there!

For when the job search hasn’t worked out, or I’ve been knocked down, I keep in mind the following

3 #daneypositives  to take away!

·         Everything happens for a reason- I’m a firm believer in this, and it’s obvious that this job being called off is putting me in the direction for something better. Why not be my new direction?

·         I’m not always right, I do get things wrong, I do misunderstand things, but I do apologise and take ownership for what I’ve done right and wrong and put in the work to rectify it!

·         I will get back into work soon! I’m all about working hard and I want to prove this again! Why not give me the chance?

If you’re a person centred recruitment agency who is client as opposed to target centred and wants to help #employdaney, then get in touch. I’d love to hear from you!

I bake and everything, I can whip you up some freshly made chocolate brownies whilst you take a swatch of my CV!

On a closing note, make me feel like you want to help me, don’t make me feel like you just want to give me paperwork and hassle. I will go more than the extra mile for you, just take a wee extra step for me and call me by the correct name!

Daney, over and out for now!

What’s your favourite sitcom?

Walk, Walk, Walk!

What’s your favourite sitcom?

Hello blogosphere, it’s been a long time coming. My name’s Daney and this is my first blog I’m writing today. I’m feeling good this sunny Sunday (6/9/15) and decided to be a bit plucky and make a start on finding my blogging voice covering topics which are relevant, which affect us daily, but people just don’t want to talk about. 

I’ve spoken openly and honestly about suffering from depression with my close friends and family, I’ve volunteered and worked with charities who exist to help those in need get help for their mental health issues, and I’ve have been there for my close relationship circle when they’ve had a really tough, tough time.

In my first blog, I want to talk about what I’ve been through recently, and want to speak from my heart. Due to a recent, heavy, lingering bout of depression, my whole life turned upside down, I call it a ‘bout’ of depression, as I seem to go through blocks of it. I go through points where I’m *fine* and can take on the whole world, then sometimes, I feel like the world’s a heavy rucksack on my shoulders and I just want to cower away in my room away from just human beings in general. Unless you’re chocolate, you’re not getting past my door.

Okay, so my title ‘What’s your favourite sitcom?’ was a bit misleading... I’m not going to talk about sitcoms (well, not until the end!)… I’m more going to talk about an episode in my life…. Still happy to read on?.... Are you with me? Great! Follow me J

Whilst I could talk more in depth about depression, I want talk about the other side of it which affects suffers, every day suffers like you, like me who due to not being able to work or continue working have to experience. That is making the pride shattering transition from working (for me it’s been all of my teen and young adult life) to having to rely on the government through the ESA (Employment Support Allowance) (which I am now official off now, I no longer receive this 27/8/15) or Job Seekers Allowance in other cases to help get you feel well again and get back to work.

Whilst, on one hand, I’m eternally grateful that we have a system which exists to help us in a time of need, on the other hand, I’ve felt its hard bite. The heaps of forms asking probing questions, the ‘mandatory’ appointments and being spoken to as though you’re scrounging (even though I’m a tax and NI payer and never had to rely on the ‘system’ up until now!) and being expected to live on a very, very tight budget- tighter than usual!

Having experienced it/ ‘the system’ first hand, knowing what I know now, I now want to use this blog as a tool to empower you by giving you practical #daneytips on what I’ve learned and how to survive this brief transition (or some people’s cases, sadly, a longer transition) both emotionally and financially. I’ll also offer tips to cope when you’re feeling stressed, tips to help make your money go further on the tight budget you have.

ESA (Employment Support Allowance), How can I get by on it? What can I do to live? Real tips

Budgeting Tips

· Get online and look up recipes before you shop (I love all recipes UK and Delicious Magazine- online of course!) and budget to suit your financial situation that week. If you need to go from Chicken to Smoked sausage for the pasta bake due to the money being tight, that’s OK. It’ll still be as tasty, I promise (look around and they’re only £1 and they can do up 3 meals if you split them correctlyJ)

 


 

· ***BAKE YOUR OWN***  I’ve been going through a wee faze of baking non-stop. If you budget properly (use own brand chocolate, check the supermarket websites or use search engines like money supermarket & find the best deal for them), you make/whip a range of tasty treats on the cheap. Always go for supermarket own brand, they’re just as good in most cases!

 

 

 

· Shop around. If it wasn’t for ALDI & LIDL (okay, so I wasn’t so keen on them years ago, I’ll admit!) I genuinely wouldn’t have been able to eaten so many fresh meals. If it was just a side of fresh carrots to go with my £1 chicken Kiev from Iceland!

 

· Visit supermarkets at night and keep an eye on reduced items. My favourite is finding reduced ‘tawties’ (wee fife reference there!) – potatoes for like 10p a bag is such help! They’re easy to store, and you can most of all, make a nice, cheap and nutritious soup!

 

· If something’s not right, complain. On a couple of occasions, I’ve had mince that went a bit funny, I emailed customer services and received a gesture voucher for a couple quid. This couple quid went towards baking ingredients, and in return I thanked them on social media. I only complain if I really have to though. I respect companies who put good customer service at the forefront of what they do. In other words, don’t abuse their gestures!

I’m feeling low, how can I help myself?

Emotional well-being tips

·Don’t avoid social media. Your friends are there, and although they want to share with you all the good times – (that time one of your best pals scored you free tickets for a cool festival) they also want to make sure you’re okay. What I would say is, although it’s absolutely fine in my opinion to talk about depression, and whatever you wish, I would recommend the private messenger for a lot of your chats too, it’s never nice for close friends to read big announcements/ big deep things on Facebook when you’ve not spoke/confided in them first.

 

· Talk to your friends. They will feel absolutely thrilled that you’re turning to them and you need them. At the same time understand that whilst you’re off work just now, they’re unfortunately not. So if they’ll text back, get back in touch when they can. Life is busy for us all.

 

 

· Walk. Walk…..and walk some more! Walking for me is so freeing. I know there are days where you have no desire to get out of bed, let alone walk, but I promise you, you feel much better, most of you feel something!.

 

-If you’ve walked even 5mins, congratulate yourself and if you feel tired, that’s fine. Depression is not only emotionally draining, but it makes you feel like your body is physically heavier

 

· Bake, Bake, Bake! Baking for me really helped redevelop my concentration. I would follow some recipes and read them in my own time with no pressure. I’d also get creative by improvising with food. For example, instead of a standard chocolate brownie, I used supermarket own brand chocolate to me triple chocolate brownie (white choc, dark choc and milk choc.. less than £1 for all three bars!!)

 

· Revisit your old favourites- whether this is an album you used to absolutely loved! A show you used to watch! (I’m a bit of a 90s sitcom fanatic!, anything that will make you smile. Not going to lie, revisiting sitcoms like ‘Keeping up appearances’, Sister, Sister and of course, birds of a feather old and new, makes me smile on a gloomy, not so great day.

So my first blog has now came to a close. I would like to say thanks for reading, I hope there’s some real, practical useable tips on here to help you if you are having a tough day, a tough spell financially and emotionally.

Three #daneypositives to take away:

· Congratulate yourself on every achievement, however small. This could easily be waking up an hour earlier in the morning than usual. When you’re depressed, getting up in the morning is the hard bit

 

·  Be your own best friend. Listen to the thoughts in your head, would speak to your best friend like that? Would you tell them that they’re lazy, worthless and cant achieve anything? No! so stop being so mean to yourself.

 

· Have a thoughts diary and write in it before you go to bed, that way you’re literally unloading, and clearing your mind in order to help you sleep

 

Daney over and out for nowwww!