Thursday, 19 February 2015

Day 2: Make-up


Day 2: Make-up

Make-up hack for literally anyone:
1. Wear some
2. Don't
3. Re-evaluate options 1-2 as often as you see fit

For something I wear every time I leave the house, the topic of make-up leaves me oddly bereft of writing inspiration.

Make-up is one of those strange things that somehow manages to unite, polarise and alienate different sections of the population all in one go.

As a potential wearer of make-up you can expect to be chastised for wearing too much, too little, none, or simply any at all, on any given day of the week. I mean, I love make-up, but it's pretty hard to ignore the fact that the whole culture of beauty comes with its own problematic implications. (I mean seriously, can't we just have nice things? Just once?)

I wear make-up every day, but is it a choice? It's certainly a habit, part of my routine, and has been since my early teens, but unlike putting the orange juice back in the fridge, it's not something I would ever forget to do.

There is a certain version of myself that I prefer to display. It is not my "optimum" state of being, nor does it make me in any way better as a person, but inhabiting it increases my confidence and allows me to achieve, create and generally get shit done on a day to day basis.

I've learned that I have much more to offer the world than any kind of perfected face, (would have been a long-old wait) but if colouring my face and shading in my eyebrows in some small way makes me feel capable of making that call, asking that important question or even just showing up, then who are you to deny someone, anyone, that? Hell, who are you to stop anyone doing anything it takes to make themselves happy? (Ok no, not anything. Common sense please, and just, be nice to each other)

For all its institutionalised ills, day or night, make-up is a fast-track way to present to the world the face of your choosing, even if you choose not to cover a single inch of it in anything at all.
Alright, maybe not always fast-track. Apologies to anyone who has ever had to wait around for me to finish mine. Probably most of you.

But seriously, for a billion-dollar industry that ultimately trades in insecurities you never even knew you had, it sure is a lot of fun.

I pity anyone who has never felt that particular satisfaction of achieving that perfect sweep of liquid eyeliner. First time. On both eyes. In the same, deliberate style.

You know the one.

I can count on precisely one finger the number of times it has actually happened, but it. was. glorious.

Make-up is a skill, a skill that lots of people acquire over years and years of trial, error and practice, and while it's perhaps not a marketable one for your average human, anything that encourages you to take that time for yourself and focus your attention on making yourself feel good, is alright by me.


Wednesday, 18 February 2015

Day 1: My Nose.

My name is Abi, and I am a writer who doesn't write.
In an effort to remedy this, an arbitrary period of time that lends itself to a self-imposed writing challenge.
Lent: 40 days; 40 topics suggested by friends.

Day 1: My Nose.

I pierced my nose.

I paid a guy in a shop to shove some metal through my nose and then rang my mother to inform her, who promptly hung up on me.

After she had calmed down, and feeling had returned to the fingers of the friend who had been the catalyst to the stabbing (don't even try and deny it) the sense of accomplishment took over and I relished the feeling of having done something so completely and utterly for myself.

Looking back, I can still feel the rush; that rush of just doing something, this thing that I had been agonising over doing for so damn long. Looking back, I don't think I've done anything quite like it since, which I guess is equal parts sad, and also paving the way for things even more exciting.

However, my delay in bullet-biting adventures has not been through lack of trying.

I have always needed that push, that little reassurance that this thing is The Right Thing, but in this quest for absolute certainty I find myself forced in to this frustrating stalemate of inaction where the only person I have to rally against is, well, myself.

It's not just body modification that causes me to stutter; this internal doubt seems to bleed silently in to pretty much every decision, right down to the seemingly frivolous. It's hard work.

Of course, we're all a little unsure, a little uncertain (aren't we!?)

Guys?

All jokes aside, as was already patently obvious to everyone else, we all have to learn to be our own push.

I'm getting better, in increments, and that little push itself is better than no push at all.

I've acknowledged, but not accepted, the fact that for every reason why, I can often be relied upon to find 25 reasons why not, but on a good day?

On a good day, I get my nose pierced.



Monday, 27 May 2013

Monday, 26 November 2012

Livity Advantage Week 3/4: Life According to Ronan Keating


There's the established notion of a difficult second album, but this past week I've been battling with an evasive, supposedly serial blog post.

 For the first time in a while I am busy. Every-minute-of-the-day, where-the-heck-has-the-time-gone busy, and I am loving it. I spend my days engrossed in the Livity Advantage course like an oft-mentioned sponge, and my nights to-ing and fro-ing both literally and figuratively as I sign my life and brainpower over to an increasing number of wonderful things.

 The past week marked the halfway point of the Livity Advantage course (eek!) and with it came endless pontificating about the possibilities that lay ahead, and the massive scope of opportunities that are just waiting to be seized. I know we're learning and ‘growing’ as potential employees, but it also feels like we're in a limbo of sorts; a suspended animation of keen, raw talent and any minute now someone is going to press the great big play button and we'll have only a few seconds to acclimatise before we hit the ground, preferably running.8 weeks never seemed long, but now we’ve gone past the tipping point, as it were, it’s almost like we’ve climbed the arduous but arguably comfortable incline and now we’re teetering at the top, verging on descent, ready for the last 4 weeks to go rushing past our ears as we plunge in to the real world faster than our stomachs can handle.

 I don’t often find myself referencing the esteemed Ronan Keating in day-to-day life (complete lie) but I can’t deny that the man summed it up pretty succinctly when he sang about life, rollercoasters and the duplicity betwixt them, as my previous analogy would clearly suggest.So, while I fight against every fibre of my being and refrain from labouring Mr Keating’s metaphor any further (at huge personal cost, might I add) I should probably fleetingly declare my undying love for the Penguin Spinebreakers brief we are currently working on, which I will no doubt go in to much more detail about next week when we’ve PITCHED TO PENGUIN. Sorry, obligatory caps lock there while I endeavour to let that sink in. Oh, and I’m also climbing up the O2 to sing carols at sunrise which will potentially be televised. So yeah, next week will be an interesting one!So, in essence, it’s in your interest to stay tuned because, well, for one, I’m going to be standing on top of the O2, in December, in choir robes, singing Christmas carols at 7am, and not many people can promise you that in a weekly(ish) blog post.

Sunday, 11 November 2012

Livity Advantage Week 2: The Science of Learning


There’s something strange about sitting down at the end of a week and contemplating the seven days you've just lived. Obviously on Livity Advantage I am tangibly learning new things what feels like every other minute of the day, and so the process of going over what I've encountered, cementing new ideas and consolidating the vast amounts of information in to something akin to being able to process and fully useful to me is a sensible one that actually presents immediate and obvious benefits, but how many of us do that in ‘regular circumstances’?

What did you learn this week?

It might be something small, like a new function within your email account (or perhaps rather large if that function was compose, or even send) or something huge like how to manage your emotions in a certain situation, or that crucial algorithm that’s going to completely revolutionise the way you work. No matter what you've done, where you've been, or who you have or haven’t been in contact with, I guarantee you have learnt something over the past week; that something has been added to the vast, limitless database that exists inside your head, even if you’re not consciously aware of it.
Still not convinced?
Ok, I’ll go.
*deep breath*
This week, week 2 of the Livity Advantage course, I have discovered the ins and outs of the power of video content from the incredibly-named Hugo Soul, been let in on Matt Connolly’s 3-point plan for business success, learnt the incredible reach and growing impact of mobile, and mind-numbing statistics from Mary Burris at Google, like the fact that there are over 850k Android devices activated each and every day, which is in fact more than the number of babies born, and also how to go about forming a coherent, useful status report for an expectant client, and that really is just off the top of my head.
I know I'm in a specific learning environment, but wouldn't it be a fantastic thing to get to the end of a week and just stop and think about what it is we've done, or even achieved, and be able to self-assess and self-manage in a way that could ultimately improve the way we live, and indeed go about living as a whole.
Why not give it a try? It doesn't have to be written down, but just have a think. Is there anything else that you would like to learn or achieve in the next week? Is there anything that in 1 week’s time you would like to be able to think back on, maybe sat where you are now, and feel proud of or feel, tangibly, like you've learnt or done something useful to you or maybe even to those around you.
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Aristotle
Another thing I learnt this week, from Lizzie Bentley-Bowers at Coaching Impact.
It’s not easy to self-examine, but even on a superficial level, knowledge is power.
Oh, and one other thing I've learned: Steve Lennon has pretty awesome taste in random, heart-warming YouTube videos.

Thursday, 8 November 2012

Live What You Love

Have you ever been so deep in thought that you almost missed your stop?

It happened to me for the first time earlier this week on my way home from the Livity office. (I can only apologise to the woman sat next to me at the time for the actual, physical jolt of realisation that occurred on my part, and what was potentially the ensuing heart-attack on hers.)

For the first time in a very long time I am excited to get up and get to the office in the morning, and I find myself riding the residual buzz of excitement and inspiration all the way home at night, right up until I'm overcome by sleep. I'd forgotten, or perhaps never even known what it feels like to be so completely engaged, and as the sudden influx of posts would suggest, my creativity has been poked with a great big stick and roused from hibernation.

This is living; truly.

Everything suddenly makes sense, and in the most clichéd, cringe-inducing fashion I now know what it means to be high on life; nigh-on intoxicated by living what I love, and achieving and learning so much more because of it.

Sunday, 4 November 2012

Livity Advantage: Week 1


Wow. Well. What can I say? It’s been quite the week and there are 7 more still to go. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind, and I’m not even being clichéd when I say my feet have barely touched the ground. (Well, maybe a bit) I’m incredibly lucky to have been chosen as part of the final 15 for Livity Advantage who now make up our very own agency that will be dealing with real-life briefs and clients over the 8-week period, all the while learning the hows, whats, whens, wheres and whys of Digital Media from some of the best in the industry based around a series of Google-pioneered toolkits. Got that? Good. Bear with.