I
have a group of friends in Oldham and two groups of friends in
Manchester, and I juggle to stay in touch with all of them. Most
contact is through Facebook, as there are a number of factors that
can- and usually do- get in the way of seeing them in person: money,
children, work, distance, nightlife tastes, fallouts, mortgages,
planned weddings… the list goes on. Hence, frequently I’m stuck
in.
At
one point this would piss me off. I’ve spent most of my life being
broke as shit, watching everyone else succeed around me. Now I’ve
got a little bit left over after bills, and everyone else is broke.
But
this isn’t such a bad thing. My ambition is to get known as a
writer, to succeed in writing somehow, as a blogger / journalist /
author / poet. The plan is blurry, but I can’t forget forget that
in favour of going out at every possible moment. I have unfinished
projects that need polishing off and sending out to magazines. So,
whilst everyone else is watching box sets of Homeland or bumming off
Breaking Bad with their once-outgoing partner, I’m emailing editors
of American publications. I’m getting my work read. I’m
experimenting with social media to see if there are undiscovered
methods of using sites like Facebook and Twitter to actually help
people. (The results of these experiments can be found among these
posts, and are among my most-read.) I’m boxing every week and I’m
smashing the gym. Yes, I’d like to be seeing my mates more, but we
aren’t kids any more. I’ll see them when they're ready, if I’m
free to.
And
yeah, I’d like a proper girlfriend, but maybe I’m seeing someone
anyway… It’s amazing what happens when you ask to get your
picture taken with someone. And besides- no drama.
The
point I’m making is- why complain? What does that achieve? There is
an opportunity in every problem, and I’m grasping that opportunity
and getting a move on with writing. When you find you can’t do one
thing you were planning on, think, what can I do? What does this give
me a chance to do?
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