If you're old enough to remember that image then you are probably also about to turn forty...
So Facebook keeps telling me that my followers haven't heard from me in a while (yes alright, I'll write something, Christ, you nag more than I do come pay day!) and when I checked my website data it turned out the last time I wrote a blog was May. That is pretty piss poor, so I apologise.
Freelance life continues on it's weird and wonderful up and down path. On paper I'm quite busy, two new websites on the go and the usual repeat bits n bobs. In reality I'm spending a lot of my time waiting for copy and feedback and watching Please Like Me (new fav Amazon show). I'm having plenty of meetings and chats with prospective new clients and one day they may even lead to some paid work.
I also took a whole week off and qualified as an RLSS Pool Lifeguard - I had to keep up with my 16 year old fellow candidates in the final day assessment so it's fair to say I'm pretty proud of that achievement!
I also only have two days until my fortieth birthday. Being one of the youngest of my peers I have been able to sit back and watch this creeping towards me. An uncomfortable thing to watch and a time for a bit of reflection. I don't think I've done too badly... I may not own my own house or have children, but I have been married for over ten years, been a Blackbelt in Kickboxing (these two are not related), overcome two serious knee operations (these two are related), worked for myself for four years and seen a good chunk of the World (although that's on hold for a bit because taking holidays when you're freelance is a bit shit), I drive an awesome car, am generally a decent person and don't really regret anything in my life.
If something doesn't go well, simply change direction. This is what I tried to instil on my 16 year old buddies on the Lifeguard Course, come the assessment they were all worrying about things that were out of their control. At school they're all coming up to results time and feeling like their lives are over before they've begun. I got quite good GCSE's, went on to A Levels, quit them by Christmas, did a BTEC a year later, didn't go to Uni, worked for and with some awesome people (and some truly awful ones) and basically followed my own path. I've never stuck at a job I didn't enjoy and I've never done anything I didn't want to because it was expected of me. Things in life invariably fuck up at some point and you can either sit and cry about it or think, right what can I do next?
So, what can I do next... ?!