On Re-evaluate Your Life Day, I took the opportunity to reflect, in an open and honest way, about where I have been, where I am now and where I want to be in the world of freelance PR.  Ironically, it took my adoration of Axl Rose and passion for Guns N’Roses, plus a trip to Toronto, to see them on tour, for me to reach this point.

I was completely reignited by the experience and also felt very connected to Axl, in a very powerful way, which is a little weird, as that sort of thing has never happened before.  Perhaps we’re kindred spirits, both being perfectionists, taking criticism quite personally but loving the crafting of things that are truly special.  Perhaps we’re just typical of those who are Tigers in the Chinese zodiac system, according to our birth year.  Perhaps it’s true that you need to surround yourself by people who sing the same tunes.

With mental health being such a big thing, I was focused on the topic in October and saw that Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan posted about it.  I thought that really brave, so took the opportunity to record a podcast about my own journey and how it’s ended up in workaholicism and total life imbalance.  It wasn’t the sort of subject matter for Poodling Around or my Poodling Arounders but seemed a good thing to talk about on the Catapult PR Show.  So I did.  You can listen here. https://traffic.libsyn.com/catapultpr/Re-evaluating-Life-Thanks-to-Channelling-My-Inner-Axl.mp3

I’m so grateful that I joined all the Gunners in Toronto, to see Axl live and regain all the fire I used to have.  The creativity has been even more off the chart than normal, thanks to not just sitting at a desk 24/7 and getting the earphones on, to get music flowing through the body.  That’s got to be so good for clients!

I now feel that I really can, one day soon, be that girl who one day drives  through Italy from top to bottom, sniffing out all the amazing hidden gems, coastal bays, architectural glories and very best food to be found.  Taking into account my natural instincts for just stumbling upon incredible things, due to being nosy I think (or maybe thanks to my Viking blood) – and my love for seeing things through the lens and then exploring them to the max – that would be some ride to be on.  I think I’m probably a bit OCD once I get on the trail of something fab and know I can start composing great photos to try to capture the ‘being in the moment’ essence of it all. My Fitbit steps counter would certainly suggest so!

Given the fact everyone I know notes I have a face that everyone, anywhere, at any time, in any situation, wants to talk to, no matter how random it is for them to do so, it should be sheer fun.  My close encounters of the very random kind always are!  So does anyone fancy it?  Happy to have an equally whacky person ride shotgun!

It’s also time to get back to writing a few books and maybe resurrecting my children’s writing workshops in schools.  How I used to love helping boys, who claimed they “hated” writing to the point it was probably worse than eating bogies in their eyes, suddenly fall in love with it.  Seeing their incredible progression, just thanks to my ever-so-slightly non-conventional input and unswerving belief in their hidden ability, was such a rewarding thing.

People may call me quirky, but living in a world of quirkiness is a pretty good place to be.  It fires the imagination and creates sparks and lots of laughter and bizarre scenarios – often like those I detailed in ‘Rogue Elephants: One Woman’s Journey Through the Human Jungle.  That part of my story terminated in 2012 when I won the national CIPR Excellence Award for Outstanding Independent Practitioner.  Perhaps I should work on a volume II, if I can find anything funny to talk that’s happened over the past 11 years!  I do seem to recall that I ended up in a ditch a few months later, when enroute to a meeting!  Then there’s a very interesting tale from a lay-by in Bologna to relate!  Men, in particular, love that one!

I channelled my inner Axl to scoop the Prolific North Marketing Award for Best Small Budget Campaign earlier this month and, on the same evening, stumbled upon a very old acquaintance.  What I wasn’t expecting was a massive hug and her revelation that I’d always been her inspiration!  Why anyone should want to be like me is a bit baffling to me but she genuinely seems to have used me as a blueprint.  I could get used to people gushing about me!

Laughter is the best medicine, they say.  However, the showmanship of Axl is the biggest uplift and joy.  I shall take him with me, in spirit, when I do go on my mega-journey around Italy (hopefully, this time, not jumping in a man’s car and virtually forcing him to drive me to my hotel about six miles away).  My discovery that he wasn’t a taxi driver after all is perhaps a good story for Rogue Elephants II!  A little knowledge, and speaking of a language, can be a dangerous thing.  Luckily, the non-taxi-driver, who I unwittingly commandeered, wasn’t dangerous.