I think we can all agree that at the moment we collectively hate this episode of Black Mirror. Everything has come to a halt and we are all worried about our friends, our family and ourselves, however the one thing that’s going to make an impact more than anything right now is our mental health. Having the right outlook impacts how we survive this without going completely batshit crazy, and how we help each other. People on their own are calm and collected, whereas people in a group have about the same level of chill as a clowder of cats on catnip, (yes the word for a group of cats is a clowder). In this article I, an extrovert, am going to help you with ways not to completely fall down the rabbit hole, and use this time we have in limbo well.
I didn’t get acne as a usual pubescent teen. I was relatively fresh faced in the mid noughties and thought id dodged it right up until the age of around 20 when literally overnight my face started to erupt so badly that I was convinced that it had to be an allergic reaction to something. Unfortunately that wasn't the case, ground zero for my cystic acne starting was unclear although hormonal birth control may have been a catalyst to what was going to be a life long condition which I’m still wrestling with at 29. I have spent years and years trying to find the sweet spot to keep my acne away, however the flare ups will come and go, and like a lot of acne sufferers its something I have to deal with. With your own skin it really is a matter of trial and error, there is no magical cure, but I’m going to share my own journey and what has helped me gain some control over my face and perhaps it might be the little bit of wisdom that’ll help you too.
I have a theory. There are many things in life that we would regard a hundred years ago as genuine torture, if you asked most people if they would like to be submerged into sub zero temperature water with no guarantee that they could get out, or if they would like to run for miles and miles to the point of vomiting, they would probably look at you like you’d just said that you were an Instagram influencer on a first date. However ice swimming and marathon running are two tried and tested pastimes that our modern society deems leisurely. And this is my issue with something I have been told to enjoy my entire life as I’m sure many of you have, camping.
I was at my show after a singing gig the other day and someone said that I looked just like David Bowie. They are wrong of course, the only thing I have in common with the late great David Bowie is being short haired, slim, and that I can sing. What that statement meant to me and what she actually saw was something far more meaningful than she could ever imagine. Bowie encapsulated masculine and feminine simultaneously, chaotically, and perfectly. He stood for every oddball in the school yard, everyone who thought they weren't actually meant to be on this planet, and everyone who believed so viciously in their art that they would constantly break the rules to do it. And if she saw one ounce of that in me, then I was already doing what the song that sparked my desire to live again told me to do.
