So it's been a while...

Hi friends,

It’s been a while between drinks. In fact, my last post was uploaded about 18 months ago. That’s a long time, and a lot can happen in eighteen months. In fact, a lot has happened in 18 months. So much has happened, in fact, that to just come back to this blog and continue on without addressing any of it would be disingenuous to all the people that I know enjoyed my blog while it was active (shout outs to the OGs).

To be blunt and to the point, I reached a stage at which my mental health dictated that I start to remove things from my life to leave room for looking after myself. This blog was one of them. I am back in shape mentally after a long time of struggling hard, and looking back on my experiences and taking stock of where I am headed next, I feel like it is important to share some things in an attempt to create something meaningful out of what was easily the worst and most difficult six months of my life. In fact, I am going to try and boil this down into a very cringey and hopefully self-aware 10 Pieces Of Advice on How To Get By In Life and Hopefully Stay Sane or something like that. You know what, just shut up and read it. 

1.     Read a good book once in a while

Just do it. It’s not that hard. It doesn’t matter how quickly you read it, or how many times you attempt to finish it, or what it is even. Just pick up a book and read it. If you want my advice, find something short. In fact, here’s a recommendation – go and find Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis.

2.     Make sure you talk to at least one other person every day, no matter how badly you don’t want to.

Get out of bed. Go outside. Give someone a call. You know, on the phone? Go get a coffee with them. Go for a walk. Talk about nothing in particular or talk about how you’re going to run a start-up that will take over the global economy in three years. I don’t care who it is or what you talk about, just find someone to talk to. Messenger doesn’t count, either.

3.     Swallow your pride and ask for help.

No one thinks you’re weak for asking for help. It won’t be easier straight away, but you won’t have to keep pretending you’re ok all the time.

4.     Pray. You’d be surprised.

Thank God every day, and if there’s nothing to thank the Lord for, wrestle with Him about it. He can take it.

5.     Go to the cinema with your friends.

And don't just go home as soon as it's finished, either. Go and get some food, think about what you've seen, and talk about it. 

6.     Drink water, eat healthy and exercise.

7.     Put down the toilet seat when you’re done, you grot.

8.     If you find someone or something that makes you happy, go towards it.

9.     Always laugh about it.

Nothing is so bad that you can’t laugh about it, unless you let it.

10.  Always be honest about how you feel.

If you follow those 10 simple guidelines you'll never have any problems in your life, and you'll be happy until the day that you die. 

But in terms of this blog, I am going to be shaking it up a bit moving forward. Rather than just focusing on music journalism I am going to be branching out into film, literature and ministry as well. There will still be album reviews, but you will be seeing interviews, movie reviews, thinkpieces on culture, film and music, discussions on modern faith, short stories and who knows what else. If the music journalism is what you are interested in, I will be getting back into that over at Killyourstereo.com real soon, so keep an eye out over there for that. As always I appreciate you stopping by to have a read, it really does mean a lot to me. I'm always open to feedback and I'd love to just chat with you anyway, so feel free to drop a comment anywhere.

Love you all, and I'll be seeing you again real soon,

Jonty