Blogging is something I’ve wanted to try for a while but I’ve always wondered what “style” of blogger I would want to be so I just stuck to YouTube etc whilst I pondered. I ended up recently reading a couple of Carrie Hope Fletcher’s blog posts and it made me realise that I just loved the idea of just spurting my thoughts out on my life and my loves: Disney, theatre and LGBT+ related issues.
So, where do we begin? I guess a re-introduction.
Hi, I’m Aeron James. I’m a 23 year old cisgendered white gay male who has an obsession with Disney and the theatrical world. I go by the phrase “cute gay Flounder” as the little guppy from ‘The Little Mermaid’ sums my personality up pretty well and the film is one of my all time faves.
Time For Change
This year, I want to to make a change. Throughout 2018 I felt my gears start to break and my mind start to ache. I stopped finding joy in what I was doing and I became so self-conscious about “success” and whether I had actually made any progress in life. The hardest thing I found to shake were my pre-conceived ideas as a teenager of where I would be in my early twenties. I had envisioned a steady career, a husband, a house in London and a kid on the way… I bet you can already figure out that i’m not currently in that idyllic state.
I started being reckless with my diet later on in the year and eating wheat-based products even though I have an intolerance. My mental health just plummeted as I was getting around four hours sleep a day for my morning work shifts and then eating and stressing when I wasn’t at work. I honestly thought I would never be able to break that cyclical chain that had formed.
Let It Go
When the Winter Season came I decided it was fight or flight time. In my case, stay in the circle or break it. Retail is an industry that has no rest. My 2017 Christmas season was spent getting only a few days back in the West Midlands with family and having to be driven back on Boxing Day for a shift. There is no time for Christmas, there are toys and gifts to be sold.
I’d promised myself at the start of 2018 that I wouldn’t let myself go through another Christmas away from my family again. So when November came and nothing had changed… I snapped. I handed in my notice, went on a impulsive three-day trip to Disneyland Paris with one of my closest friends and I vowed to clear my head and restart.
Where Am I Now?
Fast forward to March 2019. Since December I have been riding between the fine lines of freelance and funemployed. Enough money to survive but not enough security to feel like I’ve got my things together.
I’ve had time to work on growing West End Picnic and my own personal brand. I managed to make up for all the time I didn’t get to spend with my family in 2018. I can say that I’ve managed to not eat chocolate or have syrup in coffees for over a month and I am planning to stick to it until at least Easter.
I still am not in an idyllic state and I know in many ways I’m in a less secure place however I can finally wake up happy that I’m still alive. I’m excited to see press releases, to see new shows, to network, to grow. I just now need to get this “low year” weight off and keep working hard so I can look back at that snap decision and think “yeah, I did the right thing”.
This Blog And Beyond
I would love to say how often this blog will get new posts or what specifically you can expect from it. I can’t do that. What I can say, however, is that I want to start writing a lot more on here and also on westendpicnic.com.
I want the Aeronauts family to grow and I would love to be able to write an update post a year to the day and be able to be like “wow, a lot changed”.
Fingers Crossed!
