Growing up, most of us were conditioned to believe failure was the worst thing that could ever happen to us.
You Will Fail in a Thousand Different Ways — Novelty Revisions
Being Different Series
Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!
Today’s blog is all about the new page that I have made for my Being Different blog series!Similar to how we have updated both the Alzheimer’s Acceptance and Alzheimer’s Avoidance series, the Being Different series has now had a big update to it! I much prefer the new page to what it used to be in the Blogapedia, let me know what you think!
I am slowly making my way through every series in the Blogapedia and giving them all their own pages! The transition process does take a while for me to do so I do apologize for the time that it takes to amend and update. As the Being Different series was the second series that I ever did on the page, I have needed to make some amendments to the page to make it more coherent with the rest of my work. The blogs are now all a bit longer and contain a lot more content that they used too! I hope you all enjoy the newly updated blogs!
To find the new page is simple. You can either find it by pressing the link above or you can go over to the Blogs drop-down list, hover over Blogapedia and you can find it there. Alternatively you can go straight to the Blogapedia page and find it there. All of the series that I write on the page are on the Blogapedia so if you are looking for something new to read, check it out!
Blogapedia is available here.
So what is the Being Different Series?
The Being Different series was the second series that I every wrote for the page and is all about why Being Different is something to be proud of, not ashamed of. The series focuses on the positive side of Being Different whilst also bringing in what Being Different actually means and the affect that it can have on your life.
I have edited a few of the blogs again recently to make sure that they are a lot more relevant and have a lot more content in them that they already had. Although they have been edited the original message that I wanted to portray through the series still stands and the actual purpose of each blog hasn’t changed at all.
The first blog in the series acts as an introduction to the series, talking about what we hope to cover through the series. The second blog goes into detail about what being different is and compares Oxford Dictionaries definition of what being different is to one that I made myself. The third blog in the series takes a look at the positive side of being different and how difference is a good thing and is something that we should embrace.
The fourth blog in the series takes a different approach and talks about how you can see yourself change though the years through a mirror. In this blog we talk about even though the way you see the world may change, the person that you are inside does not need to change. The fifth blog is the last blog in the series and acts as a series summary, talking about everything we covered in the series.
That is all I want to talk about in today’s blog! I hope you have all enjoyed! What do you think? Are you going to read the Being Different series? Should I bring the series back? Are you enjoying the new pages coming to Sweeney’s Blogs? What page would you like to see next? Let me know what you think of these questions and any other comments you have either in the comments below or via our Facebook page!
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day!
Sweeney’s Blog
Any money donated here is greatly appreciated and will be directly reinvested into the page!
£5.00
James Sweeney
What do we mean by Success? – Blog 3: Your Qualifications?
Education and indeed the qualifications that you have are too many the foundation of their definition of success. People see education as an all or nothing when it comes to being successful or not when sometimes it just simply is not. The question that we are going to be looking at today is: does education factor in whether you are successful or not?
Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!
This is the third blog in the “What do we mean by Success?” series! Today’s blog is all about if education and qualifications are a factor of whether we are successful or not in life. As with many of the other blogs in this series, there are a lot of different opinions on this topic, I will give my opinion but I am in no way saying that it is right or wrong , it is simply my view on the subject. If you have a different viewpoint or question let me know in the comments or on our Facebook page and we will discuss it further.
The education that we have had the qualifications that we have achieved will most likely differ with each person you meet. Different people prefer different subjects, some people may find Maths and English as the easiest subject in the world, whereas others may see them as the hardest. The qualifications and education we have does play a part in where we end up in life but should we define our success simply by what we may have acheived 10-20 years ago?
It is very true that education can help you get a better job in the future but simply having the qualifications does not guarantee that you will get any or every job that you apply for. They play a good part in it yes, but they are in no way a guarantee. The value that we place on Education is very important growing up and is something that I personally value very highly but the question is: does it determine whether we are successful or not?
If you have 10 GCSE’s with grades ranging from A*- C and your friend has 9, does that make you more successful than them? Does it make you smarter than them? If another one of your friends has 11 GCSE’s ranging from A*-C does that make them smarter or better/ more successful than you? These are the questions that I would like you to think about when reading this blog. How do you see success and does your education act as a factor in that or not?
What I love about writing this series is all the questions that I ask are all down to a matter of opinion. You can talk to 10 different people about these questions and each time you will get a different response. The concept of success is one that we all see differently and it is something that should be embraced, not swept to one side.
Education is constantly evolving to adapt to a forever changing world, therefore the education and ,of course, the qualifications change with them. An easy example to look at here is the change from O Levels to GCSEs. This change was made for people who wanted to leave school at 16 without doing A levels or attempting to go to University. Education always changes eventually so should we deem how successful we are by the things that we are taught?
The way that we see Education also differs depending on who you talk to. The traditional way as it were would be to go through school to get your GCSEs, then go to College to study for your A Levels and then go to University in your chosen filed and eventually get a job. That is just one way that people can do it. There are so many alternate routes that people can take ranging from BTEC qualifications, to vocational qualifications, professional courses and so many more.
Personally I did not take the “textbook way” to get to University. I went through School doing really well and got very good GCSEs, even with a very large operation during my last year in School. When I went to College unfortunately I did not do as well as I hoped and did nowhere near what I was capable of. After College I did the Level 3 AAT, Accounting qualifications as well as a HNC in Computing and Information Systems at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David and went on to Reading University to study my chosen degree path.
Do I see myself as less successful than others as I took a different route to University? Should I? Personally I am glad that I did not take the traditional way. Not doing so well at College taught me a lot of lessons that will be very valuable to me in later life and the extra qualifications that I now have, alongside my AS and A Levels are a great asset when entering the world of work down the line.
There is no right or wrong answer for how you rank education as a factor in whether you are successful or not in life. It is all down to a matter of opinion. I base success off of a large number of variables of which my education is a part of. This blog is not meant to make you feel like you are wrong or right in what you think, it is made to open the door on questions that you may not have thought of.
Personally I love having debates on topics like this, I feel that because everyone sees them differently it can lead to a very interesting and thought provoking debate. All that I ask is that when you think of Education as a factor or not in relation to Success consider all variables. Remember what I said at the start of the blog if you have 10 GCSEs and your friend has 9, does that make you smarter or more successful than them? Success to me is a term of an amalgamation of different things but the way that you see it may be completely different.
That is all I want to talk about in today’s blog! Thank you all for reading! I hope everyone is doing alright in the lock-down that we are facing currently. What do you think of today’s blog? Are you enjoying the What do we mean by Success series? What would you like to see me talk about next? Let me know what you think of these questions and any other comments that you have either in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
Thank you all for reading and I hope you have a great day,
Sweeney’s Blogs
Any money donated here is greatly appreciated and will be directly invested back into the page.
£5.00
James Sweeney
stories with happy endings — Elle Thinks
If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book. The Bad Beginning, Lemony Snicket. 1999. Oh, Lemony Snicket, how did I love thee, back when I was a mere tiddler reading through the non-YA section of my school’s library (and furious because my mother would not […]
stories with happy endings — Elle Thinks
Struggling With Writer’s Block? Here’s How to Overcome it — irevuo
Ah, the (in)famous writer’s block, also known as creative bankruptcy. It’s by far the most hated aspect of being a writer. Sometimes it’s so severe that it makes you doubt your abilities, maybe even doubt whether being a writer is worth it. What am I going to write about? I could almost hear a lot […]
Struggling With Writer’s Block? Here’s How to Overcome it — irevuo
Alzheimer’s Avoidance Series
Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!
Today’s post is all about the new page that I have created for my Alzheimer’s Avoidance series! Similar to yesterday’s blog about the Alzheimer’s Acceptance series being updated, I have now managed to update the Alzheimer’s Avoidance series as well! I think the page looks great and would love to hear what you think of the new addition to the Sweeney’s Blogs page!
This new page marks the second change for my Blogapedia page. I am going to continue making new pages for each series that I have written for the page and each time I make a new page I will also update the Blogapedia. Instead of having a link to every blog in each series, the Blogapedia will now provide a link to each blog series’s page on the site and will give a short description about the series and will give an inkling into what I cover throughout each series on the page. A more in-depth blog about the changes will be coming in the future, so keep an eye out!
To find the new page you have to go under the Blogs drop-down list and then you can find it under the Blogapedia drop-down. This is where all of the series pages are going to go once I have finished them.
So, What is the Alzheimer’s Avoidance series?
The Alzheimer’s Avoidance series is designed to discuss different methods and techniques to reduce your chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease. In the series we take a look at techniques such as solving puzzle games, doing regular exercise, having a good social life and so many more to see firstly what they are and secondly how they reduce your chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease.
A point that I emphasize throughout the series is that although these techniques have been said to lower your chance of getting Alzheimer’s, they cannot guarantee that you will not get it. I would love to use a magic wand to get rid of illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia but sadly I cannot. So instead I provide a range of things that we can try and do in our daily life to help reduce the risk of getting such horrible illnesses.
When you read through all of the techniques and methods you will find that they are very good for your health in general, not just for Alzheimer’s and Dementia. Things like regular exercise and learning a new language can work wonders for both your Physical and Mental Health and you may find that they help reduce your risk of getting other illnesses too.
That’s all I wanted to talk about in today’s blog! Thank you all for reading! What do you think of the new page? Are you enjoying all of the blogs recently? What sort of content do you want to see on the page? Are you going to check out our new Alzheimer’s Avoidance page? Let me know what you think of these questions as well as any other thoughts or queries you may have in the comments below or through our Facebook page.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day,
Sweeney’s Blogs
Any money donated here is greatly appreciated and will be put directly back into the page!
£5.00
James Sweeney
Alzheimer’s Acceptance Series
Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!
Have you all seen our new Alzheimer’s Acceptance page? If not then go and check it out! The page is all about the Alzheimer’s Acceptance series which was one of the first blog series I wrote on the page. The Alzheimer’s Acceptance page can be found under the Blogapedia drop-down list, which can be found under the Blogs drop-down!
The Alzheimer’s Acceptance page marks the start of the long list of changes that are going to be coming to the Blogapedia page on my site. I have always wanted to change the Blogapedia page but was never really sure what to do until now. There will be a more in-depth blog on this in the next few days but to cut a long story short each blog series that I have written on the page will be getting it’s own separate page on the site.
If you do what to see what the newer page looks like please click the link above. The Alzheimer’s Acceptance is still in the Blogapedia page too so take a look at the new design using the link below. It will be happening to every series in the Blogapedia when I get a chance!
So, what exactly is the Alzheimer’s Acceptance series?
The Alzheimer’s Acceptance series is the first series that I ever created on the page and as you can imagine from the name is all about helping people to accept what Alzheimer’s is, the effect it can have on the person with the condition as well as the effect it can have on that persons friends and family.
The series mixes both informative blogs as well as personal stories to give a real view on how Alzheimer’s can affect you and your loved ones. I share a story about the first time my grandmother forgot who I was to show, even though it hurts a lot, Accepting Alzheimer’s is something that we all need to try and do in life. Accepting the condition allows us to process it and plan how we are going to adapt and help the person suffering.
As well as the little story that I write, I do go through how I learned to accept Alzheimer’s in the fourth blog in the series. It was quite hard to write at the time for me as I found it a very emotional topic to discuss but I kept on going as I felt like the message was a really important one to portray and show people.
That’s all I want to talk about in today’s blog! What do you all think? Do you like the new Alzheimer’s Acceptance series? Are there any changes that you want to see come to my page? What do you think of Alzheimer’s Acceptance? Have you had to accept that someone has Alzheimer’s before? How did you do it? Did you find it difficult? Let me know what you think either in the comments below or on our Facebook page.
Thank you all for reading and I hope you have a great day!
Sweeney’s Blogs
Any money donated is here is greatly appreciated and will be put back into the page!
£5.00
Thanks,
James Sweeney
Isolation… Lockdown… Make mental health as important as physical health — Depression Survivor
So many of us have become great at hand washing, social distancing, and isolating. But as our isolation continues, how many of us are being as deliberate and mindful with caring for our mental health? As we navigate this truly bizarre time, anxiety, depression, fear, and helplessness are all around us. There’s so much that […]
Isolation… Lockdown… Make mental health as important as physical health — Depression Survivor
What Colour Do You Feel Today? — Middle-aged, Free and Single
How do you feel? I mean, how do you really feel? Happy? Or depressed? Or?? It seems to me that we’ve started to think that if we’re not feeling happy then we must be feeling sad. And if we’re feeling sad we must be suffering from depression. And if we’re suffering from depression we need […]
What Colour Do You Feel Today? — Middle-aged, Free and Single
What do we mean by Success? – Blog 2: Your Job?
You often hear the word success being mentioned when a lot of people talk about their work life/job. You hear people say that a person was successful in getting a particular position/role or that they were not successful in a job that they went for. The question that I like to ask is what do you mean by success in this instance?
Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!
Today’s blog is the second blog in the “What do we mean by Success?” series and is going to discuss if our job is what makes us successful, if it is only a small part of what we define as success or if it doesn’t matter at all when thinking of successful. Success is a term that has many different contributing factors in for many and these factors are valued differently from one person to the next. Whether or not our job role plays a part in whether we can say we are successful or not is the main objective of this blog.
Jobs come in many different shapes and sizes, ranging from being CEO of a multi-billion pound empire to working in a local corner shop. Of course these jobs all have differing salaries, workloads, responsibilities and entry qualifications. The question that I like to think of when thinking of this is, can you say that the CEO of this multi-billion pound company is more successful than lets say someone who is working in their local village shop?
The answer to the question will be very different based off of who you ask the question too. Some people, who value jobs as the breaking point in determining success or not, would say of course the CEO is more successful than the person working in the shop, whereas other people may see the question differently. The reason that I ask this question is because I personally love to see the range of answers that I get from it.
It is one of the questions that I like to use to see how a person thinks and how they interpret questions that are asked to them. For the question there is no right or wrong answer, it is down to how you see the question and, of course, what you see as successful or not.
In my opinion, our job roles are a part of what success means to me, but so are a lot of other things. There are tonnes of different factors which we can look at which define success for many such as, our home life, the goals we set, the good we do in the world and so many more. I personally always strive to do the best I can in life which in turn should hopefully result in me getting a good job down the line. While I will think that a good job is a good factor to have when determining success, it is worth saying that there are other factors that I value more and there are factors that I value less.
Again, similar to the CEO and shop worker question, this scenario/mindset has no right or wrong answer, it is down to your own interpretation. This blog is just meant to open your eyes to these questions and then leave you to think of how you would go about answering them. The same goes with the majority of posts on my page, I do not like to force a message to people, more suggest a new/alternative meaning to a statement and see what they think of it.
If you feel like you have a different view on this issue or would like to have a debate or something similar, get in touch and I will more than happily have one. As I say all of these views are simply my views, you may see something completely different to me and I always love broadening my horizons and learning new things.
Of course, setting a goal or an aim to get a job is something that I highly encourage in life. I will be covering goal setting in a future blog in this series but thought it would be nice to touch on it now. If we set reasonable goals that we can hit then it can be a great motivator for us in life and hitting it is something we can add to what we may see as success!
That is all I would like to talk about in today’s blog! What do you all think? Do you like this new series? What do you define as success? Does your job role play a part in your version of success? What other factor would you like to see covered in this series? Is there a particularly successful person that you want to see me talk about? Let me know your thoughts on these questions, either in the comments on this post or on our Facebook page and I will see what I can do!
Thank you all for reading, I hope everybody is doing alright in the crisis we are going through at the minute and I hope you have a great day!
Sweeney’s Blogs
Any money donated here will be greatly appreciated and will be put back into the business.
£5.00
James
Are You a Good Friend to Yourself? — Dr. Eric Perry, PhD
Written by Dr. Eric Perry, PhD Image Credit: Pixabay “A friend is a gift you give yourself.” ~Robert Louis Stevenson What kind of friend are you? Are you attentive, kind and compassionate or, are you neglectful, uncaring and critical? Scrolling through quotes on the internet, I was reminded of the immense value we place on […]
Are You a Good Friend to Yourself? — Dr. Eric Perry, PhD
What do we mean by Success? – Blog 1: Introduction
Success – A small word that many people see very differently. You hear people use the word success from time to time but the question that I always seem to have is what do we mean by success? That is what we are going to be looking at in this series, what success is, what makes us successful and how we can change our mind-sets to see that we are all successful in ways me may not have even considered!
Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!
Today’s blog is going to be the 1st blog in the new “What do we mean by Success?” series! This series is designed to tackle what we see as success and to try and transform how we think to see that we are all successful in our own ways. It is far too easy to get swept up in a competition with others and feel like a failure when in reality you are successful, just in a way that you may not have thought of.
Success is a term that I often undervalue in life and after reflecting on it I found that a lot of people also undervalue their own successes in life. It is not a criticism in any way , however, I strongly believe that if people understand the great things that they have achieved and the great skills that they possess then it will be a great mood booster and will make everyone ultimately feel better about themselves.
Whether you have climbed a mountain or simply learned how to spell a new word, success comes in many different shapes and sizes. That’s not to say that climbing a mountain can be compared in any way to learning how to spell a new word, but they both are achievements in their own right, just on a different scale, they still make us successful!
That is all I want to talk about in today’s blog! Thank you all for reading! What do you think of today’s blog? Are you looking forward to the new series? How do you value success? Do you think that we need to change what we see as success? Is success impacted by your surrounding environment? Let me know what you think of these questions and any other comments you have about my page either below or on our Facebook page!
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great day!
Sweeney’s Blogs
Any money donated here will be greatly appreciated and will be put back into the page!
£5.00
Let It Be…. — Mind Over Matter Blog
Research has shown that music releases dopamine, the feel good chemical in our brains. I enjoy singing. When i’m feeling low, I find singing and music very therapeutic and a way of releasing my emotions and changing my mindset. It gives me a focus and a means of expressing myself. I know many people who […]
Let It Be…. — Mind Over Matter Blog
Time to Talk – Blog 2: The Reality of Grief – Kyra Fehrman
Hello and Welcome to Sweeney’s Blogs!
Today’s blog is the secong blog in our Time to Talk series and is all about The Reality of Grief. The idea for the blog and the blog itself came from a new guest writer on the page Kyra Fehrman. It is Kyra’s first blog on the page so let us know what you think and if you want to see more from Kyra! Hope you all enjoy the blog and learn something new about grief!
January only has 31 days, however, for me, it felt more like 100. January was a long and arduous time, certainly one you wouldn’t qualify as the best start to 2020. We all have days where everything seems to go wrong, where the world seems to be fighting against you, creating misery and chaos wherever you go and in whatever you do. For me the battle seemed to last the whole month with my grandmother going into hospital on the 1st and then finally succumbing to pneumonia and end stage COPD on the 9th January and her funeral was the 28th January.
Grief is not fun I am sure no one needs to tell you that but what they don’t tell you is that the five stages of grief isn’t as easy as going from one to two to three etc. It is a stressful process, one minute you’re in shock, numb to the core unable to process the reality of your situation, next you jump to anger and you end up not knowing what is going on and what to do with yourself. You play the blame game take it out on those around you maybe after that you cry, sob your heart out over the loss.
What no one tells us is that you can be stuck in that vicious circle for a long time, my partner lost his mother almost ten years ago and he is still grieving, stuck in the numb phase unable to speak about it or face the reality of his loss. My point here is that you never stop grieving and it will have a major impact upon your mental health, before January I was a different person with a different mindset.
Now after losing my grandmother I am seeing the world in a different light, faced with my mortality and the idea of my loved ones dying eventually has forced me to appreciate all the time I have with them. It is hard to talk about these things and a lot of people may say to you to just “move on” that they are in a better place and while the sentiment is nice it invalidates your feelings. You have every right to grieve your loved one and regardless of if they are in a better place or not they are not here with you, they are gone and all those things you would want to tell them, the jokes, the memories you’d want to remind them of you can’t.
Mental Health is a major topic nowadays with a rise in suicides, people taking anti-depressants and antipsychotics, we are in a mental health crisis and this post aims to encourage people to speak up. No matter how silly it may seem there is always someone out there who is willing to listen. If you are grieving a loved one and think life is not worth it anymore just remember this, they loved you with every fibre of their being don’t give up because they don’t want you joining them any time soon.
It is paramount that you look after yourself during these difficult times, hard as that may be, it’s crucial to remember that life will always go on and no matter what you will survive. You are strong enough to endure this pain help and support is out there. A light can be shone in even the darkest of places. Below are numbers and websites for Mental Health organisations.
Thank you all for reading! We hope that you have enjoyed today’s blog and have learned something new about grief! What do you think of today’s blog? Would you like to see more of Kyra’s blogs on the page? Has grief ever impacted on your life? How did you manage it? Let us know what you think in the comments below or on our facebook page.
Sweeney’s Blogs
Any money donated here will be greatly appreciated and will be put back into the page!
£5.00
James
Careers are not linear, they are messy. Expect the unexpected. — Henley Careers Blog
We often start off a job search with what we feel is our ideal job in mind. But often your dream role doesn’t materialise, so what are you going to do? And why would you take a role that you don’t think you want?
Careers are not linear, they are messy. Expect the unexpected. — Henley Careers Blog
Sweeney's Blogs 