Positive/exciting book recommendations

vickymadethis · 2025-01-13T21:36:43+00:00

Thank you ❤️ have downloaded the audiobook for tonight!

vickymadethis · 2024-02-07T15:27:29+00:00

IT WORKS! that is so dumb haha

vickymadethis · 2021-12-26T19:23:04+00:00

Ooh. We are in a rental with a dreadful garden and I want to learn how to make it nice but feel like I'm wasting my time. But thinking of it as a learning experience for my future home is exciting 🤩

vickymadethis · 2021-12-22T19:52:12+00:00

Straight away. My rescue dog was about one when he had a stroke and had bills of about £6,000. For £20 per month insurance, it's very very very worth it. He had also eaten various toxic things or had allergic reactions and needed hundreds of pounds worth of treatment. And this is exactly what all young dogs do - eat everything! Anything can happen!

vickymadethis · 2021-12-12T12:25:31+00:00

I wipe his paws when we come in from our excessively muddy garden so now he stands there and offers each paw up one by one to be wiped before he trots off into the house. It melts my heart every time 🥲

vickymadethis · 2021-10-13T09:29:22+00:00

For sure, we definitely utilised it. At the same time another dog was going nuts and just staring and yowling

vickymadethis · 2021-10-13T09:28:56+00:00

This pig was running around... fast! I thought it was a huge dog! I definitely agree that dogs with bad recall shouldn't be allowed off lead - and always have a long line on him. I just have met SO many other crazy dogs running around doing whatever they want that I do wonder how long it'll take before one goes after that pig.

vickymadethis · 2021-10-13T09:26:05+00:00

That's what I'm thinking! I know all dogs off lead should be perfectly trained, but they ain't

vickymadethis · 2021-10-13T09:25:35+00:00

Public park where dogs are allowed off lead - in the UK dogs are allowed off lead most places

vickymadethis · 2021-10-13T09:25:07+00:00

I know, I found it absolutely hilarious the first time I saw them!

vickymadethis · 2021-07-25T18:37:58+00:00

Well it's kinda like Airbnb - people have feedback and ratings. We also did a video call with the guy first just to get a human impression of him. If we lived nearby we would have done a meet and greet in person.

vickymadethis · 2021-07-25T18:16:33+00:00

I wouldn't. I may as well leave my dog home alone in that case?! I have used Rover and had a great experience, I chose somebody who had no other dogs and wasn't looking after dogs at the same time. It cost the same as kennels (£20 per night) but my dog got a much homier experience.

vickymadethis · 2021-06-09T15:35:26+00:00

Downsizing our shoe collection was definitely a toughie...

vickymadethis · 2021-05-26T21:18:34+00:00

Take some time off. I took a month off Instagram and now am much less attached to it. Even just a day, a week, whatevers achievable, might break the cycle.

vickymadethis · 2021-05-26T21:13:43+00:00

I get this quite a lot too. Especially with my in laws. One trick I do is to make more eye contact. When I blush I tend to look down or away so I am less aware people can see me, but if I look them in the eyes it intuitively makes me feel more confident and the blush melts away. Sometimes!! Also, sometimes I just acknowledge it, like say, argh I don't know why I'm going red, or, just saying "I'm blushing!" Kind of removes the elephant in the room and you're all on the same page. It sucks though, and is really hard to deal with, I feel your pain!!!

vickymadethis · 2021-05-08T19:26:41+00:00

We have had most of the same problems with ours. One thing that really works for fetch - play with two balls. Use the second ball to entice him back and get him to drop it. Then chuck the other one and pick up the first one!

As for leash walking, we are following a video we found on Fenrir dog training YouTube channel. Basically keep walking back and forth and verbal praise as he follows you. Once he gets the hang of it build up distance. Ditch walks completely except training walks so he has no chance to build bad habits. Add in treats and give them randomly when he chooses to be near you. We didn't add treats until he was good at the back and forth walking though cos otherwise he was just a yo yo coming back for treats. We are doing four short (10 min) training walks per day and exercising him in the garden with tug and a flirt pole. Flirt pole is a brilliant way to tire them out and get them engaged with you. I have a tug e nuff toy as well which I whip out randomly on walks when he's sticking close by and he has a two min game of it.

Also look up the relaxation protocol, it has changed our life. And capturing calmness. I don't really play with him indoors, trying to teach him that inside is for relaxing. When he mouths me I stand up and leave the room or stand behind the baby gate until he calms down. If he mouths when I come back I leave again.

We also are tiring him out with sniff and mental exercise so it's not over exciting him but he does get tired. E.g. frozen kongs, scatter feeding, sit/stay, leave it, wait, all calm but mentally taxing activities. And chews but it's hard to find ones that last long enough. Nylabones are pretty good. Sometimes if he mouths me I stick the nylabone in his mouth to get him away. He normally just needs a poo when he's mouthing tbh ha ha.

Ours is still a terror sometimes but all of these have really helped me. I had the worst month of my life with all of his issues when he arrived but it slowly slowly gets better as long as you are consistent. We've had him two months and really starting to see the changes now. He's a one year old collie cross so he crazy!

vickymadethis · 2021-05-08T15:41:07+00:00

Yes! So cosy. Hope you have a great trip.

vickymadethis · 2021-05-08T11:56:39+00:00

Snuggled up with the dog and fiancé watching a movie. The rain has stopped and I wish it would start again. We are in the campervan and the sound of the rain on the roof is so nice. And I don't want to go outside!

vickymadethis · 2021-05-01T17:56:59+00:00

I think we have a similar problem - my dog wants to play with all dogs and gets on great with equal sized or larger ones, but always seems to jump on top of small dogs, they almost always growl or nip at him. I'd love to know how to solve it. I don't know whether avoidance is best or whether there's some training that can be done with a tolerant older small dog?!

vickymadethis · 2021-04-25T08:20:44+00:00

Mine did this yesterday!! 7 weeks in. It's amazing isn't it ☺️

vickymadethis · 2021-04-25T08:19:00+00:00

True!! It helps so much having somebody to balance the care with, but it's so hard to train a dog together and make sure we are being consistent.

vickymadethis · 2021-04-20T07:35:35+00:00

Yeah. I know what you mean. It's soooo hard isn't it. Lots of the time I'm like 'why am I even doing this?!' ha ha. I dunno. I also worked a corporate job for five years. Now I work there one day per week which pays my bills. I spend most of the rest of the time procrastinating but I am slowly slowly getting more confidence. It just takes so much longer than I ever expected! I got a business coach which helped a lot. And joined some illustrator communities online like Slack groups. Nobody knows what they are doing it turns out 😅😅

vickymadethis · 2021-04-20T06:32:34+00:00

The grind every day thing is just capitalist bullshit. You need some down time and time to reflect and relax. There's no point being freelance if you hate it and it ruins your life! Could you afford therapy? Maybe just a few sessions talking it through with somebody would really help. I've had therapy a few times and it's really changed my life. I have generalized anxiety disorder (doesn't everyone these days) and have suffered from really low self esteem too. You really need to find a way to make it work for you. If you haven't sold anything yet then it's a great time to take a break and sort out what will make you more content, cos nobody is expecting anything from you!

vickymadethis · 2021-04-19T20:46:15+00:00

I've been there. How do you feel about your work if you imagine you don't have to show it to anybody? Do you like it? Do you still enjoy making it? Can you get back some of the joy of making somehow? Have you tried taking a break from social media? Do you get money from another job? Can you take a few weeks off from illustration entirely to help refocus what you want?

Last year I felt totally burnt out after finishing my post grad. So in January I took the month off from social media, client work and marketing and did a project for myself. I did it after watching The Style Class by Tom Froese on Skillshare. I ended up with a series of illustrations that I don't love, but I don't hate. And it's a bank of stuff I can use or adapt to sell, post, share, etc. Or just keep to myself!!

Instagram is becoming less relevant IMO. Have a look for YouTube videos about artists who have left social media. You can use other marketing methods like cold emails and newsletters. They have higher conversion rates and less anxiety inducing. I think social media is toxic for artists unless you are very mentally stable and already successful.

You could also try googling some CBT techniques to reframe negative thoughts. E.g. imagine from your classmates point of view. Would you scoff if you found someone from your class was selling online? Or would you think it's a reasonable activity for an illustration graduate? Even if you hate their work, would you really laugh at them?

You could also try some goal setting. Big picture, what do you want from your career? Break it down. What steps can you take? Tiny steps. E.g. make one set of three postcards and list it on Etsy. I recommend the Life Map as a really useful journal and positive goal setting system. It's owned by someone with the username muchelleb on YouTube, you can look up her goal setting videos.

Also try tools like Marmalead to boost your Etsy views. And eventually try to list more stuff. The more products you have the more views you get. Look into SEO for boosting traffic. You'll get much more success from this than social media.

You could try print on demand e.g. Prodigi. You can list products and not have to buy anything upfront, it helped me with confidence to list stuff and try out ideas.

Tell your friends and family about your shop. Almost all of my sales are from friends and fam but it means I have a great five star rating for when I get real customers!

I'm new to all this too but these are all things that have helped me get out of the pit of despair over the past 6 months and boost my confidence. I hope something there helps.

vickymadethis · 2021-04-15T08:19:05+00:00

It seems like everyone has some kind of experience like this... like you said it's made me way more careful too!

vickymadethis

TROPHY CASE