By Daisy Bard

The little things

This week it’s already been full steam ahead, and it’s only Tuesday. We have two important book crits today and so we stayed at the studio late last night, self-flagellating, adding newly mocked-up ideas to our book and making sure we’d made the changes the creatives we’re seeing today had suggested last time around. Because we really want a job, no big deal but if you are reading this and you’re a Creative Director please check out www.dazeandorla.com and also have a great day. 

And in this critical period shortly before Portfolio Day, confronted with the bold-faced knowledge that we have five crits lined up in the next week and a half, six briefs coming our way next week, and plenty of campaigns to polish up in our book,* it’s the little things that are getting me through. 

I’ve been obsessively producing content for SCA Vintage (if you don’t know what this is, look it up, it’s pretty cool: www.scavintage.co.uk) because doggerel calms me.  I’ve been administrating like a middleweight office manager because organisation also calms me. But the biggie has been morning catch-ups with my partner in which we discuss how we’re feeling. This is such a strong way to start the day: we chat about if anything extraneous has been going on (family arguments, general drama), things we appreciate, things we’re concerned about and how we’re trying to sort them, and whatever’s puzzling us in life. Making time to be human is fucking important. It calms the nerves. 

So as I sit in the studio, reflecting on my life the night before this is due – full disclosure, I didn’t write this a week in advance and go over it fifty times – I’m happy to be at a point where I feel ready to go into the industry in a few short weeks. I’ve got my coping mechanisms so at least I know that when rock bottom inevitably hits and I’m in some office at midnight trying to nail a next-day pitch, I can write some dumb jokes and come back JUST refreshed enough not to spontaneously combust. 

*also a family that does not in any way understand the stress of this course, nor why I *OCCASIONALLY* take that stress out on them.