Hey, folks! I hope everyone is doing well today. I am doing pretty well. It's a cool spring day here and these are probably favorite days when the temperature is in the high 50s Fahrenheit. It's perfect for me.
This is a sponsored article. Not the way you would think though. A friend of mine wanted to sponsor an article about paying it forward and kindness. I am such a sellout now! Seriously though, this is the one type of sponsored article that I don't mind doing at all. I think they mostly just wanted an excuse to give me some money to help me out, but that is okay. It gave me the motivation to do this. They actually sponsored a few, so you will see this theme in a few upcoming articles.
Just let it be known that you can PM me and I might do an article you request. I don't have to be paid for it. In fact, this is the only article I have ever been paid for. So, I just wanted to be transparent about it. This person is not affiliated with any fragrance brand or company and wants to remain anonymous. I certainly have a deep appreciation for this person though, so thank you!
One more thing, this person only gave me a subject. They did not tell me how to present it. So, all of these words are my own.
I have blabbered enough, so let's get into it!
Kindness at its Core
People often speak about the negative stuff in the fragrance community. We talk about shills, scammers, reformulations, perfumers, and all manner of negative things. In fact, I just did yesterday and I am guilty of this as well. The bad things stick in your mind a lot more.
Maybe I am wired differently, but the acts of kindness are never forgotten by me. Every gift, kind gesture, and kind word is remembered. I hold these close to my heart. It is what motivates me to keep doing this, even though I am not a popular reviewer. I am too honest and hold some different ideas about fragrances. My goal was never to be popular though. My goal was to be honest and kind, at least as much as possible.
I know how much a kind word can mean. Someone can be in a dark place and a kind word can show them the world isn't so bad. You can seriously change someone's life with a kind gesture. Not everyone has had the same upbringing as you. Some people have had it rough. Some folks might look happy now, but they came from nothing. The point is that we don't know someone's life story, so we should treat everyone with respect and help them if we are able.
Paying it Forward
If someone is kind to you, then you should return the kindness to someone else. I had someone who purchased a few fragrances for me as gifts and they told me to pay it forward when I was able to. I did pay it forward to some of my friends when I was able to. I won't say how I exactly did it, but I gave in the same manner that was given to me. I still have a few on my list to give something to, but that will have to wait until my finances stabilize more.
It's a reward in itself to make someone else happy. I was selfish when I was younger. It made me depressed. I felt like I was owed something for growing up poor. This mentality is not helpful to you or anyone else. You might think it benefits you to only look out for yourself, but it doesn't. It only makes the world look like a bad place, as the media describes. However, in reality, the world is a wonderful place...if you know where to look. It's all about perspective.
The Perspective
We should never take more than we give, There needs to be a balance in life. Just like a relationship, both sides need to put effort forth to make it work. The amount you take and the amount you give needs to be the same way. I am not saying to give with the same monetary value, but with the same heart.
Giving because you "have" to or feel obligated to is not the way. You should give with an open heart that expects nothing in return. I truly believe this is the only way to really enjoy the joy that you bring to people. What you give with is what will be returned to you. If you give with a happy heart, then that is what you will get from it. If you give while expecting something in return, then you don't get it, then it will be ruined for you.
When I speak about gifts, I am not just speaking of monetary things. I am talking about a wide spectrum of words of encouragement, material gifts, or even physical ones. A poor humble man has just as much to give as a rich and generous one. You just do it in a different way.
Conclusion
This is an article that you won't see many reviewers cover. It's not popular to encourage people to be better. I just wanted to say some things about this and hopefully, we can make the fragrance community a better place for all of us.
I always say at the end of my articles that we should be kind. Kind words are free and use them often. I mean this and that is why I say it every time. That is not a copy and paste. I type it differently almost every time. Doing this helps remind me to do it as well.
The world is not so dark when you let your light shine. Shine bright like a star burning hot in that diamond-filled sky, you wonderful-smelling people. Keep being great and smelling great. Much love to all of you.
I am working on some historical articles for my Patreon. So it is taking a bit more time to do them.
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About my Patreon- I decided to start a Patreon to give people an inside look at my life and my actual thoughts on some things. There are going to be some very raw and unfiltered posts on there about the fragrance community and reviewing, as well as some exclusive fragrance articles. I have been doing this for 3 years now and never made any money off of it.
I am still not asking for money. This is just a way for you to support me more if you'd like and I will give you some exclusive stuff for doing so. The top tier includes you being able to choose an article topic(within reason) for me and have the article dedicated to you on this blog. I wanted to make this cheaper, but it's just not efficient for me to charge less. It takes me 5-6 hours to make an article. Sometimes more if a lot of research is required.
I am working on trying to start a podcast for interviews with perfumers and business owns, along with weekly discussions on fragrances.
The 12/25 tier now includes a free Musings of a Fraghead mug with my winter logo on it. You need to sub for 3 months before it ships. (This is Patreon's rule and not my own)
Anyways, I hope you enjoy it if you choose to subscribe. The base price is 4 bucks and gets you access to all of the articles, which I plan on doing two per week. I already have my first post up and it's free to everyone, future posts will need a sub though.
Patreon Link
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