Katheleen Dixon
Noise is all around us these days. We have built our lives to accommodate a lot of noise, in many ways we have become so accustomed that we have begun to seek out more noise, with additional apps, more news feeds, additional social media pages, all of it externally sourced. Most of it? Not super necessary for our daily existence.
I work in marketing and communications, so this opening paragraph is kind of a paradoxical statement for me. If I wasn’t creating noise, I wouldn’t have a job. If I didn’t love noise, I wouldn’t love what I do, and I love what I do.
“Fake news” is very topical today, as is the term “alternative facts.” Branding’s largest buzz word for the past few years is “authentic”. Yet so many brands and institutions around us are the furthest thing from authentic. While I like it when brands try to remain / be authentic, these days I prefer brands that are helpful, positive, inspirational, and community-minded.
One day while I was tweeting away for my previous employer, I got a call that we had finally secured an appointment for my daughter to see a cardiologist at children’s hospital. Let me tell you, the rest of the day’s tweets didn’t matter, in fact I had a hard time tweeting at all that week. There is nothing that can make 140 characters seem less important and more pointless, so instantaneously, than a call about your 2-year old daughter’s health and future.
So I started thinking… What is adding to our lives? What isn’t? I cut out a lot of negative space. Immediately got rid of lots of news feeds (did I really need 8 for my job?!), unfollowed a few acquaintances that regularly tore others down rather than try to build others up, deleted the time sucker apps (sometimes I still miss you Candy Crush), and sought out more positive experiences.
Soon after, we welcomed a baby boy to our family. We moved to South Surrey from a townhouse in Vancouver. When my maternity leave ended, we decided I could take my professional services marketing experience and I could consult from home. Ruckus Marketing was born.
Nearly one year later, life at home couldn’t be more chaotic. My daughter (who received a clean bill of health from two cardiologists I’m happy to report) started pre-school, we fired our house cleaners, my husband and I have started the highly, highly work intensive Paleo diet, and I’m still consulting. Its like a hilariously overpacked, overweight, messy suitcase that you casually try to pass by security all the while whispering sweet Jesus prayers, that no officer will ask you to open it.
But… it’s my chaos, it is my blissful ruckus.
I am the first to admit bias, but my kids are so much fun (seriously, they got the fun genes in spades) and my husband is all around awesome. Truly, what better noise can be had than your family’s laughter? It makes me take pause and smile every single time. We love the neighbourhood, the beach, and positive community energy. Yes, there is daily hardship and trials, and absolute exhaustion, and I’m sure I’ll write about that too. Mostly though, Blissful Ruckus is meant to be a positive, helpful, sometimes laughable space where we can share our experiences from within the community (be it geographically, professionally, as spouses, as parents, or as humans).
It’s time to make some better noise.