Resumes are supposed to be pretty serious things, right? I hadn’t worried about a resume in years since starting Phenomenal Content, but a few months ago, I did try to land a gig with the Cheezburger Network, so I got a little crazy.

They never got back to me, and I assume it’s only because they hired someone like Betty White instead. (I’d pick her over me, too.) Because I don’t think I’ll ever have a use for this particular version of my resume again, I figured I’d share it with you, the Internet. All you have to do is click on this link to see it in all of its PDF glory:

Writing a resume like a boss

Oh snap, that was fabulous, right? If it made you actually interested in hiring me, my email address was on there. Use it. I’m available for writing, blogging, proofreading, editing, and social media projects. I’m on Twitter (twice), Facebook, and Pinterest most often. If you don’t need to hire me to directly complete any of the aforementioned tasks, I am also available for consulting.

The Most Awesome Resume that Never Got Me the Writing Job is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

So I like to browse my spam comments before I delete them…just in case there’s a false positive. The most recent wave of spam comments I got was on my recent Merry Christmas video, where I sang a karaoke version of Santa Baby for fun. There was too much negativity in the social media sphere, and I wanted to post something positive to make people smile or laugh.

Imagine my surprise (and, admittedly, amusement) when I read this comment that had been spammed from that post:

The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.

Riiiiight. The commenter’s “name” was Cholesterol diet (amasidi0324@live.com) from healthycholesteroldiets.com – and if you want to block the IP address from your blog, it’s 59.146.188.76.

So this is a thing now? I don’t understand the tactic. A lot of bloggers would delete the comment simply because it was insulting – or possibly offensive, if they really were whining and looking for attention.

It doesn’t make sense to me. The fake “Nice blog” comments are getting auto-spammed, so spammers are trying the attack route? I wonder if anyone is dumb enough to argue back…

Spammers Now Offending Bloggers to Get a Reaction? is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

Do you remember way back in August 2009 when I made a post about SEO Cold Calling, aka Contact Form Spam? It was lambasting a company (that I didn’t name) who tried to sell me crappy SEO services by using my copywriting services contact form.

Amusingly enough, I got a spam comment on that post a few weeks ago. Because the spammer intended it to be a publicly viewed comment (or not? – you’ll see why) I feel no remorse about leaving the email address and such intact. I don’t want the actual links to work, of course. Emphasis is mine to point out the ridiculousness.

Hello,

Greetings for the day!

I am lerry, Marketing Manager and I am contacting you after visit your website.

To introduced,

We are a Leading New Delhi Based Online Marketing, Design & Web Development Company and one of the very few company which offer organic SEO services with a full range of supporting services such as one way themed text links, blog submissions, directory submissions, article writing and postings, etc.

We are a team of 60+ professionals which includes 20 full time SEO experts. We are proud to inform you that our team handled 1000+ SEO projects and obtained 50000+ manually built links in the past 1 year.

We will be glad to assist you with offering our services.

Do let me know if you have any question and I would be happy to send in more details.

Best Regards,
Name: Lerry
Post: Marketing manager
Reply me: lerry.marketingmanager@gmail.com

Note: Though this is not an automated email, we are sending these emails to all those people whom we find eligible of using our services. To unsubscribe from future mails (i.e., to ensure that we do not contact you again for this matter), please send a blank email at removeme@gmail.com

So Let’s Review…

Bad English. Why would I hire an SEO company that can’t even write a sentence in proper English? (Yet another reason to hire native speakers for your online endeavors. Outsource to India to save money, and you’ll often find that you get what you pay for.)

“One of the very few company [sic] which offer [sic] organic SEO services.” If this is the way you pitch me – with blog spam – I can hardly believe that your SEO services are going to be anything close to “organic.”

This wasn’t an email. The template was obviously meant to be used for email spam, but they didn’t bother changing the text when switching to to blog comment spam instead.

Fake remove instructions. I can guarantee that removeme@gmail.com does not belong to the company that spammed me.

With all of this, if anyone actually falls for this spam, I’m half-convinced they deserve to be parted with their money.

The Irony of Spamming My SEO Cold Calling Post is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

I know that link building is hard. That’s why I don’t do that sort of thing for a living. But if you’re going to do it, at least try to do it right. And by that, I mean: don’t spam people, and when trying to pitch bloggers in a personal manner, don’t try to automate “personal.”

Case in point: It’s great to actually check out someone’s blog, determine it’s a good fit for your client (or your own site), and let the blogger know you’ve done a little research by mentioning one of their posts that you found to be relevant to the site you want them to link to. Get this part wrong, and it’s obvious you’re just faking it – and that almost never goes well.

Here’s the bad link request that inspired this post. (And I’ll spare you the broken HTML that displayed in the body of the email when I received it.)

Hello,

I saw that you have a list of links to other resources on your website, christinagleason.com/check-your-sources-false-information-online/, and I would like to provide you with another resource for your list. My website, 100bestdatingsites.org, contains valuable information for those contemplating entering the online dating world, such as articles, statistics, and advice on how to remain safe and minimize the risks associated with this type of viral communication.

If my site sounds like something your viewers would be interested in, please think about placing my link on your list of resources. In doing so, you will be providing them with unbiased and objective information, and you will also be aiding me in spreading awareness about my site.

If you have any questions about my request please don’t hesitate to contact me via email. 

Thanks and have a great day,

Joe Morris
Blogger | Owner
100 Best Dating Sites

So let’s review. The part that you didn’t see was the random broken head, style, and paragraph tags floating about. Seriously, people. If you’re going to go for the fancy email formatting, make sure it renders properly.

Next up: The sender tried to score points with me by linking to a specific post on my blog that he supposedly had read. Of course, if you check that page out, you’ll see that there is no list of links to other resources as Joe Morris seems to think there is. Unless he’s talking about my blogroll, which is probably what his automated software detected as a list of links to other resources before compiling this “personalized” message.

Also? What about my site screams “online dating safety tips?” I certainly didn’t write anything about online dating in my post about false information online. I’m pretty sure I’ve never written about online dating before – since I am, after all, a happily married woman - although I bet I’ll start ranking for it with this post.

Another fun fact: Joe Morris says I shouldn’t hestitate to contact him by email with any questions I may have, but the reply-to address on his message is donotreply@domainsbyproxy.com. Although, since his unsolicited link request was so helpful to me, I clicked the handy dandy “show details” link in Gmail to determine that his email address was joe.morris@100bestdatingsites.org – how else could I send him to my You Pitched Me page?

Bad requests make good blog fodder. They also help serve as a PSA for what NOT to do when pitching bloggers.

Don’t be that guy.

Bad Link Request That Tried to Fake the Personal Touch is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

So when I had the concept for this post – Save My Ass – it was because I realized that it’s been five years since the gastroenterologist told me I should come back and see him in five years for another colonoscopy. You see, my mom’s brothers have all had cancerous polyps in their colons. That wasn’t enough to get me to have one before I turned 30, but I was having a host of other issues, and mainly the doctor wanted to know why I was so anemic and why I had so many GI problems. Then he found a bunch of polyps in there – thankfully benign, but combined with the family history, enough of a concern to have me come back in five years. And now, my dad’s lingering indolent lymphoma has set up camp in his colon, so it’s been making me nervous…

Did you know that the average colonoscopy costs $3,000?

That’s on average. When you have to have polyps removed and biopsied, the cost goes up. And my husband’s health insurance plan sucks – we have a $5,000 deductible. So the idea was I’d ask people to hire me (well, my company) to write enough blog posts to pay for my colonoscopy. Save my ass. Get it? But come to find out, we’re only about $900 away from reaching our deductible, and our insurance plan considers colonoscopies a form of preventative care - and therefore not subject to the deductible, because they cover it.

So my literal ass does not need to be saved. My figurative ass could use some help.

Work has been slower than I needed it to be this year. (That $5,000 deductible was new this year and really hasn’t helped matters.) Our garbage disposal died. Our dishwasher died. And I hate to admit this, but I’ve missed making estimated tax payments for the past two quarters, and I’m terrified of how much I may owe the IRS come income tax season, because I don’t know where the money will come from. And I have at least 5 different people telling me that I should get tested for Lyme disease because of my back and joint pain – and doctor’s office visits and lab tests still cost money.

I know we could be worse off. At least we both have jobs. We can still make our mortgage payments. But health care costs are killing us. (I’ve been in agony all week with back pain like I’ve never felt before in my life, and for the first time ever, I didn’t seek medical treatment because we couldn’t afford it right now.)

Hire Me to Write and Blog for You

When I say hire me, I would like it known that my company is implied. Because my writers are awesome. Now that that’s out of the way…

Get a Blog Post for $100

Your company needs some fresh blog material? We got it for you. If I don’t have a writer who is already knowledgeable about your subject, I will attempt to find one, or one of my fabulous writers will do the necessary research to write a great post for you. Use this handy dandy PayPal button to place your order and send a follow-up email to content at phenomenalcontent.com with the subject line “My Blog Post Order” to let me know the title/concept for the post, the URL of the blog we’re writing the post for, when you need the post by (please allow at least 5 business days), and any other instructions you may have for us.

Give the Perfect Apology for $25

For this, I will be trying to write all of them myself. If you really screwed up, and you just can’t find the words to make it better, let me help you write an apology letter. I actually have a separate blog post written up about this service: Unique Holiday Gift Idea – An Apology Letter. All the details are available there.

Fix Up Your Resume for $25

Let me personally proofread your resume. I will fix any errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation for you. If there are other issues, I will make suggestions for changes. If you make the changes, I’ll proofread the second draft, too, at no additional charge. I know too many people who need jobs right now and just can’t find them. Employers get far more resumes than they have job openings, and any errors whatsoever may get yours tossed into the garbage can when there are plenty available that are flawless. If you want me to look yours over to ensure you’re in the flawless category, use the PayPal button to place your order and send a follow-up email to content at phenomenalcontent.com with the subject line “Proofread My Resume” and a copy of your resume either pasted into the body of the email or attached as a .doc or .docx file. (I will not be able to make changes to a .pdf file.)

Thanks for your support!

Save My Ass – Hire a Blogger/Writer is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

Yes, I know this email was an attempt to scam me out of money, but I caught a phrase or two before I deleted it. I’ve gotta give them credit. At least they are getting more creative. I’m going to use bold print to emphasize my favorite passages; comments in italics are my additions.

MS Maria Cristina Gam
CREDIT ACCOUNTS OFFICER
HEAD OFFICE
BANCO DE ORO UNIVERSAL BANK
12 ADB AVENUE,
ORTIGAS CENTER,
MANDALUYONG CITY
PHILIPPINES.

Good Day,

I sincerely ask for your forgiveness for I know this may seem like a complete intrusion to your privacy but right about now this is my only option of communication.Though,this medium (Internet) has been greatly abused, I choose to reach you through it because it still remains the fastest medium of communication. However, this correspondence is unofficial and Private, and it should be treated as such. Therefore you should take this information to yourself because all the information you have here is very very confidential and reality. (OMG! Reality!)  This mail might come to you as a surprise and the temptation to ignore it as unserious could come into your mind; but please consider it a divine wish and accept it with a deep sense of humility. This mail is written and intended to solicit your assistance to be presented as NEXT OF KIN to my late Client’s estate. Considering the sensitivity of this email to you, I advice that you keep its content to yourself. [Oops.] If you are not willing to do this with me, please delete this email an [Oops again. I think you left out a few words!]

Let me start by introducing myself, I am Mrs. Maria Cristina Gam, CREDIT ACCOUNTS OFFICER BANCO DE ORO UNIVERSAL BANK. [ALL CAPS MEANS IT'S TRUE!] I am writing you this letter based on the latest development at my bank, which I will like to bring to your personal edification. I am writing you this letter with so much joy and excitement even though my heart goes out to the very powerful and distinguished gentleman who I was fortunate to have worked for and extremely privileged to have known for numerous years. I was a top official in charge of client accounts in EQUITABLE PCI BANK in the Philippines which has now been merged and is now a part of BANCO DE ORO UNIVERSAL BANK.

In 2001, my client was going through a horrendous divorce in the United States of America and was on the verge of losing most of his estate to his vicious and diabolical wife. [That is my FAVORITE PART. The vicious and daibolical wife.] As a result of this alarming predicament, my client came to me with a very brilliant idea. He transferred some funds, ten million two hundred thousand dollars ($10.2m) to a fixed deposit account in my bank under an alias which only the two of us knew about as the confidentiality of the matter was necessary for his protection.

Due to his untimely death in early 2002, the funds have been sitting in the account ever since and will continue to do so perpetually unless we do something about it. This is where you come in. I located you through an agency that helps seek people by their email. [Are they hiring?] My client did not declare any next of kin in his official papers including the paper work of his bank deposit. Against this backdrop, my suggestion to you is that I would like you as a foreigner to stand as the next of kin to my client so that you will be able to receive his funds. I want you to know that i have had everything planned out so that we can come out successful.I have contacted an attorney who will prepare the necessary documentation that will back you up as the next of kin to my client. All that is required from you at this stage is for you to provide me with your Full Names [All of them!] and Address so that the attorney can commence his job.

After you have been made the next of kin, the attorney will also file in for claims on your behalf and secure the necessary approval and letter of probate in your favour for the movement of the funds to an account that will be provided by you. There is no risk involved at all in the process as we are going to adopt a legalized method and the attorney will prepare all the necessary documentation. The allocation of our money will be as follows: 40%($4.02m) to you for your part in this,and 60% for me. I think this is extremely fair, [oh yes, totally fair] as you have nothing to lose but just a little time, while on the other hand I am staking my flawless reputation among other things. And besides $4.02 million is no pocket change. Once you are approved, the entire transaction should take no longer than fourteen business days after which we will go about our daily business, but just millions of dollars richer. As you can see this is easier than taking candy from a baby, [tired cliche; have you ever TRIED taking candy from a baby?] but mind you, trust is something that is developed over time and [damn paragraphs keep getting cut off]

Again, I will be in charge of everything else. I will assume all responsibilities for this endeavour so you don’t have to worry about any legal ramifications, [just the jail time for illegal wire transfers] just what you will do with all that money. Your urgent response is highly anticipated so please email me through this email; (}for more details on this transaction as soon as possible. This should be kept very secret and confidential. I believe you know. [See how well that works out for you?]

Kind Regards,
Ms. Maria Cristina Gam
mariacristinagam@yahoo.com.ph

So feel free to email Ms. Maria Cristina Gam and pester her about her “perfectly legal” operation to have a complete stranger overseas declared next of kin for a former client who entrusted her with millions of dollars over a decade ago. Untimely death? If I didn’t know this was all BS, I’d have to wonder if she killed him and had been trying to figure out a way to get his money all this time.

As a matter of fact, I think this could be the plot of a fairly awesome made for TV movie. Who wants to write the script? It’s like a soap opera. No, a telenovella. All I ask for in return is 40% of the royalties. I think this is extremely fair.

Gotta Give This Scammer Points for Creativity is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

I was one of the millions of people ranting about how much I hated the “new Facebook” released yesterday. (Unlike most people, I actually tagged Mark Zuckerberg in my post.)

There’s a really easy fix to get rid of the ridiculous “top stories” format and just read your friends’ status updates in reverse chronological order the way you used to do by clicking on “Most Recent.” Here’s how to get Most Recent posts on Facebook…

Bookmark this page:

https://www.facebook.com/?sk=cf

You’re welcome.

Easy Fix to Get Facebook Most Recent Posts is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

Ten years ago, I remember sitting at my computer desk in our old apartment when the phone rang. I have no idea what I was doing at my computer – and the Internet wasn’t like it is today. We may have even had dial-up Internet service at the time, which means I wasn’t online when my mom called to tell me that a plane had flown into the side of the World Trade Center.

I remember feeling a moment of sadness for the people onboard, but I didn’t feel the full weight of what had happened. I thought it was another freak plane crash, no reason to believe anything sinister was taking place.

My husband Tom and I both had the day off from work, and we’d been planning to go look at houses while we had some mutual free time. We didn’t sit glued to the television screen that morning like most other people did, so we actually went out to do just that.

I still don’t know if I was in shock or denial about what was actually taking place. I do remember Tom asking me, “Are you sure?” about going out to look for a new place to live, and I said yes.

We started our search at the modular home place down the street. They had a few model houses we wanted to look at – building a house seemed more appealing to us than buying someone else’s home. The two employees at the modular home office were gawking at the television when we arrived. They went through the motions of telling us about the homes before sending us off to walk through the model homes on our own. I’m sure they were talking about us once we left them alone, wondering who could be shopping for a house at a time like this.

It didn’t really hit me until later that night when we finally started watching the TV. And then I was hooked into the nation’s mutual horror of the terrorist attacks. I couldn’t stop watching.

It really sank in when I went back to work the next day. I worked as a mental health worker at a psychiatric hospital. My home unit was the pre-teen unit. Most of our kids were ages 8-13, though when the teen unit got full, we occasionally ended up with 15 and 16 year olds. The television was on all day long for the staff to watch, though we tried to keep the kids away from the news as much as possible. I have no idea how they broke the tragedy to the kids the day before. I do remember we ended up admitting a girl who had lost someone when the Twin Towers collapsed.

I cried a lot. I watched the television coverage obsessively. I own a DVD copy of the 9/11 fundraising concert, America: A Tribute to Heroes. As an overly empathetic soul, I have always absorbed other people’s grief and experienced it as my own. I felt sadness in my bones for all of the people who had lost husbands, wives, parents, and children to the terrorist attacks.

But as time wore on, it morphed into something completely different for me. As President George W. Bush talked about the new War on Terrorism, irrational thoughts began to invade my head. I was terrified that the U.S. military would institute a draft again, that my husband could be unwillingly packed up and shipped off to fight somewhere. I was so afraid that I would lose him the way so many military wives lost their husbands. I became obsessed with these thoughts, and I would burst into tears at the drop of a hat just thinking about it.

I went to my primary care doctor and talked to her about my thoughts and feelings. I was bawling in her office. She reassured me that many people were feelings depressed and anxious following the September 11 attacks, and that my fears were unlikely to come to fruition. She wrote me a prescription for Celexa. She wrote me another prescription for Xanax to deal with the full-on panic attacks I was having, as well.

It took several weeks for the Celexa to kick in, since most of these antidepressants take time to build up to a therapeutic level in your system. I was still obsessed with keeping Tom safe, and I made a plan in my head to ensure his safety if a draft ever did become a reality. If he got called up, I was going to break his leg. A broken leg would take time to heal, so he wouldn’t be able to go to basic training. I debated the best way to accomplish this… pushing him down the stairs would risk a more serious injury like a broken back. Maybe running over his leg with the car? Better to hurt him and have him suffer for a few months than to risk letting him go off to die.

Eventually, time and Celexa did its job. As the months wore on, I realized they weren’t going to start involuntary conscription again. I cancelled my followup appointment with my doctor and just stopped taking the Celexa when I was feeling better.

Except that I would never be the same again. I’d always had anxiety running on a low burn, even in childhood. Perfectionism has its roots in anxiety. I was a straight A student all through school, but even as a toddler, my mom said I hid myself away in my room and spent an entire day teaching myself to tie my shoes because I didn’t want to let anyone see me fail at it. (To this day, I still tie my shoes using the bunny ears method. Tom is responsible for teaching TJ to tie his shoes the right way.)

But 9/11 had awakened my anxiety full throttle. The fact that I “felt better” meant only that I wasn’t obsessing about losing Tom, that I wasn’t having anymore panic attacks. For years, though, I ignored how anxiety (and the depression I still hadn’t acknowledged) were shaping my life and my actions. It took seven years before I admitted I had a problem and I needed more help than my primary care doctor could provide.

So 9/11 is a personal tragedy for me, in addition to being a national tragedy. I feel selfish in admitting this. I did not lose anyone on a plane that crashed or a building that toppled. My father was no longer active duty in the fire department, so he never even considered going down to help out at the World Trade Center site in the aftermath. He never had to inhale that toxic soup that was so pervasive in the air.

I still feel very deeply for the people who did lose someone on that terrible day 10 years ago. Just two minutes of a news clip the other night about the “9/11 babies” – the now-10-year-olds who were born to widows who were pregnant on 9/11 – was enough to send me upstairs to sob in my bed for 20 minutes. For them to have had to grow up without fathers because of hatred that burned so strong…

But I will not be watching any of the 9/11 tributes or retrospectives today because I cannot get sucked into the national grief again. I cannot intentionally put myself in that terrible place. Selfishly, I do not want to remember how my own life changed that day, how I “snapped” and became the emotionally broken person I am today. It’s been 10 years since we’ve been able to feel safe within our own borders. It’s been 10 years since I could consider myself “normal.” I can’t divorce the two facts in my head.

How did you life change because of 9/11? Are you like me, feeling slightly guilty that your own personal tragedy seems petty in the face of such egregious loss? I would like this to be a safe place to share your thoughts.

Tenth Anniversary of 9/11 Attacks and 10 Years of Mental Illness is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

Pretty much everyone in the industry now knows that Trey Pennington committed suicide over the weekend. It came as a shock to many people, since Trey’s Twitter feed was full of positivity. He appeared to be making plans to travel to upcoming conferences even the day before he killed himself. Had he already decided to do the deed, and was just trying to keep up appearances so no one would try to stop him? Or did something catastrophic happen that pushed him over the edge in the short time between his “see you there” tweets and his goodbye tweet?

Since then, bloggers and other industry professionals have been coming out of the woodwork to talk about depression in the abstract sense, imploring people to get help before trying to commit suicide, or in a very personal sense, talking about their own struggles with depression.

I’m one of the latter.

I’ve never kept my struggle with depression a secret. As a matter of fact, I talk about it right here on my Advocacy page. For a few years, I believed my mental illness was “just” anxiety. Somehow, anxiety seemed more socially acceptable than depression. Through therapy, however, I’ve accepted that I struggle with both anxiety and depression – and neither condition is something to be ashamed of. This is something I should have accepted a long time ago… I mean, I’ve had my Master’s degree in Psychology for 11 years now.

Depression and Social Media

Social media has allowed anyone and everyone to present themselves to the world however they want to be seen. Some people choose to be humorous all the time so that everyone thinks that they’re quite clever. Others are serious and all business so they are taken as the great minds in their field. And then there are people who are suffering but put on a happy face so they don’t have to be pitied or shamed.

Offline friends may never know someone is depressed because they only see the depressed person on “good days.” They may lament – even resent – the “flakiness” of someone who cancels plans for seemingly poor reasons, or someone who rarely accepts invitations to social events in the first place. It can be hard to get up the motivation to just feed yourself when you’re in the depths of depression, let alone drag yourself out of the house and try to slap a smile on your face. As recently as two months ago, I remember an occasion where my husband had to literally pull me up into a seated position on the couch and place food in my hand to get me to eat. I’d shot down nearly everything he’d offered to make me or grab as takeout – until he mentioned Nutella on graham crackers. We found the one food I’ll eat even when I don’t feel like eating. And I could never be anorexic or anything… I love to eat. But depression can be so crushing that it even takes away the joy I get from good food.

CutestKidEver: I would very much like to curl up in a ball and wake up next week.

Much like the person who curls up in a ball at home and doesn’t tell their friends why they don’t want to go to the movies, the depressed person won’t necessarily bother to sign into their favorite social networks when they are in a dark place. They don’t want to see tweets and status updates from people who are happily going on with their lives while they lie at home in pain. They may lie to explain away their “absence” from the social scene, or they may never mention it… and when people don’t seem to notice, it only reinforces their low feelings of self-worth.

CutestKidEver: I had a GOOD DAY. Why, WHY won’t the pain leave me alone? Why am I so sick again? I hate this. I HATE THIS.

When I’m saying “they” in reference to depressed people, I am speaking from personal experience. But I’m currently in a fairly good place, emotionally, so I’m avoiding the term “we.”

But some people do try to get “out there” when they’re depressed. For me, going out with my friends is one way I can try to “head off” a major depressive episode when I feel it coming. But then…I’m not in that dark place yet if I’m trying this approach. And friends have their own lives and cannot always keep me occupied when I need it. The darkness comes. I don’t want to see anyone. But then my parents call me to go to lunch, and since my dad was first diagnosed with cancer, I’ve tried not to turn down those invitations. I don’t know how much longer I’ll have him around. (This is one line of thinking that triggers my depression.) So I go to whatever restaurant they’ve chosen, and I try to fake a smile. They know something’s wrong, but they don’t understand. My mom and my grandma are prone to depression, but they remain undiagnosed and untreated. Their attempts to get me to “cheer up” make me feel worse because I can’t just do as they say to satisfy them. So I try to fake a pleasant mood even when I’m depressed, often blaming my mood on being tired. That’s not really a lie, either, since my depression and my Chronic Fatigue Syndrome seem to go hand in hand.

And so it goes with social media, too. People try to fake being happy online… only it’s a lot easier to pull off when people can’t see the tears in your eyes. Trey Pennington seemed so happy in his Twitter feed. What we didn’t see was the pain. But his personal brand was all about being positive, and the reality of his depression didn’t mesh with that. So he hid it to avoid ruining his personal brand. The end result was that he took his own life.

Using Social Media for Depression Support

Lucky for me, my personal brand has been built around authenticity. I have always been open about my various chronic illnesses. Those of you who know me professionally may not see the depressed side of me much… I try to tweet about it from my personal/mom blogger Twitter account, not my professional one. It’s a choice I made because I didn’t want to rub it in the face of my clients when I just didn’t feel like doing the work they were paying me to do. The work has always gotten done, but it can be almost literally painful to do anything when I’m really depressed. I have sent personal emails to clients when I’ve missed deadlines by a few days due to a depressive episode, but for the most part, I do want to avoid pity, and I want to avoid using depression as an excuse. (Oh, the guilt involved in that! I’m sorry I didn’t get this to you sooner, but I’ve been curled up in the fetal position for the past two days…)

CutestKidEver: I won’t give you the details. You don’t need to know. Just know that I am broken inside

But on my personal account? I have connected with so many people with so much empathy. There are so many other people like me – other moms, other women in business - who struggle with depression and can understand exactly what I’m going through. They remind me that it will get better. And there are plenty of other people, friends, who have never been depressed, but still care about me. They send me links to ridiculous YouTube videos that I can’t help but crack a smile at. They send me virtual hugs. Little things that others may find to be stupid or inconsequential can mean the world to me when I’m depressed.

SallyLimeMag: @CutestKidEver I am suffering from exactly the same thing. I know where you are coming from. It is horrible. & hard for others to understand

If you struggle with depression, I encourage you to “come out” in the social sphere so you can receive the support you need. If you’re worried about depression muddying your personal brand or professional image, start a separate account where you follow the people you trust, the people who understand what you’re going through. Just knowing that other people understand can help you claw your way out of the darkness. I posted a video about my depression on YouTube and got so many wonderful responses from people I know and people I had never met before. Some were blog comments, some were tweets, and others were private messages. They all helped me eventually get back to a better place, even though it took a couple of weeks.

CutestKidEver: But for those who are worried about me, no matter how depressed I am, I will never be suicidal. You never have to fear for my safety.

I have never been suicidal. Even before I had my son, my low tolerance for pain and my high fear of death made it impossible to even consider taking my own life. Now that I have TJ, the thought of leaving him without a mother gives me such a crushing feeling in my chest that it’s actually hard to breathe. But I have been in so much pain that I can understand how another person might feel that ending it all would be easier than suffering for one more minute. As recently as July. Writhing in bed, wracked with sobs, even my husband’s kind words and gentle touch were not enough to pull me out of the abyss. I had to medicate myself into oblivion just to function. (I spoke with my psychiatrist for his approval of an increased dose of my “as needed” prescription. Self-medicating with alcohol only occasionally helped.)

ConnieFoggles: @cutestkidever Are you OK Mama? I care hun.

But that medication was what got me out of bed, off the couch, and back online to attempt to do the work I was being paid to do… and back online to the friends I have around the world. A single day of platitudes and well wishes was not enough to pull me back from the brink, but little by little each day, I was able to take the kind words to heart.

CutestKidEver: The good news is that I *am* getting better. Out of crisis mode, with “normal” on the horizon. It still seems so far away though

And that’s why it’s so important to hang on. If you feel like things will never get better, that the pain will never go away, that’s just the depression talking. People do care about you – friends and complete strangers alike. They want to help you feel like yourself again. But for that to happen, you have to believe that it will get better. You have to take the chance and reach out for support. You don’t need to suffer in silence.

MomMaven: @CutestKidEver {{hugs}} I’m praying for you and I’m here if you need to talk

If you see someone reach out for support, even if you don’t know what to say, a simple I care or even *hugs* can help. There is power in social media beyond that of reaching customers and clients… it’s reaching people. And maybe you can help save a life.

Trey Pennington, Social Media, and Silently Suffering with Depression is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC

As the owner of a parenting blog – one of those mommy blogs I’m sure you’ve heard about – I receive a high volume of pitches and press releases from PR professionals every day. I must confess that I delete most of them without reading them. But sometimes that little one-sentence preview I can see before opening the message is enough to intrigue me. Today, that line was:

“The U.S. has one of the lowest birth success rates in the world…”

So I clicked on it, hoping it was something about ensuring prenatal nutrition and care. But the sentence continued on in a manner that made my face darken:

“…schools are testing four-day class weeks, and liberals want to take ‘one nation under God’ out of the pledge of allegiance.  What is happening to our country?”

Dear PR agency, you have just offended me, and possibly half of the other bloggers you pitched due to political alignment. You see, I happen to consider myself one of those liberals, and I take offense when “liberal” is used as a dirty word. The next paragraph continued to derail, emphasis mine:

“Patriotic artist, Jon McNaughton, created a painting representing his fear, sorrow and hope for this nation titled, ‘One Nation Under God.’  He painted it in the hopes to awaken Americans and the government to return to the principles of freedom under the Constitution and recognize God as the source of these blessings. With over 60 figures and symbols in Jon’s painting, Jesus is holding the Constitution while the founding fathers and other symbolic individuals from the past stand directly behind him.  This is to show the belief that God & Country should be united.  To the left side of the painting are the strong Americans who hold the country together while on the other side are those who are weakening it.”

So this pitch has insulted me by assuming I would agree that “liberal” is a dirty word, and it goes on to tell me that I am weakening the country because I believe in separation of Church and State – like the Founding Fathers did. Also, by branding Mr. McNaughton as a patriotic artist, that implies that I am unpatriotic because I believe strongly that, for a country founded on the ideals of religious freedom, we should not be pushing Christian doctrine through government, because we have many Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, and agnostic Americans, as well as those of other faiths, all living in our country.

And for the record, “under God” was not part of the original Pledge of Allegiance. It was added during the Cold War in 1954 by Joint Resolution of Congress after being adopted as a change by the Knights of Columbus. The pledge was also initially composed to inspire patriotism as a method of selling American flags. It was written by John Bellamy – a socialist (gasp!) – who had wanted to include “equality” and “fraternity” in the pledge, but left them out to avoid displeasing school superintendents who did not believe in equal rights for women or blacks. (Feel free to let me know if I used the wrong word there, but I know that not all people with dark skin are of African descent, which is why I did not use the term “African-American.”)

Bloggers often lament the multitude of untargeted pitches we get that clog up our mailboxes: breastfeeding gear when we have teens, “How to Talk to Your Teen about Sex” when we have babies, outdoor adventure gear for homebody tech geeks, male enhancement products for women… Oh wait, that last one was spam. But it’s the same idea. Someone who is trying to market something decided to “spray and pray,” sending out an email blast to as many people as possible, hoping that enough would act on it, without regard for the actual recipients. This may work most of the time, as bloggers are just as likely to delete anything they aren’t interested in without feeling more than mild annoyance, but when pitching something fairly controversial, it would be a much better idea to vet the bloggers you would like to reach out to. I’m sure those on the opposite end of the political spectrum from me would react similarly if they were pitched something with a decidedly liberal slant that also spoke ill of their views.

I almost told the PR agency to take me off their mailing list completely. Instead, I asked them not to send me politically oriented pitches in the future. But how many other bloggers will they lose, people who may be a perfect fit for a future pitch they will now never see?

I do not want the comment section of this post to get into political debate. I am well aware that there are people who disagree with my politics, just as I disagree with theirs. We are not going to change each other’s opinions. I would like the focus of any discussion to remain on the soundness of the decision to send out an untargeted mass email pitch like this without considering the possibility that people may be offended by its implications. There is a reason many people avoid talking about religion and politics – because they are very heated, intensely personal subjects. That being said, feel free to preface your comments with something like, “I disagree with your politics…” but kindly refrain from explaining why. I reserve the right to edit out political and religious views if I feel they are derailing the conversation about business practices.

Why Spray and Pray PR Pitches are Full of Fail is a post from: Christina Gleason - Founder of Phenomenal Content LLC