From Glasto to V: Things I've learned about careers from festivals

Self care, being prepared and having your crew around you

This time last year - and for many years, eight in total - I was off to Somerset, to Glastonbury Festival. One of my favourite places on the planet. The first time I went was 17 years ago - there I am, in the top left pic, in the horrible, wonderful mud.

Oh how unprepared I was - for the experience, and for camping - and for that mud!

But also the joy! That first year I had no idea really of the scale of Glastonbury (to my shame I spent most of my time around the pyramid stage) or the impact it’d have on me and my life.

I was ready for anything, desperate to see The Killers, mainly, who were headlining that year. While I’d been to festivals before, this was the ‘big one’ - the ‘dream festival’. I was ready for it, even if I was sharing a small tent with two friends and a packet of baby wipes.

My festival experiences over the years have ranged from Glasto to Greenbelt, a small festival I went to in my teens. I can remember seeing Moby there, and the buzz of being in a crowd all singing along. The same as I’d felt at my first gig, Bon Jovi at the Milton Keynes Bowl (Not ashamed).

Then came ‘V’, the festival where they had two locations, the setlist swapping depending on which one you were at. Big Feastival, which is just down the road on Alex James ‘off of Blur’s’ farm.

So what have I learned from those hours in fields that can relate to work?

It’ll never be perfect. Glastonbury is, for me, the dream festival, the best festival on the planet. It’s the most magical unique place, but it’s not without its challenges. From the marathon-like walks around the site to the chaos of crowds, the toilets (!) and what on earth to wear discussions! Just like a festival, a job will never be perfect. There will be things we don’t want to do, and times we want to give up. Knowing our long term goals really helps. We can build our experience around the things we really want to achieve at all costs.

We can prepare but there may be things we forget… Going back to Glastonbury over the years I have learned about preparation but there’s ALWAYS something I do wrong. Last year, despite all my planning, I forgot the stopper to my air bed! This is where your crew comes in - you need a good crew (colleagues) around you to make sure you can get the right things done, that you have back up, and that you’re not alone in the experience.

There’s a festival and job for everyone. One person’s glasto is another person’s download is another’s Big Feastival. For some, it’s about the big all-out festival, and for others, it’s about a boutique niche local one. We all have our perfect job idea, and while some of us crave the big corporate life, others are chasing the freelance solo dream. It’s all valid.

Some people only go to one and stay faithful. Others dabble in lots of different festivals, preferring to see what else is out there. This feels like me when I was freelance and shifting at lots of different magazines. I would see what was out there, go for different experiences, and not commit to just one thing. I’d work shifts somewhere and then also be writing for someone else. A friend used to go to about ten festivals a year, soaking up the different music, location and meeting so many new people. A festival freelancer!

There’s always a new festival - just like jobs. You might miss out on one and think it’s the end of the world but actually it opens up a new opportunity. This year I’m going out of my Glasto comfort zone and heading to Latitude with some friends I’ve never ‘festivaled’ with before. I can’t wait! I am enjoying the feeling of being in their hands, of them knowing the place and me being the newbie. I’ve promised not to say ‘At Glastonbury…’ too much.

Things don’t always go the way you want them to. From rain to bands cancelling (one year at V, Oasis split up the night before we were due to see them!) there is always something that goes wrong at a festival. There’ll be arguments and disagreements, moments where you wonder why you came and whether you should ever come again. Our expectations of festivals and of jobs are often super high, forged in the build up where we read the description, make our preparation and get caught up in the hype. Of course in both work and festivals there are moments where the promises don’t live up to what’s delivered. There are moments where we feel we’ve been sold a dream that isn’t the reality.

It’s how we work through them that matters. You might be like me and have got frustrated - at work and at a festival - thrown a strop, threatened to quit! You might have stood in the crowd or sat at your desk and felt like everyone else was having more fun than you.

When that happens it’s up to us to make decisions that change the situation. A bit like choosing to leave and go to a different stage when my head was vibrating from the first songs by Metallica. Or the pulse of the crowd at Kanye which just wasn’t for me.

Unexpected amazing things can happen - But those moments also bring the joyful surprises. Leaving Kanye to dance at Disclosure, or Florence and the Machine wowing us when she took the headline slot after Foo fighters had to cancel because Dave Grohl broke his ankle. Then, the ‘surprise’ of the Foos playing in 2023 as the Churn Ups.

Regrouping and recharging to face a new day. Self care is critical at festivals and at work. Taking time to fuel and to rest, time by ourselves or away from the noise and the crowds. Looking for spaces where we can recharge and think through our short and long term plans and goals is critical if we want to thrive.

There will be times you want to quit. This is me every Saturday at Glastonbury! I get to a point where I’m tired and hungover and weary and want to just lie down… a glasto buddy always gets me back on track (often with a cider).

Letting go when it’s over. Finally, there’s the post festival or work feels. The days and weeks afterwards where all you can think about is what you’ve experienced. Post redundancy it took me a long time to forget what I’d been through and the job I’d loved. It’s about taking the memories and finding the joy in looking back, but all the while always planning for the next adventure.