I looked down at the tweet I had composed. It was polite, but the playful half-threat was definitely clear. I thought about how these people must hate me, and how I probably shouldn’t be doing what I was doing, and I paused before I sent my little tweet out into the interweb. Was this really all ok?

After I’d landed my first proper job, things became a bit stale. I was going to work every day, then coming home, then watching tele, maybe reading a bit, then going to bed. Every. Single. Day.

I was improving as a copywriter and enjoying what I was doing, but my life seemed just a bit… same-y. I’d come into my job off the back of a string of incredible, life-defining experiences. And now, all of a sudden, I was just an entry level digital copywriter in a little office in Bristol, failing to make an impact on anyone.

I needed something more. I needed a hobby. I needed something… fun. I was getting desperate.

Then, as I was resigning myself to a rut that might last a lifetime, my beard trimmer broke.

It was exactly what I’d been looking for.

I know such a sentence might make you wonder if a beard trimmer malfunction has ever been exactly what anyone was looking for, ever, but in this instance I assure you it was.

I’d gone to work the next day unshaven. And the day after that. And also the day after that.

By the end of the week, people were starting to ask questions. I approached each one with playful humour, claiming that I wouldn’t shave until my beard trimmer had been replaced. People laughed.

So I started a blog.

My blog claimed exactly that: that I wouldn’t shave until my broken beard trimmer had been replaced. I was only half-serious. But before long there were a few people following the blog. And without really thinking about it, I’d alerted the beard trimmer’s manufacturer. I hadn’t ever meant any harm. I’d only ever been messing about. But now, lots of people wanted me to succeed. And, after a tough few weeks, I wanted to succeed… whatever that meant.

So I looked down once again at my little tweet.

I sent the tweet, and it was all over. My fate was in their hands.