What’s Been Going On?
Mental health in 2020 has been pushed further than ever before, for a lot of people, particularly in the entertainment/nightlife industry.
That’s not to say that there haven’t been a huge number of people, from different backgrounds and industries, who’ve been hit really hard by the dreaded Coronavirus pandemic, but I can only speak from my own experience.
Primarily, DJ’s, musicians and entertainers are all self employed. That means we simply depend on our bookings taking place, and getting paid for the job we’ve done.
Understanding The Financial Impact Of Lockdown On The Nightlife Industry
When lockdown was announced, and night clubs and pubs were ordered to close, public performances (and our industry) ground to a halt. Financial assistance was made available for those in a full time job, by way of the furlough, but that didn’t cover the self employed. Pretty much EVERY DJ is self employed. Any full time worker who was furloughed, received 80% of their FULL wage.
As a self employed person, we were offered something different, called the SEISS (Self Employed Income Support Scheme). This took into account 80% of our declared profit, and we would be granted that amount at the end of a 3 month period. Lockdown began in March, so we were offered our first SEISS grant in May.
Having had to survive 3 months without any financial assistance (I didn’t personally apply for Universal Credit, but a number of friends did, with no luck at all), we were granted 80% of our annual profit, for a 3 month period.
There are a number of ‘benefits’ of being self employed, one of those is being able to write off certain business expenses off, and reduce the amount of tax. Essentially, an incentive to re-invest in your business, and in turn in theory it will help grow the economy. The down side of this, is that the amount of money a self employed person earns, can result in very little profit being left over, after paying all the necessary expenses required to run the business.
As an overview… If somebody earns £30,000, but re-invested pretty much everything that would have been classed as profit, they would have had NOTHING paid by the SEISS scheme, yet still potentially had £7,500 of outgoings… Pretty stressful times!
About Me, Under Normal Circumstances
As a DJ, I can be somewhat of an irregularity. Nightlife can be a really tough industry, very cut-throat, and depression is rife. That is not however the case for me.
I’ve never been a suffer of depression, and I’ve always loved my ‘job’.
I’m very much a morning person, and can survive on little sleep (as unhealthy as that is). Every day, I would wake up, spring out of bed, and be ready for the day ahead, and what it could bring. I’m very into keeping active, doing interesting and exciting things, and socialising. On a weekly basis I would be climbing, playing badminton, wakeboarding, eating out, heading to the gym, shopping, meeting friends for lunch etc, and these were things I would do EVERY week. There were other things that would be added into the mix, but life is always a joy for me. I’m just generally a happy person.
The Psychological Impact Of Lockdown
I can write this from a very honest and personal place, as lockdown has been VERY tough and costly for me. I’m sure it may well have been far worse for others, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been hard for SO many.
2020 as a year for me, was looking VERY exciting! My diary for the whole year was booked, almost before it had started. I took my finally booking for 2020, on January 6th, and that was for New Years Eve, December 31st.
Having last year played some incredible events, with artists such as Becky Hill, world renowned DJ’s such as Patrick Nazemi, and organisations such as Club MTV. 2019 had been amazing, and 2020 was set to be EVEN better!!
March 19th was the last gig I’d played up until this point (it’s now August 24th 2020), and my income completely stopped from that point onwards.
In the early parts of lockdown, I’d began doing livestreams as a method of trying to keep busy, and also keep practised. As lockdown restrictions were relaxed slightly, this enabled me to start doing the livestreams with a handful of friends being present… These had been my biggest crowds since March, haha!!
Although things were far from normal, further relaxation of lockdown restrictions, meant that people were bumping into each other more in the street, and some kind of ‘mixing’ of groups of people was starting to happen again. And here’s where my lockdown story begins…
What Happened For Me?
My lockdown ‘tale of joy’ begins with… I met an amazing girl (yes, it’s one of those stories), and we literally just clicked, in such an amazing way! We have so many of the same morals and beliefs, and she had so many amazing qualities. Oh yeah, did I mention she is also VERY attractive?! Admittedly, physical attraction is what first impressions are all about, but there’s far more to her than that!
As we spent more time together, as restrictions allowed, things just seemed perfect! I’ve had some pretty long term relationships in the past which have been without too much drama, and I won’t tarnish those by saying they were all bad… This was just different!
I apologise if you’re ready to vomit by this point, but this may well be pretty relatable to some… So I’ll continue…
Where Did It All Go Wrong?
In all fairness, lockdown was hard from the beginning, and was getting progressively worse, until I met this ‘dream girl’. I won’t mention her name, as it’s not important to the tale, and she shouldn’t have to be googling herself, and seeing this story appear.
Immediately, it felt that things COULD be ok. The sadness and anxiety that had started to creep into my life, that I’d never experienced like this before, were nothing more than distant memories. She had totally lifted me up, and I had something to look forward to!
We got on great for a good couple of months, but those cracks started to appear, as my financial situation got ever so much worse… My bills were still going out, my income dwindling day by day, and still no idea of when I’d be able to go back to work!
I’d advertised for work, trying to do whatever I could to earn ANY income, but it just wasn’t enough. Financially, I was drowning!
She had stuck by me through some really difficult times, and my financial situation hadn’t been an issue to her. She’s really not that kind of girl… But the impact of financial stresses, and the lack of a plan of how to fix them, simply just got too much!
I ended up having a bit of a meltdown, and a serious case of low self esteem. All the amazing things between us, I managed to ruin within a handful of days (if not hours). I destroyed something which had been so amazing, and could well have continued very happily for many years to come (her words too, not just mine). I became unrecognisable to her, and even more worryingly, to myself.
There is more to the tale, but the details aren’t all that necessary. Essentially, lockdown not only cost me my livelihood, but somebody incredibly special to me. It was a great time while it lasted, and I know that there are many years ahead of me, but I really do feel that lockdown took something from me, due to the pressure it placed on me, and us.
What’s Next?
Truthfully, who knows? As of August 24th 2020, the government are still offering no guidance as to when night clubs can reopen, and DJ’s can go back to work and earning an income.
In the meantime, I’ve had no choice but to take a job to start rebuilding my finances. I’m actually quite excited to be fair. Life as a DJ… can actually be pretty lonely. You often work in amongst a fairly large team, within a venue… But you’re all alone on that stage, or in that booth, and the interaction you pull from, is the crowd of people in front of you. As epic as that feeling is, you’re keeping busy doing your job, and there is no communication, or just simply having a giggle like some people get to do within an every day office or workplace scenario.
As regards my ‘dream girl’… I’ve got to focus on getting myself happy again, back to the person she fell for, and then who knows. Maybe there might be some chance in the future? Never say never, hey? 😉
She knows how special she is to me, and if you have a similar tale to this… If you’ve lost somebody you care about through this pandemic, make sure he or she knows just how you feel about them, and that the person you were reduced to through this whole situation, is not the person you truly are.
Onwards and upwards, and let’s hope we can all be out there entertaining the masses once again, real soon!
