Why we’re so thankful for YOU this Thanksgiving.

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I guess a soppy article was always going to be on the cards for Thanksgiving, right? It’s sort of become my brand at this point. But despite the fact I’m English and don’t celebrate Thanksgiving (although I would love to experience it next year!), I wanted to take a second to wish you all the happiest of days, nicest of meals, and messiest of football games. I also wanted to just say Thank You. To all of you.

If you’ve followed me for any period of time, you’ll know that this year hasn’t exactly been kind. Trying to run a sports news blog during a pandemic where all of the sports we cover were cancelled definitely took its toll mentally. I didn’t qualify for government support due to being a new business owner, so was essentially left making a little over 25% of what I usually would. The constant stress and anxiety of whether or not the company would survive was exhausting and a few other bumps and bruises along the way only added to that weight. My mental health nose dived and I was in a really bad place for a fairly big chunk of the year.

I didn’t tell a lot of people. I live-streamed a lot and showed a lot of vulnerability, but I feel that probably only strengthened the bond we have because I just shared a lot of things I would otherwise bottle up. It was really tough for large stretches of the year. it felt like I couldn’t catch a break and it left me so broken down that I started questioning just about everything.

But during this time, I honestly realized how lucky we are as a company. To have you in our corners, constantly supporting our work, sharing what we do, and believing in our aim to just try and be different and bring unique perspectives to the table, meant everything.

I realized how passionate you are about us and that is so rare. I’ve always prided myself and PSN on the fact that we don’t just want to be a ‘site’. We want to be a home. A place for a community to thrive and where we can connect with our audience in as many ways as possible. We’re not part of some big engine where we can churn out mindless content and not think twice. We read every response, we live stream, we get personal. Because this is the platform that you’ve shaped. We give everything to you because you give everything to us. There’s genuine love between us. A respect, a desire to build this together.

In a time where so many blogs/companies heartbreakingly suspended operations or closed their doors, we kept fighting. We wouldn’t have been able to do that without your support. Truly. It’s the love you give us on a daily basis that saved PSN from that fate. You never stopped reading our work. You never gave up on us and we never gave up on you.

You might not realize it, or even think twice when clicking on an article, but it means the absolute world to us. On a personal level, waking up with no desire to leave my bed was always replaced by a need to produce content because I can’t let you down. Because you deserve my best even when I can’t really give it. You kept that fire burning each and every day and alow me to be myself, and for that I really am forever thankful.

We’re in our sixth year now and what was once a pipe-dream is now something much bigger than I could’ve ever imagined. Strangely, we’re still only just beginning. Thank you for being so understanding, so patient, and so supportive of every decision we make and everything we do. You have made PSN what it is today.

You’ve made it home.