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Retro Stu's avatar
Retro Stu

As someone who lives with depression and had a hard time getting the right help I'm very motivated to talk about the importance of taking some time for yourself and reconnecting with the things you enjoy.

Whether it's planned ahead of time or needing to cancel streams/content last minute I've found the easiest thing has been to be honest about it - and I don't mean you necessarily have to divulge all the details - but just being up front and vulnerable to say "you know what, I'm not ok and I can't give the best version of me to you like this". If your community respects you (you'd hope so, you are the company you keep after all)

More often than not it's easiest communicated through an announcements channel on Discord for me, so no comments can be added to it from anyone else which eases the pressure of feeling like you have to field a bunch of questions that you might just not have the spoons to answer right now.

Where it's planned time off I'll post schedules and remind people each stream of when they can catch me next and I've recently started to try and get into making more ever green content for YT - especially as my wife and I are having our first baby in a month's time - streaming time will be erratic so I'm trying to mitigate that with let's plays and things like that so I can still stay in touch with the community and not have them forget me!

Really I think it's doing what feels right for you - if you're primarily a streamer, post your schedules on your page, in your discord and remind yourself that the best content you create is when you're at your best, if it means taking a week, two weeks or two days off, the same applies - never feel guilty, we're not machines! In terms of any other platforms or socials, remember that scheduling tools can be your best friend too! Using things like Hoot Suite, Planable etc. line up some posts ahead of time with links to clips or vods etc. and have them scheduled to post so you can just kick back and know that you're still finding people to engage with your content.

Boomer's avatar
BoomerMod
Retro Stu

I have a lot of respect for people that can be honest with themselves like this. It takes a lot to be willing and able to face up to difficult emotions and to give yourself the time you need. Even more so when there's an audience involved. 


EveOnlineTutorials's avatar
EveOnlineTutorials

As someone who has suffered with PPD & EBD since I was diagnosed at 16 (now 38) mental health when being a content creator can be an asset or it can be the enemy of all that you do. For me I prefer that content runs as smoothly as possible, this is mostly because I do not like to let my community down, but I also recognize the importance of your own space & time.

I set aside 1-2 days a week (not a streamer btw, just YouTube videos), which kinda goes like this:

Up at 8 am, out the door at 8:15 on the school run, home by 9 am. Then I come in, grab a coffee, and head upstairs (my office is half my bedroom). Then I wait for Gaz to turn up to do Eve Videos (We make these together) one day and the other day, I log in and start building/recording on Minecraft.

At 2:30 PM I am out the door again, school run, home bye 3:30-4:00 PM. Then it's kids time, dinner time, and bedtime for the kids by 8 pm for the younger ones, and then I'm back in my room, editing/thumbnails, etc.

Normally it's two days a week as I prefer to make sure I have at least one video a day on both channels, even if it's just gameplay. My wife is a sou chef part-time, she works evenings so, my content has to be planned around kids/wife.

MY ADVICE to anyone doing YouTube is to NOT fall into the habit of doing it every day, I tried this and I burned out, really fast, my EBD kicked in, I had an MH breakdown, deleted a Discord with 500+ members on it, deleted a YouTube channel with nearly 10k subscribers on it.

Always, take time, for yourself, even if it's Netflix & Chill, time with a partner, or just a simple 30-minute walk a day, even over the holidays. Make sure that you put your health first, your community, the ones who like you, the ones who came for you, will still be there, always.

Hope this isn't too real, but this has been my experience so far and now that I put myself first over my content, making sure I have time for family and social, things have been much better for me.

Boomer's avatar
BoomerMod
EveOnlineTutorials

It's not too real, it's your experience. Sounds like you've got a good plan for what your channel needs, but more importantly you're putting your own mental health needs first. I'm sure there's something for everyone to learn here, even if they don't share your exact life experiences.

EveOnlineTutorials's avatar
EveOnlineTutorials
Boomer

Yeah, it's super important with content creation to make sure that your mental doesn't suffer. It's quite a taxing thing to do and it's always the best way to make sure at no point you think "Oh for god's sake I need more videos" At that point, you need to step back and re-evaluate what you are doing. Your content should never be a chore to do, it should be enjoyable.

Brother Grimoire's avatar
Brother Grimoire

When it comes to Holidays, I make an effort to strike a balance between my home life and work.

If it's a day that I am normally off, I continue as normal. If the Holiday falls on a normal stream day, I only stream if I'm finished with celebrations at home.

All in all, I try to conduct business as usual with a bit of a twist depending on the day. I have found that stability is something that is very important when it comes to building and maintaining a following

Lanah Tyra's avatar
Lanah Tyra

I was planning to stream the seasonal event in FFXIV, but with everything what came up RL in the last 2 months I've decided to use this time for a little break. Need to finish unpacking boxes and finding a place for everything in the new house.

I will probably do a few streams between the holidays as I have a shortened shift at work. It will be some casual streams where I can test the new setup, adjust camera angle and see how my internet connection can handle multistreaming, so then everything will be ready for getting back on schedule in January.

Content creation is a job like any other, it's important that you take breaks especially if you are doing it full-time and stream 6 or even 7 days a week. So if you have an announced, planned break or just not feeling well on the day and have to cancel a stream or delay putting a video out, it's okay. Those who unsub because of this, are not worthy of your hard work. There are plenty of creators out there, people can find enough entertainment.

If you plan to stream during the holidays, bare in mind that not everyone is celebrating or celebrates differently. Or the holidays might not be a cheerful occasion for someone, people might be lonely and want some company to cope with loss or to get away from a not peaceful family life. So if someone decides not to take part in your festive activities, don't take it personally, and check on your community members, some of them might only hear kind words from you during this time of the year.

avrona's avatar
avrona

As much as I would love to relax over Christmas, the demanding nature of YouTube makes it near impossible. Thankfully, there is something that can be somewhat done about it nowadays, that being Shorts, which I've been uploading instead of full-length videos around the Christmas period. But the second the mood wears off it's back on working on full-length stuff. There are already numerous projects I began before Christmas that I didn't get to finish, so at least the amount of work isn't as bad as it could be.

FUN INC's avatar
FUN INC

Posting after the fact now - I had a few days of zero screen time - no discord, no content creation etc, and I feel great. I wasn't feeling bad before, but just feel excited to get back to it. My content creation isn't all about streams, and videos, it is about engaging with people in fleets, and having the desire to want to do that. Getting that excitement is what drives me. I feel driven at the moment even after a few days time out! :)

Sturmer's avatar
Sturmer

Some might think that classic journalism is easy mode. You don't need to show your face to the audience, nor do you need to be ‘live’ and so on. But trust me, it's not that simple! I still have obligations to inform my audience; my content should be crisp, precise, well-timed, and most importantly, fact-checked. And you need to do it really fast.

As a journalist, I need to travel to take interviews or to get firsthand experience of what the gaming industry has to offer. This means I'm often far from the office. There are three key elements that help me to constantly deliver content and maintain the motto ‘The show must go on 24/7’:

  1. Planning Ahead: In most cases, you can predict the workload and prepare content in advance. In the worst case, you can always research something interesting and write an article like ‘The Most Epic Games Designed by Solo Game Studios’.

  2. The Team: When I'm out in the ‘field’, there is always someone on duty at the office ready to help. I've had times when I've been running (literally) between interviews, using an audio recorder to capture my thoughts and impressions. The team then processes this and creates a publication.

  3. Content Diversity: It's useful to cover related topics. Gaming culture is still quite closely tied to geek culture, so anything related like tabletop games and TV shows could be of interest. Have someone as an expert in those fields and let them take the spotlight while you enjoy holidays with your family.

So there you have it, these are just a few tricks for going on vacation or being away from the office while still serving your audience.

Boomer's avatar
BoomerMod
Sturmer

I think you're in good company here! We've got a few people from a journalism background on the team, so the work is very much respected and understood 🙂

MURRRAAAAY's avatar
MURRRAAAAY

I have decided this year to take content creation a bit slower over the festive period, honestly to try and relax, recharge and plan for 2024.

I have been using notion to help plan out my content buckets for 2024 , so that’s what kind of content I want to make and where. I’ve also built this out so I actually do my full end to end content creation process on notion, other than actually creating YouTube videos that is, but what I mean is I do ideation, scripts, scheduling and more all in the one place which is great for then having a it’s eye view of what’s going on in my dashboard and also what stage I am at in progressing various projects!

This has helped me slow down but also shedule a weekly video so I am still moving forward as the year closes out , which an eye to really pushing forward in 2024 with more focus on the content type I want to deliver regularly to my community.

Then in between this I have been enjoying posting on just about, and then posting bits and bobs to X, mastodon, bluesky and my YouTube community feed but I do t shedule these as I have there for more break news type things which I do t cover anymore in my main content!

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