Hey everyone, thought I'd quickly check in with you lovely folks! Hope you're all having a lovely start to your 2023 so far. It's been a hectic one so far for my girlfriend and me for sure but it's all been great honestly, definitely can't complain!
So yeah, it's been a busy ol' start to the year, beginning with my girlfriend moving into my place and us finding homes for everything and making the house feel as much hers as it is mine. It's a big step moving in with someone so it's very important to make the house they're moving into as much theirs as it is the persons they're moving in with! We've also had a couple house projects ongoing while all of that has been happening, one of which sadly didn't go ahead, the other being done while I write this post! So yeah... busy busy times!
When it comes to things I've been trying to do different this year so far, it's going reasonably well. The main thing was making space for a day off each week, which, for the most part, has been Wednesdays. If I miss a day somewhere else in the week though, I'd just upload on the Wednesday to make up for it. Something else we've done is booked some holidays nice and early mostly so we have something to look forward to. I think that's important too, having something to look forward to otherwise you'd just wind up a drone just mindlessly plodding along with your days... not something that's good for one's mental health, that's for sure!
So on the note of holidays, there's actually 3 coming up in the space of 6 weeks would you believe?! Mid-April camping holiday with my girlfriend, early May holiday in the Peak District with my friend and another camping holiday with my girlfriend mid-May but with her family too. Should all be a lovely time! It's safe to say I'm rather looking forward to them all! So while it'll be a challenging time trying to pre-record for each of the holidays, I can only promise that I'll try my best for you folks!
I mentioned mental health before, it's probably worth touching base there too eh? My mental health has been mostly alright to be fair, yeah there's been some stressful moments here and there with the moving process, finding homes for everything and so on but nothing overly bad, moving's always stressful so yeah, it is what it is really, the things that get me through it is 1) I'm living with my girlfriend now, 2) It'll all be worth it in the finish and 3) We won't have to do this again for a few years at least I imagine!
It's a somewhat different story when it comes to YouTube though. The numbers across the Python network of channels (PythonGB, Pythonator, PythonPlays) have rather tanked and while I know that the beginning of the year is typically the roughest time of the year for many YouTubers numbers/revenue wise, this year has been particularly bad despite me working hard. I reckon my refusal to conform to current trends on YouTube is biting me on the butt pretty harshly now. I *know* that doing these "100 Days" videos would probably boost my channel stats but it's just not me, it's not how I roll, it's not how I like to play and it's not a style I personally enjoy. While trying to make it on YouTube as a "traditional" Let's Player is getting ever more difficult, it's not impossible. There was a Let's Play resurgence with Minecraft in 2019, whether or not there'll be another one remains to be seen I guess. I personally still enjoy the traditional Let's Play format, I stop everything to watch an episode of Etho's or Dallasmed65's Let's Plays... I just find them more relatable to me. Call me a dinosaur but I just don't see myself ever turning away from doing the traditional Let's Play style of videos. I'll sprinkle in some guides, list videos and tutorials perhaps but I just don't see myself fully turning away from Let's Plays. If my career dies, whatever I guess, as far as I see it (as a realist), I came from nothing and in the end, I'll become nothing. Life is full of peaks and troughs and changes, I'm just here for the ride, trying to enjoy myself as much as I can in the process.
So there we go folks, a quick check in! If you're wondering where I'm at, at the moment, there ya go! A massive thanks as always for all your lovely support over the years and especially more recently with the channels being in the troughs numbers wise, I truly appreciate you all. More vids to come, more series to come, more fun times to come! Stick around!