Thankfulness

I figured with Thanksgiving coming up, and a rough two years behind us, we might not have a lot to be thankful for. But I think differently about this. There’s many things that have happened that would make us not thankful, but there are still some things that would give us that thankfulness in these times. I’d just like to take a post to discuss with all of you. First off, yes the pandemic sucks, and it has sucked since the beginning! But there are so many things that would never have happened without the pandemic! Including this post! I would never have begun streaming, made this website, or anything of the sort without what the last year had done to us. I was as busy as a bee before the pandemic hit, and I would’ve continued to be busy for a while after it came. Even my summers were crazy with a lot of stuff happening. So I guess the first thing the pandemic gave me that I was thankful for was time. Yes, I loved being busy, and I still try to occupy myself with something a lot because being busy is fun, as it was one of the reasons I started streaming, but the free time after being constantly busy was refreshing. But yes, with all the free time I had, I needed to try some new stuff out. So I was drawn to Twitch again and the SMO community. I am very thankful for the people I met there and still talk to some of them today. I joined discord because of SMO and the CRC resources discord, so without those videos I would never have wanted to do any of that kind of stuff (I’m not a huge social media fan tbh). I’m thankful that when I started streaming, I was able to grow relatively quickly, because of those relationships and bonds with people in the SMO community, even when I was streaming other games. And yes, while because of all the breaks I’ve been taking now, as well as the time change meaning earlier streams, I still am thankful for anyone who comes to chat just to say hi. There’s so many people that do that in my chat and don’t realize the meaning of it to me. Well to those people, it’s amazing every time you say a word in chat, and the conversations we have are just amazing to me. In a world where many people thought it was over for talking to people while at home, these online platforms came in to say no to them. I think Twitch and the community I have has literally changed my life. Yes, my career path will stay the same, I don’t have a need for twitch to become my full-time job or anything, but I would like it to be a part of my life for as long as people are willing to join along for the ride. The experiences with streaming while tedious have still given me great joy when great things happen on stream. Have there been mental tolls on me? Yes. But did I quit completely after them? No. The only reason I want to quit streaming is if I get too busy of a schedule to have time for it. I am also thankful to have a family who through everything still supports me. I wouldn’t have been here at college without them saving money for my college career. I am thankful for a wonderful college experience so far, even though I might not have met all the friends I would want. I’m thankful for the jobs I’ve had (Twitch included because I have gotten payouts before), while they might not be the best, pay well, or have good benefits, I am thankful for the chance to put it on my resume as former or current work experience. There are still so many things that you can still be thankful for in these times. Whether or not they are benefits of the pandemic, or things that are other than that, we know there are both. Just know that I am thankful for this community, on Twitch, YouTube, and even for reading this blog post! You guys are awesome for supporting me in any of that. I don’t feel like I deserve any of it. Now please enjoy your Thanksgiving, spend it with family and friends and remember why we celebrate it.