Starting My YouTube Channel
Last summer I was started watching YouTube videos. Mainly Dollar Tree hauls. I came across them accidentally and had never heard of that type of video before. It didn’t take long to became hooked! I saw that store in a new light and started shopping at it differently and much more frequently.
My Mother and a friend of mine had also never heard of shopping hauls and they were having a hard time understanding the concept so I made a couple mock videos to show them what I was talking about. The videos were both hysterical and pathetic! But I noticed how much I had enjoyed myself making them. So the thought of starting my own YouTube channel was born but would I really have the nerve to pull it off? Time for a little history…
I remember always being a shy girl growing up. Adulthood did not change that part of me by much. But it was gaining all the excess weight after my second pregnancy that made me withdraw even more. I did not ever want to run into anyone I knew when I was younger because I did not want them to see how bad I looked. At one point I had allowed myself to balloon up to 308 pounds. Thats a lot of weight for a 5 foot 1 inch frame. And of course, thats when type 2 diabetes kicked in. By that point I wasn’t living in the same place I went to school and church in. I was a couple hours drive away so I felt pretty secure about not running into anyone from my past. Most of the people I knew from my teen years were Facebook friends of mine so I was always careful not to add recent pictures of myself, atleast not full body shots. I hid as much of me as I could for as long as I could.
So how could I possibly start making videos of myself and put them online for all the world to see? When I turned 50 something inside of me started to change. I started to own up to what I had done to my body and decided almost over night not to care anymore about what people thought. This was me, like it or not. This is who I had become. I decided to allow my desire to do something new and exciting to become stronger than my need to stay in hiding. So I made my first YouTube video. The first one was a simple introduction video explaining what you could expect from my channel and then I did my first Dollar Tree Haul.
Over time I added Wish App Hauls, some product reviews and recipe shares. When I decided to join Weight Watchers I knew I would have to include that on my channel and thats when everything started to change. To my surprise, I discovered a very large Weight Watchers community on YouTube. I had no idea! Now I subscribe to so many wonderful channels and I publish several different types of weight loss videos. My weekly weigh in updates seen to be a favorite for most of my subscribers but I also record what I ate in a day, Freestyle grocery hauls and WW friendly recipe collab videos. It keeps me busy and I still enjoy making these videos.
My favorite part in all of this is interacting with my subscribers. I can’t tell you how much I look forward to reading and replying to the comments! I just love it! Now mind you, my channel is small and my comments are few but I know in time it will grow and grow and I’ll love it even more!
And what about all those people from my past who haven’t seen me since I was a teen? Well who the heck knows! None of them subscribe to my channel or make comments. At least not under their own names like they’re listed on Facebook. (Even though I post new video notices on FB). So as far as I know, they don’t even know about my YouTube channel or they do and they just don’t care. My point is…why did I care in the first place? Stupid me! It took me many many adult years to finally become mature enough to not concern myself with such thoughts!
Do you struggle with the same thoughts from time to time? Or something similar? Is there some big hurdle you were able to “get over” that you’d like to share with me? Feel free to leave a comment below and we can talk about it.
Be Blessed,
Cheryl
I lost 90 pounds from 2007 to 2009...about the time you and I first met up on yahoo...I started out with a diet pill, found Spark People , a group that was very helpful to journal everything I ate, people to support me through it all, blogs I wrote about my journey. I found the idiot proof diet plan, it worked for me . I exercised 30 minutes a day..mostly walking... I ate a strict diet plan for ten days and had two days off. one day, all fruit, one day all vegetables, I ate every two to two and a half hours...something...and the weight came off..I was never hungry.. Then in 2009, September I woke up with a phone call telling me that my best friend of 50 years had died in her sleep of a apparent heart attack. She was my lifeline..with both my daughters in different states she kept me going ..especially after my mother died in 2006 and I entered a new phase of my life. I had lost my job of almost 30 years with Kmart, they just were letting go people left and right, anyone with over 25 years were the ones they targeted to get rid of the 5 weeks vacations and the benefits they paid ..I knew it was only a matter of time. I lost the job in January, and my mother in February and then in March my only living relative sued me for my mothers funeral dinner, all this with dealing with not one but two bi polar daughters who one second loved me to pieces and the next could not stand me...so Diana, my friend, was my life line...she encouraged me to lose the weight and move on with my life..she called me daily, spent holidays with me so I would not be alone, and one day...just like that she was gone...it broke me...the job I got after Kmart, was actually my favorite job ever..a caregiver at an assistant living facility..I used to take the shit at Kmart, but at this job I cleaned it up...and you know, I would take the later in a heart beat. Until 4 years in, after losing my friend , and having my daughter back , and see how the divorce had thrown her bi polar into manic phase, dealing with over whelming things there, a new director came into the facility and ended up firing every single person that was there with the old director that hired us all. A bitter person who thought could do it better I guess...well, that is when my life crumbled and I started eating , giving up, not caring...gained back the 90 pounds...it wasn't until your video's that I started thinking again about doing it again. Its a start, first steps, I have been thinking about the food that goes into my mouth. That is what YOU are doing for me. One never knows what a difference they can make in the world, does one? I still am not at the point where I will change my life pattern , but I know I am getting closer...thank you my friend.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for sharing this part of your life with us. I really appreciate it. I'm so glad to heard that your starting to think about getting your health back. Its a long process, rough at times but the rewards are so worth it and you my friend, are worth it too!!
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