I thought it might be worth telling you a little bit about why I started live-streaming and what I want to get out of it now I’m settling into a routine.
2020 has been a really tough year for a lot of people, including me. I was made redundant unexpectedly in January and it kinda set off a chain that saw me in a pretty rotten place at the start of April. A few things have helped keep me sane though, one of which is the fact that my good friend Johno was furloughed, and decided to take up streaming games.
It provided more than just structure though; it gave me back the kind of relaxed but focused socialising I hadn’t realised I was missing so badly since the start of lockdown.
I’ve been a fan of live streams and let’s plays for a long time, and the idea that maybe I could do it too has always been with me, repressed under the weight of “what if I suck” and “I don’t know how to start” (the worst and frequent enemies of new ventures). But this year had left me in a dark place, and I just needed to feel like I’d achieved something. It was a difficult conversation to have with Matt (my wonderfully patient partner)—admitting that I wanted something low-stakes to work towards. Something which, if I didn’t succeed, wasn’t going to hit me as hard as a job application rejection. And so, in the weird world 2020 has given us, I reached out and asked questions, made some mistakes, and got some more help and kind words from friends.
I figured I’d stream for my pals to replicate the feeling I was getting from being in Johno’s streams for them. It was much to my surprise that more than just my friends popped up in the chat and started following and even sharing my streams. It was unexpected and delightful. Soon, someone pointed out how close I was to making it to Twitch Affiliate status. I hadn’t really considered it, but here I am, Affiliate, with my own channel emojis and everything.