I'M BURNT OUT 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Let’s start this out by bashing my head into the keyboard.

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Okay, better. The year that was 2020 left me in a confused mess; I was unmotivated, uninspired, and frankly just wanted to lie around getting wins in the gulag. (Okay, maybe I suck at COD, but who cares) Starting this year, I wanted to create…but the issue was I didn’t know what I should create; should I make videos for YouTube or TikTok, go around Cincinnati to capture some photos, or quit everything and just become a wannabe twitch streamer?

INSTEAD, I starting saying yes to everything; every side project, every extra assignment at work, basically everything I could get my hands on to create. And guess what: That only made it worse.

Well, it is basically a newsletter. This is an attempt to reignite that flame; a journal that I share with anyone who is curious about my life. I’ll break it down into subsections of Personal, Work, and Side Projects to give you some insight into the projects I get to do! There’ll be tons of updates when it comes to my family, my goals, and what I am enjoying each week. The idea is to shout my accomplishments from the rooftops (in this case a computer screen) so that I feel inspired by them. I am constantly in the weeds working on the next project that I really don’t take the time to enjoy the process. Enough rambling, let’s get into this!

This past weekend was probably one of the busiest weekends of my life. I was the best man in my friends Alex and Margaux’s wedding, so with that came a ton of responsibilities; the biggest of which was giving a speech. With speeches, I’m nervous until the first words come out of my mouth. Working my way through this speech, one point I made sticks out to me:

When it comes to marriages, or even just life in general, remembering who made you the person you are today is essential. I loved getting to celebrate a huge event with some of my favorite people in the world.

My job at Touchstone has evolved and changed so much since I started over two years ago. One of the biggest changes (that I’m loving) is how much video we are incorporating into everything. I’m making podcasts, creating tutorial videos, interviews, social media ads and more. This has started to stretch my creator muscles in ways I haven’t in a long time.

I love making videos, but part of my burn out is that I have started making videos from the time I wake up till the time I go to bed. There is a quote from Mark Twain:

And honestly, it’s a load of crap. I took the hobby I loved and turned that into my full time job; so why does it still feel like work? (I’m still figuring this part out, so stay tuned!)

As summer has come and almost gone, most of my weekends were kidnapped by weddings or bachelor parties. My side work has quadrupled in size since the beginning of June and has lead to many late nights after working my 9-5. In an attempt to clear my head and unplug, I try to find other activities to refresh my creative juices. The issue is I still tend to stress about the projects even when I should be relaxing. One of the biggest pieces of advice I’m trying to implement is to find hobbies that don’t relate to my “work” (hence why I’m trying a blog/diary/newsletter).

Every week, I’ll put together a recommendation of something that I previously watched that made me happy or changed my life. Recently, I got put onto Ted Lasso which is an amazing Apple + original. The premise is simple: an American college football coach is recruited to coach an English Premier League team. What follows is Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) using his personable skills to win over his new team while also facing many personal challenges. I’ve linked the trailer below for Season 1 (Season 2 comes out soon!).

That’s it for this issue! Thanks for checking it out and if you have any Movie, TV, or YouTube video recommendations, feel free to send them to me on any social media!