Youtuber burnout ? May iChang & Jimmy always remain steadfast and healthy, their contributions to Malaysia in promoting food and interesting places in Malaysia are much appreciated.
What is burnout? Burnout is exhaustion both physically and mentally. What are the symptoms of burnout?
- Physical symptoms – Fatigue, headaches, body aches, frequent stomach problems, and unstable hormones.
- Mental symptoms – Anxiety, depression, quick temper, and difficulty focusing.
- Emotional symptoms – Feeling overwhelmed, stressed, and hopeless.
Why are YouTubers often prone to burnout?
The most obvious reason now is that the effort doesn’t match the results. It’s extremely difficult to get views on YouTube these days, and with low views, the income is also low. When the Malaysian Ringgit depreciates, advertisers have to pay more because ads are “bid” in US dollars. When there are fewer bids, income drops. Even top channels in Malaysia find it difficult to get views exceeding 100,000.
Not only on YouTube, but Che Nom also sees that friends who cook on Instagram and TikTok struggle to get views, despite having hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers.
To compensate for low views, YouTubers play the volume game, which adds to their stress because they have to create frequent videos, doubling their efforts and costs. They sacrifice sleep and rest, and their pockets run dry.
Creating videos also requires creativity and a lot of thinking.
If they produce the same content repeatedly, no one will watch, so they constantly need new ideas and think about content 24/7.
Furthermore, they need to stay connected with their audience, manage all social media platforms, which they can’t afford to pay someone else to do, and respond to YouTube comments and direct messages. For those who have families, they neglect their children and their own well-being.
To make up for the fallen income, YouTubers try to do paid collaborations, which is even more challenging. They’re already tired from making YouTube videos, and now they have to deal with demanding clients and chase after payments.
Che Nom’s advice to YouTubers is to always be mindful of their finances. If their income is high, they should save some for backup during low-income periods, so they won’t feel pressured to create content.
Take care of their mental and physical health, exercise regularly, eat nutritious food, get enough sleep, and take breaks from YouTube when necessary. And most importantly, if they feel that YouTube has no future, it’s better to close the channel and move on quickly after putting in all the effort but still facing failure.
Battling With Burnout
I put the age groups on the Camino in 3 categories: students, retired, and all the rest. All of us, the rest, often tell each other what a gift it is to take the time needed to walk the Camino and allow ourselves such simplicity of existence. We walk, eat, sleep, share a drink with fellow hikers, and sleep. That’s all.
When is the last time you led such a simple life? Exactly. And you know what? It feels so good for the soul. So good. Yesterday I watched a video of one of my favorite YouTubers. The girl said that for 9 years she has been producing videos every week. In 9 years she missed just 2. Now she is battling with burnout and trying to figure what is going on as she does not feel well physically and mentally. But is this really a surprise?
So on my walk today I was thinking who got us into this crazy wheel of constant productivity. Produce. Produce. It’s exhausting.
The world will not stop if we pause for a bit. And mind you, I was so deep in my own rat race 2 weeks ago that I thought it might. See what a difference a few weeks can do? So take the time to do what you want. Take a break. Go on that adventure. Time is relative anyway. youtuber burnout
I used to think that vacations were a waste of time.
I used to be a bit serious. Thus I thought, what’s the point of going on vacation if there’s no purpose? You can just watch YouTube or search on Google to see scenery, right? That was before. Until one day, my life started to feel suffocating when I had to take care of my wife during her confinement period.
Yeah, every day I had to deal with the baby. Every day I had to cook. Every day I had to do the dishes. I was stuck in the same routine every day. It turns out that this daily routine slowly made my life feel suffocating. It wasn’t physically exhausting, but more of an emotional burnout.
That’s when I realized. It turns out that my wife didn’t want to go on luxurious vacations. She just wanted to escape from emotional burnout! So I took my wife and child for a short vacation to Port Dickson. Her face was glowing with happiness. She had a constant smile.
Actually, we don’t need to go to expensive places. Sometimes, she’s already happy going to an eco store or a RM2 shop. We can just follow our own budget. All this time, we thought our wives were being spoiled and demanding by wanting to go on vacations, but it turns out that it’s a necessity for them to keep their emotions and psychological well-being fresh and intact.youtuber burnout
The Courage to Identify”
We have been taught that women, usually mothers and grandmothers are the ones who must take care of the emotional and physical needs of the family. Young girls are raised with the mentality that the weight of the family lies on them. While this is a beautiful responsibility to bestow on a human, it affects that one person when they are burnt out and don’t get help for their own problems.
Listen to this week’s podcast episode on savior mentality and the harm that it does to women. I ask Ektha Agarwal deep questions to explore the other side of savior mindset. What happens when we let children, spouses and other family members to take responsibility for their work, actions and emotions in the house? What do we help them build for themselves? Find out more on “The Courage to Identify” Podcast now playing everywhere podcasts are steamed. youtuber burnout
