Being A Content Creator With A Chronic Illness

Look we all know this. Content creation is a tough business. There’s so much that goes into what you do be that making videos, streaming, or any other number of things. You have to put in a lot of hours and learn multiple disciplines to be able to find success. And this is difficult enough when you’re an able bodied healthy human being. But what if you’re not? What if, like me, you have a chronic illness or disability that doesn’t often allow you to put in the time you want to put in to your work?

Now don’t get me wrong, just because you have an illness or disability doesn’t mean you can’t succeed in content creation or anything else for that matter. And I’m not here to make excuses for myself or anyone else, I just want others to understand how difficult it is for some people to just keep going when they’re suffering daily. I’m actually quite proud of what I achieved over the years with streaming, especially with how difficult my health made that.

You’ll see many in this industry, especially in streaming say that you need to “grind it out” and put in constant hours being live, or churning out content for your respective channels. Barring the fact that this isn’t the best advice these days, this is rarely healthy. Couple that with an illness like Crohn’s Disease, which is unfortunately what I have struggled with for approaching twenty years now, this is a super quick way to making yourself pretty unwell. A big issue I have even when my health is good is severe fatigue so putting in ridiculous hours is going to do more harm than good and I end up burned out much quicker than most. I’ve been in that situation multiple times in the past and there’s likely many of you that have been in a similar position or worse.

You may not need to hear this but for those that do, your wellbeing is the part to focus on. That is the PRIORITY. Of course I get that not being able to work the way you want is often very frustrating. There may be times where you REALLY need to get some content done and you have to push yourself. It’s all a balance. You can’t go 100% at all times. If you keep yourself as healthy as possible and in a good mental state you’re going to be more productive in the long run and that is going to benefit your content in a much bigger way over the long term, as well as every other aspect of your life.

The fact is as many of you in a similar situation understand this and will know, it can never be perfect. These are just the realities that some of us have to deal with but it can also be a source of strength and inspiration to your character and your content. Balance is key, but a focus on your wellbeing must come first.

I know it isn’t much but this is something I will likely write about more in future. It needs to be spoken about more.

Until the next one.

Dan