YouTube burnout – or something else?
Apparently, YouTube burnout is becoming more and more common in the world of YouTube Creators.
(By the way, even though this isn’t a craft post – there are free printable designs for you at the end.)
And yes, YouTube burnout seems to be affecting me, even with a small channel of only 24,000 subscribers.
Or is it? Can I really blame making YouTube videos for what is happening with me?
If you Google the term ‘YouTube burnout’, you will find people talking about anxiety, feeling drained, lacking motivation and feeling constantly stressed.
Do I feel those things in relation to my YouTube channel?
Well no, I love my channel and this blog – so why am I ‘burnt out’?
When I sat down to write this and thought long and hard, I realised it isn’t fair to blame YouTube 100% for the situation I am in.
And maybe not even 25%, or – at all!
As I say in my recent YouTube video, it’s probably more about excessive Screen time than anything else.
That’s a totally different thing.
And yes, I am anxious about the way things are and on the surface it feels like YouTube burnout.
But I think it’s a much wider issue than that.
Last year, out of the blue, I started having a lot of optical migraines.
Some people call them ocular or aura migraines and they are, apparently, very common.
But I think the correct term is optical; whether they are aura or ocular depends on whether both eyes are affected or just one.
Anyway, I started having the aura kind as mine affects both eyes.
I had experienced two of them over the previous 20 years, so I knew what they were.
The very first time I had one – it was terrifying, I thought I was having a stroke.
In total panic, I called the doctor and he explained that these shimmering zigzag lights are a migraine.
He told me to lay down with my eyes closed and wait for it to pass.
After 20 minutes, it had gone. There had been no headache or pain.
I had been in the garden, in shadow and had moved into very harsh sunlight, with no sunglasses on.
So that probably triggered it.
Years went by before I had another one.
And I’m pretty sure the next one was triggered by the very strongly perfumed pollen from a Hyacinth.
I am very sensitive to strong perfume smells.
Someone had given us a Hyacinth bulb in a pot.
We went away, and when we returned it had come out in full bloom.
As soon as we walked in, the strong smell hit me and within an hour of sitting near the Hyacinth, the migraine had developed.
Apparently, strong perfumes can trigger migraines.
I can’t wear perfume because I am so sensitive to most of them.
Then I went for years without any migraines until last Autumn when they became regular.
I was getting them daily, sometimes several in a day.
And with each one lasting 20 minutes, it was a real nuisance.
So what was causing them?
YouTube burn out wasn’t even on my mind at that point.
I wasn’t making tons of videos but I was looking at screens a lot because of the other work I do.
As far as my YouTube channel goes, I was feeling quite anxious because I wasn’t making many videos.
Did I feel stressed about it? Yes, in a way, in that it was always nagging away at me.
And yes, stress can trigger these migraines but there is no way any stress I felt about YouTube was bad enough to cause migraines.
It was more an underlying anxiety about not posting as much as I should.
And the burnout I do experience sometimes is usually only in the period while I am producing a video.
After one is finished, I need a break because there is only me producing them.
I do absolutely everything.
The big YouTubers have production teams – people to delegate to.
Us very small YouTubers and bloggers do everything ourselves.
And there is a huge amount of intensive screen time involved in video and blog production that can cause YouTube burnout.
So can I call what I experience, YouTube burnout?
No, but I think I get total and absolute screen fatigue.
And I think it’s affecting my eyes and triggering the aura migraines.
If I was only using screens during the times when I am producing videos and blog posts, maybe I’d be ok.
However, when I add in all the hours I watch YouTube videos and use the internet, my eyes are taking a hammering.
And I have blue eyes, so less pigment and more sensitive to light.
Particularly the awful LED lights that are so prevalent everywhere now.
Especially in car headlights.
LED car headlights should be banned in my opinion.
And, I’m getting older so, my eyes are probably getting more sensitive to wear and tear.
So what is the answer?
Because I love being a Creator and cannot imagine life without YouTube.
Ironically, my answer is, starting another YouTube channel!
I’ll explain.
My current craft channel has subscribers, maybe you are one, who are there or here, specifically for my craft tutorials.
But my craft tutorials are very time and screen intensive to produce.
It’s very hard (for me, maybe not everyone), to produce short sharp tutorials, quickly.
And because of the nature of how my neurodivergent brain functions, I obsess over details that probably ‘normal’ people don’t.
I am aware I can’t do everything pefectly, but I want everything to be as perfect as I can possibly make it within the ability and resources I have.
When I’m making a new video, blog post and free printables, I’ll stay up all night to hit a self-imposed deadline.
Yes I know – it’s mad.
And then I get so exhausted, I don’t make another video for weeks or even months.
So why create another channel?
Won’t that be counterproductive and cause YouTube burnout?
Well no, it will give me the freedom to post random videos that aren’t craft based or obsessively edited.
Videos that won’t take up days of intensive work.
Videos about other stuff I do that I can narrate in real time and post with little or no editing.
There are things that matter to me that I know affect many other people that I would like to cover.
But my craft subscribers might not want non-craft content.
So starting a new channel with no subscribers means I don’t have to worry about disappointing people.
I don’t have to worry about disappointing my craft subscribers with totally unrelated content.
And any subscribers who do join me on the new channel as well, will know that the content will be more varied.
Will I still be posting here and on my RainbowLane YouTube channel?
Yes, definitely. And I’ll still be giving away free printables here too.
That’s another issue, I have lots of free printables I could just post here every week.
But I always feel there should be an associated video and so I impose these limitations on myself.
With my new channel, I can just post a quick short showing the new designs without worrying if it only gets a few views.
Because videos that don’t ‘take off’ can affect the channel negatively.
So I try to only make videos of substance to help my channel and give subscribers something useful.
So no, I don’t have YouTube burnout in the strictest sense of the term.
But I do need to really think hard about how I use YouTube for work and leisure time, to save my eyes.
Afterall, when we were children, our parents used to warn too much TV was bad for our eyes!
And we used to tell our children off for standing too close to it.
And now we have screens right in front of our eyes all day and night!
We never watch TV at home ever.
We have an old TV which isn’t even hooked up to anything and hasn’t been switched on as a TV in three years.
It’s only ever used to play Wii Fit.
Maybe I should start watching YouTube on that so I’m distanced from the screen.
My aura migraines can’t be blamed on YouTube burnout but more likely on total screen burnout.
That’s a very different thing.
Hopefully, by pulling right back from intensive editing and watching too much YouTube, these aura migraines will stop.
I haven’t had one for a few days – fingers crossed!
So, my new YouTube channel is:
And the associated blog, which I’ve had for years, is called:-
www.anythingexcepthousework.co.uk
There are lots of posts on there, many of them are tongue-in-cheek-humour – please don’t go there if ‘colorful’ language upsets you though!
There aren’t many videos on the new channel yet – only two random shorts and one longer one about my Sentro knitting machine.
I just got one for Christmas and it’s about my first month using it. It’s not a tutorial as such but I do give links to the people I watch to learn about it.
If you want to hear more from me about all sorts of things beyond crafting, I’d be so happy to have you subscribe over there too.
And if you have any thoughts about YouTube burn out, migraines or anything I’ve said here, leave a comment under my YouTube video.
It’s not my usual style of video but in it, I do explain my current situation while walking in the countryside, where we spend a lot of time.
Nearly forgot – the three free printables! The link is in the caption under the picture below.
They are totally free – that link will take you to my Google Drive where all my free printables are stored.
I will NEVER ask for payment – so make sure you click the link in the caption directly under the picture of the three designs.
You can use them to make paper beads or to use in your collages or art journalling.
There are a very few terms and conditions to using my free designs and you can read them here.
Although you can’t leave comments on this blog because of the bad actors who use comments sections in negative ways, you can leave comments under the associated video on YouTube.
And we can chat over there.
Hope to see you over on www.anythingexcepthousework.co.uk and over on the new YouTube channel too.