Let me tell you about a couple I know—wonderful people, truly. A husband and wife, both business owners, both seemingly tireless achievers. The type of people whose lives appear to orbit a star of infinite productivity. Their house was always immaculate. Their children—now grown—were always perfectly dressed. They hosted parties, went to the gym, worked, parented, and still somehow managed to smile while scrubbing a kitchen floor or setting up a guitar before a gig.

I, on the other hand, often considered it a victory just to scoop the cat litter and fold my laundry on the same day.

And I have more friends like that—people who, by all external appearances, manage to do it all. It’s hard not to compare. Hard not to wonder: what’s wrong with me? We all have the same 24 hours, don’t we?

Enter self-improvement culture. It’s not a new phenomenon. I remember it well in the 1990s—Men’s Health magazines stacking up, each issue offering a new fix. Join a gym. Run five miles. Journal daily. Eat clean. Meditate. Organize. Optimize. And let’s not forget the old favorite: visualize success. I was trying, earnestly, to get better—because deep down, I didn’t feel like I measured up.

But here’s the insidious part: self-improvement isn’t always a noble pursuit. Sometimes, it becomes a pathology. You stack task after task, goal after goal, not because you love the process, but because you’re afraid of what it means about you if you don’t do them.

Now add to that a list of life’s legitimate, actual priorities: mental health, physical health, recovery, dental work, finances, family, creative projects like music or writing, house maintenance, relationships, friendships, new jobs, starting a business, decluttering (again), staying in shape, showing up for people, and—let’s not forget—actually playing music with the two bands you’re in this weekend. Oh, and don’t forget the dishwasher needs fixing. And the will. And the CAT scan. And the glasses appointment you missed last year. And the email newsletter. And the debt analysis. And the…

You get the idea.

My own priority list, if I were to count it, has about 16 or 17 top priorities. That’s mathematically absurd. The concept of “priority” loses all meaning if you have more than a handful. Yet, each item feels essential. How do I pick just three? Every list—whether it’s my to-do list, goal tracker, or spiritual inventory—feels like a row of blinking red lights, all demanding my immediate attention.

Let’s be honest: it’s insane. But none of it is trivial. Every item has a legitimate emotional or practical stake in my life. So when I fall short—and I often do—it doesn’t just feel like laziness or distraction. It feels like failure.

And failure has teeth.

It bites into self-esteem, first quietly, then with growing intensity. It whispers: You’ve tried this before. You’ve failed before. Who are you kidding? For those of us a bit longer in the tooth—hello, fellow Gen Xers—there’s even more history backing up those internal accusations. More years of half-finished plans, dusty gym memberships, and good intentions buried under busy calendars. It’s not just today’s undone tasks; it’s decades of perceived inadequacy echoing back.

And the experts? Some of them offer brilliant advice—practical, even life-changing. But occasionally you hear a guru say something like, “Every item on my to-do list is written with the understanding that I probably won’t do it anyway.”

What?

That was when I nearly screamed at my phone. Why are we writing lists we don’t intend to complete? Why are we chasing goals that we’re too exhausted to reach? Why are we willingly drowning in a sea of expectations?

We’re told to narrow our focus. Just pick three things. Focus, go all-in, and let the rest wait. But for someone like me, that’s asking the impossible. Which three? And what about the fallout from ignoring the other fourteen? What do I tell my girlfriend, my kids, my own sense of self, when their needs don’t make the top three?

Worse still, we’re told that to really succeed, we must live unbalanced lives. “You can have anything you want, but not everything.” That may be true, but it’s also cold comfort when your identity is spread across a constellation of roles, goals, and relationships that all matter deeply.

So what’s the solution?

I wish I had one. Honestly, I don’t. But I do know this: the culture of optimization is poisoning us. We’ve turned our inner lives into assembly lines—checking boxes, logging hours, and blaming ourselves when the system breaks down. And when it does break down, we don’t just miss deadlines—we lose faith in ourselves.

You may not be able to do it all. In fact, you won’t be able to do it all. But maybe—just maybe—you don’t have to. Maybe it’s okay to leave a few things undone, to forgive yourself for not being a machine.

And above all, beware the snake oil. Anyone selling you a one-size-fits-all, five-minute fix to this complex, soul-deep dilemma is probably just after your wallet. This is hard. It’s deep. It’s real.

So be kind to yourself. Be honest. Make peace with the mess when you can. You’re not broken. You’re just human.

There is a question I’ve been circling around for some time now—“But why? What’s different now?” The answer isn’t dramatic or sudden. It’s not one moment but the slow unfurling of seeds planted long ago, in my late teenage years.

Back then, I had a brief and, if I’m honest, somewhat cringeworthy flirtation with Amway. Like many multi-level marketing giants, they promised freedom and autonomy, while delivering something quite different. It was not a good experience—but it was a revealing one. Because buried beneath the clichés and sales scripts was a single piercing truth: most people were sleepwalking through a 40-year plan. They worked, waited to retire, and prayed it would be enough. And if you wanted real freedom—freedom to live, not just survive—it might require building something of your own.

That idea lingered. Dormant. I’d even dismiss it to others: “I’m just not cut out to be an entrepreneur.” I believed it.

See, I always imagined myself as second-in-command. Not the visionary, not the risk-taker, but the one who could make someone else’s vision real. The dependable strategist. I didn’t want the spotlight or the gamble. I wasn’t comfortable with marketing. I was downright allergic to sales. And what is any business, even a side hustle, if not a marriage of those two?

So I worked. I’ve been at my current job for four years now. It’s steady. Monday through Friday, 8 to 4. Comes with a company car. On paper, it sounds like success. But it’s a poor fit. The field bores me. The products don’t align with my values. And worst of all, it drains me. Not in the “bad day” kind of way—more like an ongoing erosion of something vital.

Whenever I looked at job listings for something better, I felt sick. Not metaphorically. Actually sick. Because the “good” jobs always required qualifications I didn’t have. And the jobs I could get… they felt like cages. I’d feel useless. Like the only thing I was good for was mindless labor. And I knew that wasn’t true. I knew I was creative. That I could solve complex problems. That I had value. But knowing didn’t help. The anxiety would mount until I shut the whole thing down.

All of this festered in the background for years. Until something shifted.

Maybe it was the rising tide of inequality. Maybe it was a YouTube algorithm that, for once, did me a favor. But I started stumbling into voices—channels that illuminated the deep structure of things. I’m no conspiracy theorist. In fact, I mock them regularly. The human brain is a marvelous pattern-detecting machine. But it’s also prone to hallucinating patterns where none exist. That’s how people end up seeing lizard people behind the Federal Reserve.

But this… this was different.

This wasn’t about shadowy cabals—it was about power and incentives. I began to see how tightly the game was rigged. How the education system was designed not to foster thinkers but to train obedient workers. How the very concept of retirement was dangled like a carrot to justify 40 years of compliance. I saw the matrix. And for the first time, I couldn’t unsee it.

It became intolerable.

I didn’t want my life pre-decided anymore. I didn’t want to be told what I was allowed to work on. I didn’t want my goals assigned to me. Even with the fear—even with the anxiety—the idea of building something for myself began to shine brighter than the dull comfort of being someone else’s cog.

Truth be told, I don’t think I’d have even considered this shift if not for the modern internet economy. The idea that people could run online businesses—or even just use platforms like YouTube as a launchpad—was revolutionary to me. Not because I thought it was easy. But because it was possible.

YouTube is something I genuinely enjoy. I’m good at it. Music too—it’s been a lifelong passion. I’ve been doubling down on it recently, playing gigs, chasing the joy. But music is still a time-for-money exchange. It’s not a bad thing. It’s beautiful work. But it won’t likely pay the bills long-term. And I don’t read music fluently, which disqualifies me from certain types of teaching and performing. I do it because I love it, not because it’s lucrative.

Role-playing games are another love. And no, writing RPGs isn’t going to make me rich either—unless I turned into one of those relentless content churners who fake enthusiasm for every popular trend. That’s not me. I can’t be inauthentic. I wouldn’t respect myself if I built a business based on pretending to care.

But what if I could do something different? Something unconventional. Something honest. A business that offers real value, helps people, and frees me from the grind of doing meaningless work… every day… for someone else. And maybe—just maybe—it could also free my girlfriend from her daily grind. Time together, after all, is part of the goal.

The more I thought about it, the more I saw how many other people were in the same trap. Maybe they don’t want to start a business. That’s fine. But they’re letting life pass by. They’re chasing obligations, not passions. Doing what they think they should, not what they love. That’s the real tragedy.

I’ve seen how addiction can steal a life. I’ve lived it. And while this is different, it’s still a kind of captivity. Economic stress. Emotional resignation. The slow erosion of possibility. If I could help even one person escape that—whether through content, conversation, or connection—it would mean something.

There’s an odd, slightly uncomfortable truth I’ve begun to accept: in order to stop living under the thumb of the wealthy, I may need to become a little wealthy myself. Not rich. Just enough to not fear money. Just enough to live by my values, not by someone else’s deadlines.

It’s not “if you can’t beat them, join them.” It’s more like: if you don’t want to be a slave, you must own the keys to your cage. You must refuse to be another replaceable part in someone else’s machine.

Life is too beautiful for that. Too short. Too rare.

We are told—again and again—that we must be productive, useful, obedient. That we must earn the right to live a life we enjoy. That we must prove our worth by enduring misery.

But when you follow that lie to its source, you always find the same thing: someone profiting from your surrender.

And that’s why I’m standing on this soapbox.

Because it’s time to throw off the chains.

There is a particular stage in a child’s life—any parent will recognize it—when the word “Why?” becomes a constant refrain.

“Why is the sky blue?”

“Why do I have to go to school?”

“Why do birds fly and I can’t?”

It is a phase many parents silently hope will pass quickly. But in truth, this natural inquisitiveness is one of the most extraordinary and essential traits of the human species. Our ability not only to observe and react to our environment, but to question it—to ask why things happen and how they came to be—forms the very foundation of our intellect, our culture, and our progress.

Why do objects fall down instead of up?

Why do the tides rise and fall?

Why do people behave the way they do?

What is stuff made of, and why does it behave as it does?

This impulse—the relentless pursuit of understanding—is not a frivolous trait. It is the root of all science, all innovation, and all advancement. Without it, we would still be huddled in caves, watching fire with wonder but never grasping how to make it ourselves.

And yet, somewhere along the way, this flame of curiosity is often smothered.

Children who once asked “why” with enthusiasm are eventually told to stop. We are trained—subtly and not so subtly—to accept the world as it is.

“This is just how we do things.”

“Because I said so.”

“Don’t ask questions—just follow the rules.”

We are handed formulas for how to live: go to school, get a job, buy things, obey orders. When we question these patterns—either as children or adults—we are often met with ridicule or resistance. Not just from authority figures, but from our peers. And so we learn to stay quiet, to fit in, to stop asking.

But in doing so, we give up something vital.

When we cease to question, we begin to walk blindly through life. We cling to beliefs, habits, and routines not because they make sense, but because they are familiar. We travel down well-worn ruts, never lifting our eyes to see if there’s another path—perhaps a better one—just beyond the bend.

Every time I have found myself drifting into complacency, numbing myself to the world around me, it has always been preceded by the same failure: I stopped asking why. I stopped questioning authority. I stopped wondering if there was a better way. And in those times, I felt my spirit begin to dull—as if I were turning away from the very thing that made me me.

I consider myself a seeker—of knowledge, of understanding, of truth. And while I freely admit there are areas where my formal education may fall short, I have tremendous respect for the scientific method. When scientists present a consensus, I trust that it is grounded in evidence, experimentation, and peer review. I may not grasp every technical detail, but I am deeply curious about how they arrived at those conclusions.

This is not blind faith. It is trust built on a process—one that welcomes questioning and scrutiny.

Unfortunately, I do not extend the same benefit of the doubt to corporations, politicians, or salespeople. These are not systems designed for truth-seeking—they are systems designed for profit, power, and persuasion. And when questioning is discouraged in such spaces, it is usually because the truth is inconvenient.

The same goes for any institution, ideology, or tradition that punishes inquiry and rewards obedience. There is something deeply wrong when simply asking “Why?” is treated as subversion.

A wealthy industrialist—John D. Rockefeller, if memory serves—once said, “I don’t want a nation of thinkers. I want a nation of workers.”

To me, that statement is not just arrogant—it is offensive. It is the language of those who benefit from a compliant, unquestioning populace. And it is a mindset that has led to more stagnation, exploitation, and misery than any natural disaster ever has.

We cease to ask why at our peril.

When we stop being curious, we surrender our agency. When we silence our own questions, we become domesticated—trained to obey, not to understand. But understanding is what allows us to grow—not just as individuals, but as a civilization.

So I say again, as clearly as I can: Never stop asking why.

Ask it when rules are handed down.

Ask it when the status quo seems senseless.

Ask it even—and especially—when others tell you not to.

Asking why is not rebellion. It is not arrogance. It is the essence of being fully, gloriously human.

It may seem counterintuitive—almost laughably so—to say that YouTube is the ideal platform for introverts. After all, what could be more extroverted than putting your face, your voice, and your thoughts out into the digital amphitheater for the world to scrutinize?

But in my experience, this apparent contradiction dissolves on closer inspection. Like many things that appear paradoxical at first, the truth reveals itself in layers.

Let me explain.

As an introvert, I’ve always assumed that written communication—blogs, newsletters, the occasional carefully composed tweet—would be the natural outlet. It feels safer. Quieter. Cleaner. You can edit at your leisure, polish endlessly, and avoid all the messy unpredictability of face-to-face interaction.

But therein lies the problem. Not all introverts are perfectionists, but many of us find ourselves locked in the exhausting loop of overthinking. When writing, we are often tempted—no, compelled—to revise a sentence a dozen times, to agonize over phrasing, to second-guess whether we truly conveyed what we meant.

Writing, for all its benefits, gives you infinite chances to tinker. And sometimes, for introverts like me, that becomes a trap.

What YouTube offers is an elegant compromise. You can speak your mind, re-record if needed, edit if you like—but eventually, you have to let the message go. It’s not live. There’s no audience staring at you while you talk. You can take your time. You can pause. You can stumble and reframe and start again. It gives you the power of expression without the weight of social pressure.

And that’s the real trick: YouTube feels social, but it’s not truly synchronous. The “audience” isn’t in the room. They will watch later, or not at all. You’re speaking to people, but in a controlled environment of your choosing. That difference is enormous.

This asynchronous dynamic is a gift to the introverted temperament. You don’t have to interpret body language on the fly, navigate awkward silences, or endure the forced performance of small talk. You are free to express yourself clearly, thoughtfully, and in full—without the psychic drain that usually accompanies social interaction.

I often imagine that I’m speaking to a single friend, or perhaps a small group of students, depending on the topic. Sometimes it feels like a training. Sometimes like a fireside chat. What never works is talking to “the camera.” That feels too sterile. Too disconnected. Instead, I make it personal. And in doing so, I make it bearable—even enjoyable.

It’s also worth noting that not all introverts fear public speaking. In fact, many are quite good at it—provided the role is clearly defined. I’ve played music in front of large crowds. I’ve led meetings. I’ve given presentations. I can even joke with an audience. But the moment the structure ends, and I’m expected to mingle aimlessly, the discomfort returns. The mask slips. I find myself counting the minutes until I can retreat back to solitude.

YouTube, in this regard, is another structured role. It’s not small talk. It’s not cocktail party chatter. It’s communication with purpose. And that makes all the difference.

Even when discussing topics that might not arise in casual conversation—philosophy, role-playing game design, the nature of life as a man in today’s world—I feel perfectly at home. Because I’m not debating. I’m not performing in real time. I’m sharing.

It’s not so different from writing, really. Except that you get to use your tone of voice, your facial expressions, your pauses and emphases. Research confirms that a vast amount of human communication is nonverbal. Why surrender all that richness, if you don’t have to?

In a strange and wonderful way, YouTube allows introverts to be fully themselves. No need to pretend to be extroverted. No need to hype yourself up into a persona. You can be as earnest, calm, and authentic as you please. You can speak with your real voice—not just vocally, but emotionally.

And yes, you will wonder what others will think. You will be tempted to worry about judgment or mockery. But that, too, fades with experience. Eventually, you realize that you don’t know most of these people. The rude ones are irrelevant. The kind ones matter. And most people are just glad someone said the thing they were thinking but couldn’t articulate.

You don’t have to reach everyone. In fact, you probably shouldn’t. Some people won’t get you, and that’s fine. The ones who do will thank you for saying something real. That’s enough.

And frankly, some people are jerks. Why would you want to enrich them, anyway?

So yes, YouTube is for introverts. Perhaps especially for introverts. It’s the campfire we build in the clearing, where we tell our stories and offer our wisdom—not to everyone, but to anyone willing to listen.

And when the camera is off, we can go back to our quiet lives. We can read, write, sip our tea, pet our cats, and recharge in the ways that only introverts understand. But in that moment—on that screen—we are heard.

And that, my fellow quiet thinkers, is no small thing.

It’s an oddly demoralizing thing when the answer to life’s great question turns out to be something so blunt, so painfully obvious, that it almost feels like a punchline: it’s money.

There’s a strange power in that answer. A grim sort of clarity. But clarity does not always bring relief.

If money is the answer, what then was the question?

It is, perhaps: What is the single greatest limiting factor in my life right now?

Or maybe: If I had to change one thing—just one—what would it be?

The answer remains: money. Specifically, not having enough of it.

Now, I don’t mean that in a greedy or materialistic way. I don’t dream of yachts or private islands or golden toilet seats. I’m not chasing luxury—I’m simply trying to hold the basics together. And failing, just a little, every day.

It’s a hard thing to admit. It feels like failure. Like I’ve somehow fallen short. Like maybe I made too many wrong choices, or missed some secret that others knew. But then I look around, and I see so many people caught in the same current. Maybe I didn’t miss a secret. Maybe there isn’t one.

Let’s speak plainly.

I make just a little less than I need to cover my expenses. And no, those expenses aren’t lavish—unless one counts dental implants and vet bills among the luxuries of modern life. Some debt, sure, came from things I could’ve gone without. But the vast majority? The kind that accumulates over time, from flat tires and insurance premiums and surprise expenses. Life bills, not lifestyle bills.

And like so many others, I now tread water. I’m not sinking further—there’s some comfort in that—but I’m also not swimming free. Financially, I’m stuck. And emotionally, that takes a toll.

Imagine paddling as hard as you can, lungs burning, muscles aching, and discovering you’re not moving forward at all. That’s what it feels like.

Could I cut back more? Could I work a second job? Of course. But at what cost? Time with those I love? Energy for the passions that make life meaningful? This is the very equation I used to solve by sacrificing myself. I’ve done it before. I’m not willing to do it again. Because I know how that story ends: another decade spent in survival mode, with no stories to tell but how tired I was.

That’s not life. That’s a sentence.

Worse still, this shortage doesn’t just clip my own wings. There are things I want to do for the people I care about—for my girlfriend, for my kids, for her kids for my grandkids—that I simply cannot afford. Not extravagant things. Just… human things. The kind of gestures that say, “I see you. I love you. Let me take care of this.”

The job I have now? It pays just enough to keep me from drowning, but not enough to lift me out of the water. It’s a boat with a leak you have to keep bailing out, and you get used to the rhythm of the work until you realize you’ve gone nowhere. The only “benefit” it offers is a decent schedule and a company car. The rest is a slow erosion.

I don’t want to survive. I want to live.

And so the mind turns to escape routes. To autonomy. To digital businesses and income streams I can own. I imagine a life where I create something of value—on YouTube, perhaps, or through some service or product I build—and in return, I gain not just money, but time and freedom. The holy trinity: location independence, time independence, value alignment.

But here’s the rub. What exactly do I offer that is valuable enough to sustain me? That question has proven more elusive than expected.

People often talk about how hard it is to work on YouTube, how much hustle it takes. That makes me chuckle. A video doesn’t take that long to make—at least not the kind I make. The real work lies in building a system around it. A platform. A product. A reason for people to stick around. That’s the part I haven’t cracked yet.

And yes, I could pay someone—a coach, a consultant—to tell me what to do. But did I mention the original problem? The one about money?

There’s an irony in being too broke to learn how to stop being broke.

Of course, there’s free information out there. The internet is a boundless archive of possibility. But information without direction is just noise. And today, home from work with time on my hands due to an injury, I find myself paralyzed by it. I could do anything. So why do I feel so lost?

Part of it, I suspect, is the absence of structure. In a job, you’re told what to do. You may not like it, but you don’t have to figure it out. In your own business? You’re the mapmaker and the navigator—and if you don’t know where to go, the ship doesn’t move.

On days like this, I catch myself drifting into overwhelm. I should be learning new songs for upcoming gigs, cleaning my house, laying foundations for my dream. But instead, I feel inert. Not because I’m lazy. Because I’m tired. Because nothing feels urgent except the money—and money doesn’t come today, no matter what I do.

This is not a cry for help. Nor is it a confession. It’s a diagnosis.

We live in a world where survival often trumps creativity. Where money becomes the gatekeeper for even the simplest aspirations. Where being broke isn’t just a financial state—it’s a spiritual one. It colors every thought, every plan, every breath.

And yet, still I try. I ask questions. I fumble forward. I look for the shape of the thing I want to build, even if the blueprint isn’t finished.

I don’t have the answers. But I do have the will to keep asking.

And maybe—just maybe—that’s where the real wealth begins.

Life is big.

That may sound obvious, but it’s worth repeating. Life is vast and complicated. It holds contradictions so massive that they can’t help but pull at the human mind. The world, taken as a whole, is a beautiful place—overflowing with wonder, creativity, and unexpected kindness. But it is also a brutal place—unjust, chaotic, and filled with suffering. Both things are true at the same time. And for a mind trying to make sense of it all, that’s not just confusing—it can be overwhelming.

This is where something like the Serenity Prayer becomes more than just a comforting phrase. It becomes a philosophy of survival. “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” That’s not just a prayer. It’s a compass for navigating the immensity of existence.

Because if you’re not careful—if you don’t know how to sort the changeable from the unchangeable—it’s far too easy to get pulled under. The horrors of the world, the injustices, the failures of systems and leaders and institutions—they are real. And for many people, they are constant. You don’t have to look hard to find reasons to despair. But if your identity, your happiness, your energy, becomes tied entirely to these vast, external things, then you risk losing not just hope—but your very will to live. Depression sets in. Numbness follows. Maybe worse.

But there is another path.

It is smaller. More humble. But no less important.

You shift your gaze to your own life. To your neighborhood. To your relationships. To the things you can change. You learn how to move through the world in a way that improves the lives around you, even if only slightly. You learn to be kind where you can, brave when it counts, and thoughtful even when it seems to go unnoticed. You take responsibility for your corner of reality.

That doesn’t mean you ignore the bigger picture. That’s its own kind of delusion. There are moments—there must be moments—where we speak up. Where we advocate. Where we push back against wrongs, even if we know we won’t live to see them righted. But we do this with open eyes. We understand the scale of the task. We accept that these issues are bigger than us—not to give up, but to preserve our balance.

Because this balancing act is delicate. Stay too focused on the global and you drown in helplessness. Stay too isolated in your personal sphere and you become indifferent. It is a tension that must be managed day by day.

And some days, let’s be honest, it’s all we can do just to get through.

When that happens—when life feels like a series of burdens to be endured rather than a reality to be lived—it’s worth taking that as a signal. Something is off. Maybe it’s your job. Maybe your relationship. Maybe your own mental health. Maybe your perspective has been hijacked by things far beyond your control, and you’ve forgotten the smaller levers of change that are still within your grasp.

If you’re just counting the hours until you can fall asleep or binge on distractions or go numb—that’s not laziness or weakness. That’s a warning light. Your system is telling you something: This isn’t sustainable.

And yet, we so often ignore it. We fear change. We fear uncertainty. We cling to the known discomfort rather than risk a different kind. But the longer we stay locked in patterns we could change, the more those small, avoidable discomforts begin to feel like an inescapable doom. The hopelessness grows, not because the world got worse, but because we stopped exercising what little agency we actually had.

So here’s the strange truth: Just as obsessing over global problems we can’t fix can crush our spirit, ignoring the small problems we can fix can do just as much damage. And the remedy isn’t some grand epiphany. It’s not some sudden burst of motivation. It’s a daily recalibration. A willingness to shift perspective. A reminder that even a tiny change, made in your own life, can restore your sense of balance.

No, there’s no perfect answer. No final solution that ties it all up in a neat bow.

But there is today. And there is something you can do with it.

And sometimes, that’s enough.

If you’ve watched a video—any video, really—chances are you’ve spent a fair amount of time on YouTube. In fact, if you’re reading this at all, I suspect YouTube plays a role in your life in some form or another, as it does in mine. What has grown increasingly intriguing for me, both as a content creator and as a regular viewer, is not merely the scope of topics available on the platform, but the formats through which they are presented. There is a remarkable breadth to YouTube videos—not just in what they say, but in how they say it. And that, it turns out, is no small thing.

You might think that when you click on a video, you do so because of the subject matter. But upon closer inspection, something deeper is at work. Imagine for a moment that you could line up ten videos, all addressing the same subject, perhaps the same factual information, yet you might find some utterly captivating and others intolerable within seconds. This doesn’t just speak to taste—it speaks to the structure, tone, pacing, and emotional language of the video. The content, as it turns out, is only half the story.

Even more curious is the idea that if you gathered a hundred people to watch those very same ten videos, their preferences would vary wildly. What one person finds riveting, another might consider unbearable. This flies directly in the face of every self-proclaimed YouTube expert who insists that there is a singular, proven formula for “audience retention” or “clickability.” The idea that there is one correct way to present information is, frankly, absurd. We are not all wired the same.

Take, for instance, the concept of B-roll. For those unfamiliar, the A-roll is the main footage—usually a person speaking to the camera—while the B-roll is the supplemental footage that cuts away to something else: an image, a video clip, an animation. In theory, it serves to enhance or illustrate what the speaker is describing. A person discusses a difficult study session, and the B-roll cuts to a tired-looking student surrounded by books. A mention of a beach vacation prompts a dreamy scene of someone walking along the shore in flowing white linen.

These clips are meant to add atmosphere or emotional context. But for me, more often than not, they do the opposite. I find B-roll to be a distraction—an intrusive visual that clashes with the image I’ve already constructed in my head. When I listen to someone speak, my imagination naturally forms its own pictures. Injecting another person’s curated visuals into that process often creates cognitive dissonance. It pulls me out of the experience rather than enriching it.

The problem becomes even worse when these B-roll images flash by in rapid succession, accompanied by loud sound effects or over-caffeinated narration. The pace becomes frenetic, the input overwhelming. For a viewer like me—someone who did not grow up in the age of hyperstimulation—this barrage of sensory shifts is more exhausting than engaging. It’s not a matter of right or wrong, but rather of neurological conditioning. Younger generations, raised on fast edits and perpetual novelty, may find this style energizing. For them, a slower pace may seem dull. But for those of us seasoned by quieter decades, the opposite is true. Our attentional systems were forged under different circumstances.

There is, in fact, growing research into how our media consumption patterns shape our brains. Whether this is good or bad may be debatable, but what is not debatable is that it is. The human brain adapts to the stimuli it receives regularly. And what it finds natural or jarring depends greatly on its media diet.

This is why content creators must deeply understand their audience—not just in terms of interests, but in terms of age, background, and aesthetic preference. A video designed for an audience of teenagers may fall flat with someone in their fifties, and vice versa. These differences are not superficial. They are cognitive. And they matter.

Consider the pacing of movies. Compare a film from the 1950s to one made today. The former often feels like it unfolds in geological time. Long takes, thoughtful silences, lingering dialogue. Today’s films move at a blistering pace—scenes shift rapidly, music swells, explosions punctuate emotional beats. What once was considered engaging is now labeled slow. But these shifts happened gradually, imperceptibly. And YouTube has inherited—and in some ways exaggerated—this momentum.

Beyond editing and imagery, the style of delivery can make or break a video. Personally, I gravitate toward conversational videos. One person, maybe two, talking naturally. I’m immediately repelled by what I can only describe as the “wacky comedy duo” format—two overly animated people bouncing dialogue back and forth in exaggerated tones. It feels staged, insincere. People don’t talk to each other like that in real life, and the artificiality is glaring. Perhaps others enjoy it. But for me, the spell is broken.

Even worse is the clickbait tactic of delaying the point. A video promises to tell you something, but instead delivers a long-winded buildup, peppered with distractions and tangents, carefully designed to stretch out the watch time. Eventually, the promised nugget is delivered—usually. But by then, the trust is eroded. I understand the algorithmic game being played, and I resent it. I feel manipulated, and the presenter’s credibility plummets accordingly.

Faceless YouTube channels present their own conundrum. Without an on-camera presence, the video consists entirely of B-roll—sometimes generic stock footage, sometimes animated graphics, sometimes even gameplay. Strangely, I’ve found myself more engaged with channels that use synthetic voices—clearly AI-generated narration—rather than an actual human speaker. Perhaps the neutrality of these voices leaves more room for interpretation, or maybe it’s the absence of performative enthusiasm. I wouldn’t have guessed I’d prefer a machine’s voice, but there it is.

Of course, a great deal of my YouTube time is actually spent listening rather than watching. While driving or walking, I consume content as if it were a podcast. In these cases, visuals are irrelevant, which makes the overly visual formats frustrating—especially those filled with annotation or visual jokes I can’t see. Yet again, it depends on the topic. If it’s a casual conversation or a philosophical discussion, audio is sufficient. But if it’s a tutorial or game analysis, I may need to return and watch it again later.

YouTube, whether we like it or not, has become a part of modern life. As a viewer, you are inundated with options. As a creator, you are vying for slivers of human attention in a chaotic digital landscape. The platform is young, yes—but already mature enough to show generational divides, artistic divergences, and evolving standards.

There is no singular formula, no perfect style. What works for some will alienate others. We are not dealing with universal rules, but with aesthetics—diverse, contradictory, and often shifting. This makes the entire ecosystem endlessly fascinating to me, both as a creator and an observer.

So I’m curious—what kinds of YouTube videos do you enjoy? What styles leave you cold? And why? Not just for my benefit, but because I believe this is one of the most compelling cultural questions of our time. We are still in the early stages of this audiovisual evolution, and there is no endpoint in sight. Only divergence. Only change. Only adaptation.

You can’t go very far today without hearing the term “level up.” You certainly can’t scroll through YouTube without seeing videos promising to show you how to level up your digital marketing skills, your guitar playing, or even how to level up as a human being. There’s little doubt that this phrase is borrowed and adapted from video games, which in turn borrowed it—quite liberally—from Dungeons & Dragons, where it has been part of the vocabulary for decades.

Personally, when it comes to real life, I’ve never been terribly fond of using the term “level up” to describe growth or improvement. There’s something embedded in the phrase that implies hierarchy—an invisible ladder of human value. Whether intentional or not, the suggestion is that some people are higher up, better, or more worthy than others. We already have enough stratification in society without importing additional metaphors that suggest some of us are simply more valuable by virtue of having “leveled.”

It’s not that unusual to hear someone say, “Well, if you don’t want to level up, that’s fine. You can stay right where you are and be miserable.” And then comes the pitch—how to level up your YouTube skills, your productivity, your life. There’s a clear, albeit often unspoken, judgment built into that phrasing. If you haven’t improved, you’re a failure. If you haven’t changed, you’re less. But that’s not how actual human growth works. And it’s certainly not how skill acquisition works.

Anyone who has ever tried to get good at something—anything—knows it’s not a simple or linear process. Let’s take learning the bass guitar. At first, it’s awkward. You’re holding the instrument like it might bite you. Your fingers fight you when you try to press down the strings. You’re trying to make your plucking hand work in concert with your fretting hand, and it feels like learning to walk on stilts during an earthquake. But then, slowly, things start to click. You learn a few scales, maybe a blues pattern. You figure out what a mode is, start seeing the relationships between chord tones and theory, and suddenly, progress comes fast. For a while.

And then the plateau hits. You’re competent. You can play songs. You know enough to sound decent. But the jump from good to great is slow—grinding, even. Improvement becomes subtle. The growth is in nuance. And though every now and then there’s a breakthrough, an epiphany, a sudden leap forward, it’s unpredictable. You can’t force it. What you can do is practice with intention, and with that practice, you may find yourself inching upward—almost imperceptibly—until one day something just clicks.

Most people don’t get paid for flashy virtuosity. Most of the money in bass is made with solid fundamentals. It’s not about being the fastest or the fanciest. It’s about being reliable, musical, and tasteful. And the person who knows a handful of grooves cold is not “less than” the person who can shred in every key at lightning speed. In fact, the leap between someone who’s never played and someone who can lay down a steady groove is enormous—far more significant than the difference between intermediate and expert.

This brings us back to the world of Dungeons & Dragons, where the term “level up” found early popularity. Talking with my friend José the other day, he pointed out how the game began to lose its way around the third edition. Originally, character classes started out relatively competent. A fighter could fight. A thief could sneak. A magic-user had a few tricks. The characters felt like the archetypes they were meant to be. But as the game evolved, new editions started locking core abilities behind higher levels. Suddenly, you couldn’t be the type of character you imagined—you had to earn it through gameplay first.

This created a peculiar dissonance. Players would come to the table with a vivid image in their minds—an experienced thief, a cunning ranger, a charismatic bard—but the mechanics forced them to start as ineffectual versions of those concepts, only becoming competent much later. The classic Appendix N characters—the heroes from the books that inspired the game—were already capable from the beginning. Conan didn’t wait until level 6 to become dangerous. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser didn’t have to level up to be clever and capable. They just were.

Even more troubling is how level-heavy systems subtly alter the play experience. Instead of immersing themselves in the imagined situation—the world, the characters, the story—players begin to focus more on optimization. The goal shifts from playing the game to beating the system. From exploring a world to managing a spreadsheet of character advancements. The role-playing experience flattens under the weight of constant min-maxing, loot chasing, and experience point grinding. The fantasy loses its flavor, replaced with the cold logic of numbers and strategy guides.

Now, to be fair, I’ve had a long relationship with levels—44 years in this hobby and counting—and my opinion has changed over time. These days, I find myself increasingly drawn to systems that downplay or de-emphasize levels. Among them, Lamentations of the Flame Princess (particularly after the “Vaginas Are Magic” rule modifications) stands out. Characters in that game feel competent from the start. They are who they are. Growth is slow, deliberate, and appropriate. There’s no jarring leap from Level 1 to Level 3. There’s no “now I can actually play my character” moment.

When characters gain power too quickly or too dramatically, they cease to feel human. They become caricatures—superheroes in a world that started out grounded. The difference between them and the average villager isn’t one of skill or experience, but of species. They become demi-gods. Imagine being an 8th-level bass player who can cause the walls of a castle to crumble just by thumping a low B string. Fun? Sure. But believable? Not really. At a certain point, the suspension of disbelief snaps, and the game becomes something else entirely.

I much prefer the idea of front-loading character competence. Let people play the type of person they imagine, right from the start. From there, let them grow slowly. Let improvement feel earned, not handed out at the end of every session like candy. And let the game be about the story, not the stats.

I’m not anti-class. I’m not even entirely anti-level. But in recent years, I’ve found myself increasingly drawn to skill-based systems, where you shape an archetype from the beginning and refine it as you go. Where improvement feels tied to the character’s identity, not just their XP total. Where growth is satisfying, not compulsory.

We’re not in a video game. There’s no magical moment when all your stats suddenly increase and the enemies grow tougher to match. Real life isn’t a treadmill of escalating numbers. Whether we’re talking about RPGs, bass guitars, or just daily life, mastery comes slowly. Plateaus are normal. Progress isn’t linear. And most importantly, the person on the first step is not less valuable than the person further along.

They’re just at a different point on the same path. And that, to me, is a better way to live, play, and grow.

Are you over 50 and frustrated?

I am. I just turned 57 the other day. My girlfriend, a schoolteacher, is on break this week for April vacation. She asked me if maybe—just maybe—I could play hooky for a day and go do something together. Nothing dramatic. Just spend the day outside, doing nothing of consequence, simply because the weather’s getting nice and we happen to love each other’s company.

It should have been a simple decision.

But, of course, my employer has other ideas. I’ve been reminded—politely but firmly—that vacation days require a week’s notice. And even then, there’s no guarantee they’ll be approved. I could, theoretically, call in sick. But if they’ve scheduled me for a special task, like they have on Wednesday, that’s simply out of the question.

What’s more, if I do take a sick day, the mountain of work I handle at one of our accounts won’t magically get done by someone else. It’ll just be waiting for me when I return, slightly stinkier from the extra time sitting around.

And so I find myself, at 57 years old, being told I can’t take a pleasant day with my partner, outside in the spring sunshine. Not because I’m unwilling, or because I’ve been irresponsible, but because of rules. Because of systems. Because someone else decided that I should not have that choice.

This is not what I signed up for when I began working decades ago. In fact, it’s not what I envisioned life would become. At some point, the contract got rewritten—silently, incrementally—and I became something like an indentured servant.

And so yes, part of me says: fuck this.

But I’m also a grown-up, in the most binding sense of the word. I have responsibilities. I bought things. I signed mortgages. I pay bills. I live in a world that requires money in exchange for continuity. I can’t just rage-quit life and take off on a whim—not unless I have another income stream waiting in the wings. And currently, I don’t.

So instead, I’ve started building something—something of my own. A path where I don’t answer to someone else’s whim, where I’m not always waiting for permission. But I don’t have the luxury of youth. I can’t go live in a flat with three roommates and eat instant noodles while I figure it all out. That ship has sailed, and honestly, I’m not nostalgic for it.

Sure, minimalism has its appeal. And there’s a noble honesty in needing less. But I also like my stuff. I like sleeping indoors, in the same bed every night. I like having a home. I like certain luxuries. Hell, I like a lot of luxuries.

And the answer to being underpaid and overworked isn’t to renounce all comfort and live in some aesthetic austerity, like a monk who’s taken a vow of silent resentment. That’s not liberation; it’s surrender dressed up as virtue.

The problem, of course, is time. There’s less of it now. Less time in the day to build this new life. And, if we’re being honest, less time in life to enjoy it once it’s built. But time moves forward no matter what. In ten years, I will still be ten years older, whether I put in the work or not. So I might as well put in the work.

That work, by the way, doesn’t yield immediate dividends. I recently went back to the gym after a long hiatus. I’ve worked out seven of the last nine days, and I’ve been eating better. And I am still, objectively, fat and out of shape. Which is both irritating and completely expected.

Progress doesn’t show itself at first. I know this from recovery. There was a long stretch where it felt like nothing was changing. But gradually—without much fanfare—my perspective on life began to shift. I stopped being ruled by substances. I started being able to feel emotions without getting drowned in them. They still come, of course. But their frequency, intensity, and duration have diminished. The funks don’t last as long. The hopelessness doesn’t cling quite so tightly.

But it took time. Real time. Not weeks. Not months. Years.

And building a life outside of someone else’s payroll—building a way to earn money that’s not predicated on obedience—is going to take time, too. Even just growing a following online, with actual purpose instead of random virality, is slow work. And I’m not willing to fake it. I’m not willing to become a caricature of myself just to go viral. That means it will probably take longer. So be it.

Yes, it’s frustrating. It’s frustrating that I can’t take a day off to be with the woman I love. It’s frustrating that my debts won’t be magically erased next month. It’s frustrating that I won’t be quitting my job anytime soon—maybe not for years. Maybe not for ten. It’s frustrating because I’ve spent so much of my life working, and only now am I realizing that the life I wanted was never going to appear unless I built it myself.

But that doesn’t mean I should give up. And it doesn’t mean you should either.

It just means that change—especially change that matters—can feel like swimming upstream with a sack of bricks tied to your back. And when you’re closer to 100 than to zero, that swim feels a bit colder, a bit longer, and a lot more important.

Still, I believe it’s worth it.

This is the only life I get. The only one. And if I want to steer it somewhere new, I have to be willing to persist. I have to be able to hold steady even when the winds of doubt and fatigue and cynicism start blowing hard. I have to train myself to recognize the voice that says “this will never work” and answer it—not with delusion, but with defiance.

I’m grateful that I have people around me—my girlfriend, my friends—who can shift my perspective when mine gets stuck. They remind me that I’m worth it. That I’m not broken. That I’m capable.

Because the wounds left by childhood, by society, by the slow grind of decades of work—they don’t go away easily. They echo. They whisper things you’d never say to anyone else, but somehow tolerate when directed at yourself. It takes repetition, and patience, and no small amount of self-compassion to fight them.

But I’ve done hard things before. I’ve survived. I’ve changed.

And if I’ve done those things, I can do this too.

If you’re Gen X, you were raised in a world that valued obedience, loyalty, and productivity above all else.

Be dependable. Don’t rock the boat. Work hard, follow the rules, and you’ll be rewarded. That was the message.

And many of us took it to heart. We built careers. We raised families. We held steady through shifting economies, cultural upheaval, and nonstop reinvention.

We became the go-to generation—the ones who quietly got it done.

But in all that doing, many of us left something behind.

There were dreams we had in our 20s. Creative sparks we thought we’d circle back to “when the time was right.”

Books that never got written. Projects we shelved. Businesses we never started.

Art supplies we packed away. Stories we never told. Places we planned to go—but didn’t.

And we told ourselves it was fine. That we were being responsible. That our time would come.

But here’s the truth: we weren’t wrong for doing what we did.

We were doing our best with what we were taught.

But that doesn’t mean we have to stay there.

It’s time to change our perspective—not just on work, but on life.

Not just on what we do, but who we are.

We’ve spent decades being productive. But what if that productivity was pointed in the wrong direction?

What if it built someone else’s dream, while ours quietly waited in the background?

We’ve been trained to be workers, supporters, reliable engines of output—but we are also creators.

We’re not just here to power systems. We’re here to make things that matter to us.

Whether you’re a parent, a professional, or a quiet creative at heart—it’s time to remember the things you once wanted.

Not with regret, but with power. Because now you have something you didn’t back then: experience, wisdom, and a fire that hasn’t gone out.

This isn’t about throwing it all away. It’s about reclaiming the parts of you that never got the spotlight.

You are still allowed to want more. To explore. To build. To create.

It’s not too late. You’re not too old. You’re not behind.

You’re right on time—to live a life that’s yours.

So dig out that dream. Dust off that idea. Open the notebook. Pick up the brush. Start the project. Book the trip.

You’ve spent enough time producing for others.

Now it’s time to produce something for you.

You’re worth it.

And the best chapters are still waiting to be written.