Patreon/Channel Update

Hi! As you know I've been trying to get back into the game of making youtube videos again. While my next video continues to me late I have made a small return with streams, hangouts and election updates. 

All in all, it's been hard but I am slowly getting back into it. But, the month is coming to an end, and my video will most likely come out early november instead. I know I can't promise specific dates since my health seem to be going on rollercoasters currently. If things look good, I can work. If my health goes down I have to spend time taking care of that. 

I know I've said before that my patreon will only charge when I make a video, despite me running it monthly, leading me to pause the patreon every month I haven't feel like I deserve payment. 

However, since dates might be hard for me to deal with due to my health, I am going to keep the patreon running. This month is obviously an exception due to the short notice and the fact that I have promised not to take payment when I don't make a video this month. 

Instead, going from December and forward, this patreon will instead be a patreon to support me, as a person making content, instead of a monthly video. I know many of you are already supportive of this, but I still want to give you one months notice. This means that nomatter my health, as long as the rewards themselves go out, I will accept your patronage. The rewards are what you pay for, so that is what you should get. 

This is also more fair to me, I feel, since streaming takes less energy, prep work and editing than making a full video does while still providing me a way to rant my thoughts and interact. But the main point of my channel and my patreon is to make videos, and that will still be the goal. But instead of paying for that specifically, you are helping me pay rent, food, medicine while I make the video.

Maybe you've felt that this is something you have always done. That's good! Then nothing will change for you except you saving your current patronage amount. If you feel that this is unfair, I 100% understand. You are welcome to change or cancel your patronage. If the reason you are here is to pay for videos instead of the creator that's a very valid point of view. I hope that you stay, obivously, but I won't blame anyone if they decide my patreon isn't for them any more. 

Now I want to talk to you more directly and about my interaction with you. I know that many of you care about me, my health etc, more than my videos and have been reaching out, sometimes donating stuff on my paypal, sometimes saying hi, checking in on how I'm feeling. I want to tell you how grateful I am to have such a caring fanbase. It really feels great to have a fanbase that cares about how I feel and values my opinions on things even when we don't agree. 

If (!) you wanna donate your regular amount this month anyway, despite having a month to decide you can send me that on paypal.me/miamulder. I'd love any amount, but even if you decide to wait until regular payment timeline starts in a month rewards will still go out. I'll still stream, I'll still do the hangout and I'll still work on my video. Hell, if a miracle happens it might come out this weekend. Probably it'll take a few more days than that. 

I also wanna update a bit on my health that has been interfering so much with my content and general wellbeing. Right now, my meds don't seem to be working like they're supposed to. A new theory that has cropped up, and it's nothing confirmed yet, is that I might have ME / CFS. But the leading theory still is still overwork, exhaustion and a combination of general depression and anxiety things all boiling together in a massive mental cocktail. 

But I am getting better. Slowly, very slowly. I admit to having a few very, very dark days recently. But I honestly think my days are getting better in general even if the sky seems dark some days. 

Finally: Wow, this is a long post. I've gotten more patreons and subscribers to my channel during my hiatus than I got during the few months my channel was ongoing. I can't wait to get back since my content seems to be enjoyed by a few people. I'm probably not gonna break the internet any day soon, but some people seem to start being aware of my content. Turns out taking a break for health reasons somehow generates fans. 

But that does remind me that it's okay to take breaks. It's okay to postpone a stream or video. It's hard for me to admit that people prefer me to be happy, rested to having a video at the cost of me breaking down in stress. I know that. But depression lies to you. I have to remind myself more and more that it's okay to say no, to take a break and, like now, change my routine on patreon to better suit what I am able. 

All the best

Mia Mulder