A few more hours to go before we ring in the new year with hesitation! 2020 was definite one for the books and I think we’re all relieved to be finally moving on to 2021. I look back on this year, and as confusing and painful and lifechanging as it was for me, a lot of good came out of it.

Like many others, I was laid off back in February. I was lucky enough to still live at home, but I had student loans and bills to pay. Nothing was certain and I felt lost. I was denied unemployment and . I then sat down and started to think about what work I could do from home and I ran to Indeed and Glassdoor to see who need a remote position to be filled or a virtual assistant to go through and organize their emails. The pickings were slim and the jobs that I qualified for were being filled before the job listings were even put up.

Around March I received an email from Udemy saying that all courses were 90% off. I ignored it. For about a week and sat and waited for the day that I would get the call to come back to work. The call never came and I needed to come up with something to occupy my time so I didn’t go absolutely insane while being stuck at home. So what did I do? I started a podcast, though I had no audio editing skills… so I ended up finding the email from Udemy and started looking through page after page of audio editing. From their, audio editing courses turned into video editing and then I found a twitch streaming course. I bought 5 courses that day and decided I was going to podcast and stream and enjoy my time.

For about 4 months, I studied these courses and took notes like a star student. In May, I started the podcast and on June 29 was when I went live for the first time on Twitch. On July 17, I made affiliate and I just celebrated 6 months of streaming 2 days ago. I’ve people who I would have never crossed paths with and got to experience some amazing things. I learned how to handle assholes in my chat and gained the ability to laugh at myself and think on my feet. Most importantly, though, I found my calling. I made a streaming family, and we’re broken and fucked up, but loving and driven. I don’t want to go back to a 9-5 job where everything I do goes unnoticed and nothing ever makes an impact. I like being my own boss and waking up getting to do something that I love. No one is taking that away from me.

2020 was a shitshow, but I made something of myself this year and I want to celebrate that as we close this chapter. All of you share your love and support daily, and without any of you I wouldn’t be able to do this and I want to celebrate that, as well. Yes, 2020 will never be forgotten but if this year didn’t play out the way it did, none of this would have happened and for that I am beyond grateful.

In 2021, a lot is going to be changing for Rooplixoo and myself. January is going to be hectic getting everything finalized, but it’s going to be great! We have tons of projects to work on and holidays to celebrate. I say this a lot to people in my life, but I don’t think I’ve said this on here, so… you’re stuck with me. I have nothing but time to do this so that’s what I’m going to do.

Here’s to 2021 and to us. I love you all and hope you have a wonderful, kickass New Year. See you all next year!