My Stream Journey

October 09, 2017

My Stream Journey

Honestly, it is so hard to put to words how my stream journey has been. It has been filled with high moments, it has been filled with low moments, and many times those moments happened at the same time. My first stream was in 2009 on another site. I joined Twitch in 2011.

During my entire journey going from 0 followers to 5k+ followers:

I celebrated two pregnancies.

I celebrated two births.

I mourned the loss of my first son.

I spent a total of 90 days in the NICU with my children, 86 of them were consecutive.

I celebrated my second son graduating the NICU and coming home!

I became a successful small business owner.

I celebrated my first 100 followers about a month and a half after coming back to streaming in 2014.

I have had two very real cancer scares.

I was diagnosed with PTSD due to my time in the NICU and my experiences in the NICU.

Twitch introduced my ex-husband to his now wife (who had been a viewer of mine prior to our unexpected separation).

I had to start my life over unexpectedly in another state with just a suitcase and with the emotional help of my parents and older sister.

I had to dissolve my business that I loved doing.

I've lost a family relationship that was extremely important to me. It will never be the same and this makes me cry more times than I care to admit.

I went through a divorce.

I became a single mother of a 1 year old.

I went through a total community shift on Twitch and loss a good percentage of my community through the ill intentions of others.

I was accepted into grad school.

I graduated with my Masters, achieving a 4.0 in the process.

I flew on a plane for the first time since before 9/11.

I went to my first PAX (PAX South) in 2015.

I went to PAX West in 2015.

I met Day9 in person. I got to tell him how his content on youtube got me through the hardest times in my life. He was gracious and extremely nice. I cried.

I was on my first panel as a panelist in 2016. I will be presenting at my third and fourth panels at TwitchCon this year.

I had to rediscover who I was as a person because I had lost myself in the relationship of "we".

I found out I was stronger than I thought I was.

I also found out I was weaker than I thought I was.

I became partnered the same week I graduated with my Masters.

I started therapy the fall of 2016 for PTSD and creating healthy boundaries. I'm still working on it.

I created a meetup community in Nashville. I've met so many great people through it!

I don't know what else I can say. I've met a lot of great people through Twitch. I've also lost a lot of relationships through Twitch.

It's hard for me to think of my livestreaming journey without crying. It's also very hard for me to write in depth about it. I've gone through so much in the past 7 years. I would share pictures of my more emotional times, but a lot of the pictures I'd share are very personal pictures and I don't know when I'd feel comfortable sharing them.

I've gone through a lot. So many good things happened that I didn't yet share!

I became a Stream Labs All-star, I met GameWisp employees and got to hang out at their headquarters! I met so many amazing developers, I've gotten to know so many other streamers and feel comfortable going up and saying "Hey, how's it going?" and not feel nervous, I've met inspirational members of this industry. I even took kiddo to his first convention last year

It has been a hellacious roller coaster of a ride, but I can honestly say it has made me the person I am today.

Here are some pictures which highlight some of these moments: