📸: my fav gal @khearnphotos on instagram!
Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you're having a great weekend. This week's video is a celebration and reflection on the past three years of Edith Noble Design! It's so crazy to think that it's been three whole years since I started making weekly videos and blog posts, and it's even wilder to reflect on how my life and creative pursuits have evolved and grown since then. I'm now going into my 11th grade year at the Grier School, and with this new adventure of being half way done with high school, I've decided to make some changes to my brand and share some reflections of what the past three years of sharing my life on here have taught me.
Firstly, I'm definitely one for traditions and routines. I'm proud and surprised to say that I haven't missed a week's video, blog post.... although maybe sometimes I've forgotten the email, haha.... throughout all three years of the Mango & Me series. Mango & Me, which might sound weird and unknown if you don't scroll wayyyyyy back on YouTube, is the name of the series of episodes which I now post weekly. The name of the series is pretty random and is based on a fun stuffed animal I got at a festival at the veeery beginning of the series and needed a clever name. I don't know if little eighth-grade me thought that Mango the stuffed llama would get a guest appearance in every episode or what, but it's turned out to be a cute series name for three years. I started episode 1 at the beginning of eighth grade and I planned that each weekly episode would be about my private school uniform-enhanced fashion choices for that week, but the videos quickly expanded to covering whatever was happening in my life besides fashion, and that range just kept getting bigger. I started my channel originally to be just DIY craft tutorials, but similarly, I wanted to share more types of content. This range of topics grew to vlogs, more craft tutorials, fashion advice, and eventually, faith talks. I never forced my videos into a specific style of consumption, because as aesthetically pleasing as a good pastel YouTube channel color scheme is, I knew even at the beginning that my style and interests are always changing and I should just keep sharing what I liked at the time.
One thing I had to choose at the very beginning was whether or not I would ever delete or hide videos if I was embarrassed about them later on. I decided that I would not, because if I had liked that video and its content at the time, I shouldn't be ashamed or embarrassed later on about who I was in the past. I can't change what I liked or thought was cool at the time, so why not own an awkward cover picture or goofy mannerisms? This has made my life so much easier, because even though I can easily get made fun of for almost anything in the past three years of my life (and others have definitely noticed that, lol), I know that I can only control how I act and what I post now so there's no use in re-evaluating or criticizing how I used to be. This decision has made me appreciate so many past memories that I had the pleasure of documenting and sharing online, even if they could be potentially embarrassing and goofy, and I've been able to show those memories to new people in my life who I didn't know at the time. My best friend and I can scroll endlessly on my channel and blog for me to show her what my middle school class looked like or where we vacationed to. It's so cool!!
At the beginning of my channel, like so many other aspiring YouTubers, I definitely had the goal in the back of my head to grow a large following and evaluated so many videos as to whether or not they were worthy of going viral. This is the only thing I do regret about these years of making videos, because even though my "viral-worthy titles" show who I was and what I aspired to at the time, I wish I hadn't tried to make my content seem more worldly than it was. Luckily, this never really back fired for me, so I never got famous off of some off-handed comment or became a meme, but I never went viral or became famous either. I really only had these ambitions for a little bit in eighth grade, but after that I realized that: 1) it's not worth it to try to a popular YouTuber because if I'm trying and I'm not, then I just look silly, and 2) I know who actually appreciate my content (my family and friends) so making stuff just for their enjoyment is totally worth it. Likewise, making videos for the primary reasons of being able to look back on my life in the future and sharing the present with my friends and family who appreciate the work I put in, has proved to be the best and most rewarding solution to the fruitless pursuit of fame. Getting texts from my best friends in quarantine and lockdown during a global pandemic saying that they've been watching the vlogs of our school dances and memories together to reminisce on school life has proven that priceless value to me. I can look back on my life and appreciate the things I've experienced and lessons I've learned, and I can document some sweet moments of love for those I've shared those experiences and lessons with.
This whole video and blog post of Episode 160 are not in any way a goodbye to making videos, but they're just a reflection on the past three years because of the changes I'm making to my "brand" starting next week. This year I'm starting junior year of high school, and with that comes some upped pressure in virtually all areas of life, so I'm creating less content in order make more quality content less often as I work through whatever God metaphorically throws at me. I'm blessed to be involved in a lot of clubs and activities at school, so posting less will help me to be a bigger contributor to everything that I'm a part of in real life, as well as academics and a small photography business. This year I'm very thankful to be in two AP classes and two honors classes, as well as co-president of the AV Club, plus the National Honor Society and other clubs, not even counting running and athletic pursuits... oh, and music pursuits too! I'm not saying any of this to show off or boast about my blessings, but merely to share what's going on in my life that I'm not sharing online, but still being super involved in. As of right now I'm planning to post maybe every other week, so somewhat consistently, but not as often, while still sharing quality content and inspiration! I explain all of this even more in the video, as well as a throwback to all of my previous videos so far, so be sure to check it out, enjoy, and watch this new stage of life for me unfold as I share it!!
Episode 160: https://youtu.be/o8I_DvopYo4
My Channel: (Edith Noble) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnXXLYRl1ImCPHpCqeFdilg
Comments