So, I make vlogs for YouTube. Nothing surprising.
But what is shocking is I took eleven months to make a single video of 12 minutes. Nowadays, vloggers upload videos every day, and here I am taking over 330 days.
I am mostly not that slow. The vlogs I make consume around 5-7 days from shooting, weaving a story, editing, to uploading. And since I do it just for fun, I upload only one video per month.
But this video is a special case. I shot it on 3rd June 2022 and uploaded it on 1st May 2023. And there is this story in between.
The video is a travel vlog where I shared my experiences of visiting Rohtang Pass and seeing snow for the first time.
When I returned from Rohtang, I didn’t edit it because I had to first edit six videos I had shot even before the trip. So, I got busy with them. Then I also stepped into freelance writing.
And this way, 7 months vanished as camphor disappears into the air.
It was 2nd January 2023 when I finished all the previous videos and arrived at this Rohtang Pass vlog.
I was about to start editing it, but then I got busy with clients in freelancing. Once again, days started slipping away as if sliding down on a surface of snow.
It would be a lie to say I didn’t have enough time. I remember being free from work and thinking about getting started on the video but then doing something else.
I often told myself that I would work on the video when the time was perfect. But the perfect time never came.
I was living with a friend, and we had a great time. We would watch movies, read books, cook delicious dishes, and travel.
When March started, I realized what I was doing- procrastinating. And then, I felt bad for my procrastination, which made me avoid my work for a few more days, which made me feel worse. I was trapped in this cycle and had to break out of it.
Somehow, one fine day, I started writing the script. But after writing half of it, I decided to continue with the next half the next day.
But the next day, I wasn’t feeling like working on the project. The clips I had shot appeared painfully cliché, and I couldn’t get myself to watch them and get the creative juices flowing for the script. So, I got lost on Netflix.
From January to 20th April, I watched 43 movies, read 16 books, and traveled to 6 places.
Procrastination feels good only when you are doing it. Later, you pay the price of your lack of discipline with regret.
So there came a time when nothing made me happy. I started feeling boredom, irritation, and self-loathing. I was stressed and couldn’t trust myself. I knew why it was happening.
I was about to lose my passion for making vlogs. Not taking immediate steps would welcome more regret. It was a do-or-die situation.
On 25th of April, I told myself that I had to do it no matter how difficult and painful it was. I reminded myself why I had started my YouTube channel and that I couldn’t give up just because I didn’t feel like working on it. I watched motivational videos, listened to podcasts of successful people, and read blogs on how to stop procrastination.
Later, when I pushed myself to work on the project, I found myself avoiding it to get into the thriller novel I was reading then. Although I wanted to read for only 15 minutes, I ended up stuck in the book the whole day. It was a page-turner, I have to admit.
Finally, on the 26th of April, I knew what I had to do. I jumped on the project without thinking, without waiting for the perfect time, without any motivation, and without reasoning why I should do it. As if my life depended on it. As if there is nothing in this world that matters except this video.
For the next 5 days, I finished the script, shot the narration clips, arranged them on the editing software, edited and uploaded them on 1st May at 1:13 am.
It was a heck of a journey, 11 months for one video and a few hard lessons.