Recovered

As Hannah and I approached the end of 2023, we were thinking about taking the next year off. Not making any content for YouTube or social media. Instead, we were thinking of focusing all of our efforts on doing things to help us get out of debt. To move toward some of our goals like finding our forever home.

But… I had something itching inside me. Something that has been there for several years now. (if you've been following us or this blog then you already know!)

Back when I stumbled onto filmmaking & storytelling in 2020, I was also stumbling my way back from 17 years of drug and alcohol addiction. I was early on in the process of learning how to live again…as a sober grown 36-year-old man. And I wanted to figure out how to share that.

As I learned how to make videos and tell stories I realized there was power in what I was doing. Power in sharing. Similar to being part of an AA meeting. When someone is vulnerable, honest, and able to share where they are in life, what they are going through, and what they are learning, it has the power to move you, inspire you, even change your life. But I never knew how to do it, not the way I wanted to.

Instead, I just shared what I was doing in my life, what I cared about and I did my best to hone my craft of storytelling and hopefully find my voice.

Over time I got better and I kept making YouTube videos when I could. However, I found myself putting tons of time and effort into making things and not getting the results I wanted. I realized the results I had been looking for were tied up in views, likes, and subscriptions. Reaching people so I thought. But I was doing it the wrong way. I wasn’t being true to myself. So I was going to quit. Or at least take a year off.

But before I did, I wanted to try to make something different. Something that wasn’t for views or likes or subscribers. Something that came from inside me. Something that would make “me” feel something. And all I could think about was the Serenity Prayer and my recovery. What it meant to me. What I felt when I thought about it. How I’ve applied it to my life and how I apply it to my life every day.

And this is what came out.

It says ongoing docu-series. I’m not really sure if that’s the proper name for it, it just felt right. To me, my YouTube channel is my ongoing docu-series.

My thought was to rebrand my channel. Something like this.

"Recovered is an unlimited series of videos, short films & vlogs about one man’s experience through the journey we all face accepting the things we cannot change, finding the courage to change the things we can, and having the wisdom to know the difference…"

But I'm not sure yet. Honestly, going forward, I’m not sure if much will change. I like to think I live out the Serenity Prayer every day of my life. Whether I’m learning how to raise my own food, telling stories of people that inspire me, seeking God, challenging myself to become a better person or a hundred other things. It’s all the same to me.

But I plan to be more true to myself. I plan to make things that make me feel something and believe that if they make me feel something, it will make you feel something too.

Be true to yourself...

-Mikel