I achieved this milestone wayyyy back in January, I was really happy but at that time didn’t feel like celebrating... why? a few things:
🟣I had recently lost a very important and dear person in my life, my oldest aunt on my mom’s side, the one who took me in to live with her and my cuz so I can have a rent-free place in Trinidad to live while I pursued my university degree... it was my home for 7 years right up until I got married. I don’t have any living grandparents so the role of grandmom was sorta how I looked at her relationship with me (not at all in a bad way) but the opposite cause I’ve always longed for grandparents in my life and she filled that void for me.... so I really felt it when she died and it hurt even more cause I knew how much she meant to soooo many people, not just to my family! She was dearly loved! I miss her a lot😢
🟣I ended up in the hospital a few days after that and was kept in there wayyyy longer than I should have been (a whole other story that will be told at another time) The recovery process after being released was long, slow and to be honest, grueling!
🟣 By the time I recovered (or somewhat recovered cause I don’t believed that I ever really did) illness striked again and also ended up hospitalized again during a WHOLE pandemic and Lord father, it was scary and it really took a toll on me. I had to go through another long process of recovery which I'm still going through up to this day! So even though I encourage others to celebrate your small wins and big wins, this time celebrating wasn't even on my timeline of events cause I was literally fighting to survive. Thank God I'm still here, only by his grace and mercy.
🟣 Another reason why it took me a while to celebrate to be honest: even though I was happy, I was somewhat ashamed of the time it took to achieve this milestone because of my own expectations and because of what I thought others would think of me that I started my Youtube Channel wayyy back in 2015 when Youtube wasn't that popular especially for Trinidadians and other Caribbean Islands and it took my five WHOLE years to get to 1000 subbies, not to mention all the persons who came after me and their channels were blowing up seemingly over night. But here's the thing, I can't measure my success based off others' success, my situation and my success should only be measured by Christ's YardStick! Yes, if I took the time to compare myself to others, I would miss the moments of victory that I am gaining whether minute or massive! Here's a quote of mine that comes in handy for this: "It's not about how slow you're going, it's about you deciding not to stop." - Simply Naturabelle (M.R-J)
🟣and the last reason is because I knew I wanted to do a really big giveaway, I had already started collecting items to do so but with the way 2020 is set up; with finances and so on, I decided to hold off until I could accumulate some other items, some of which I haven't gotten ... but hey this week is my birthday week and it would be awesome to share something with you guys while I celebrate!
So look out for that! If you want to be a part of my giveaway (which will be local because of several reasons sorry) and are not yet subscribed to my channel(s) be sure to go over to YouTube by clicking here for my main Channel and here for my vlog channel (where I post Quarantine Vlogs, Vlogs of our Kitchen Garden, Cook with Us videos and more...)
With all that being said, I am choosing to celebrate this milestone and today I'm patting myself on the back and saying girl, with all that you've been through over the years and you're still doing something you love, kudos to you! I surely couldn't have done it without the grace of God and you guys! Thank you sooo much!💜 Let's celebrate.... whooo hooo 🎉🎈🎊💃 we made it thus far! I was recently encouraged by a long time subbie to continue doing Youtuber and that really made me feel good about the little contribution I had given to this space. Looking forward to growing with you belles and beaus! And for those of you who have just started your journey, I hope this encourages you, that no matter what you're going through, don't let discouragement stop you, one day you will see the results of your hard work! Just keep going!
Be beautiful, be blessed, be you. Love always, Mel!
P.S. The reason why the pic's date is edited is due to the fact that I hadn't downloaded the milestone from tubebuddy when it first came out and my channel subbies were hidden, so the date that I unhid my subbies was the date it registered as me gaining 1000 Subscribers however the date achieved was actually on 20th January 2020 and I wanted it to reflect the actual date...
