A short YouTube monologue by Andy Neary in which he recounts a Zoom conversation with a friend who said Andy’s content gave them hope during a period of severe personal crisis (including thoughts of ending their life). The anecdote prompts Andy to conclude that the pursuit of attention is secondary to the real work of impacting others through content.
Chapters
He said, hey, man, I wanted to jump on Zoom because I know we haven't seen each other in a couple years, but I wanted to jump on Zoom. Just, thank you. I was sitting on the other side of the Zoom screen going, thank me for what I haven't seen in a couple years, man. He said, well, I got to share with you. You know, it's been a pretty rough two years. Between the divorce Covid, I kind of lost hope. He said, about six months ago, I actually thought about ending it all. I didn't see another way out. And he said, but I got to be honest with you, man, your content kept me going. It's given me hope. And the reason I wanted to jump on Zoom is because I wanted to thank you for keeping me here. And I sat on the other side of that screen. It's like the air just went out of me. And we wrapped up the call, and I probably sat there for another 10 minutes just kind of dumbfounded. And as I was reflecting, it made me realize that this whole game of attention, it has nothing to do with me, and it has everything to do with who I'm impacting.