My name is Dennis and honestly I am a pretty normal guy. This won't be a story of how I dealt with extreme hardships or how I overcame some tragic situation
But rather a story of discovering who I am and my journey so far
So let's get into it. I was born on June 5th
1996 in Canada more specifically in Alberta and even more specifically in the city of Edmonton
At the time I was the youngest in the family
[and] before me was my brother who is two years older than me my mom and dad both emigrated from ukraine
So they spoke both russian and English to us my parents didn't have much money
But we were getting by just fine when I was about three we moved to Nashville
Tennessee [my] mom was working so my brother, and I attended a preschool
This is where I had my very first memory all I remember is me drawing all over the chalkboard with a red marker
[and] the teacher got really mad at me the memory immediately ends at that point which
Technically makes that one moment the start of my [whole] life
When I was four my dad got a job as a math professor [at] the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg
Which is back in Canada. We got a house there and I started going to kindergarten
[this] is where my story truly begins. I made friends with this one kid who didn't talk like at all?
Everyone thought there was something wrong with him
But one day, we were [playing] in a sandbox and just he started talking out of nowhere after [that] we became best friends
Right from the Get-go. I was extremely creative throughout Kindergarten and grade one
I would draw dozens of comic books my teachers were really impressed with them and even asked me to share them with the whole class
about once a week
[I] would have a new comic book made and the entire class would come sit on the floor and I would read out loud and
Show them every single page there was even a little box in the class that had all my books for kids to come and read
One whenever, they'd like eventually though kids became too cool to read my comic books
So I stopped making them my whole life up until very recently
I just been me trying to fit in I've always had an obsession with being cool and fitting in and I
Would do things that weren't really me
Because of that, I became a pretty bad kid
[I] was constantly getting into trouble and given detention almost every week when I was in second grade
[everyday] at lunch time there was a milk stand
Where kids would trade milk tickets that they bought from the school for Little cartons of chocolate milk?
Me being crafty and pretty good at drawing made fake milk tickets and would give them to my friends
so they could go get free milk using these little pieces of paper that I drew on to make it look like one of the
Real tickets it worked for a while [until] someone told on me
And I got detention for weeks around [this] time was when my brother
And [I] discovered computer games my dad used this really old windows desktop computer and he would let us play online mini games
For the most part my brother would play and I would sit beside him and watch for hours
Some of my fondest memories are my brother
And I sneaking up at like 4:00 in the morning just so we could go play more games together
I started developing a passion for video games in pretty soon
I was on the computer for hours [a] day it was around this point where I realized that one day
I myself wanted to make video games when I was about 10 years old
I lost pretty much all my friends from Elementary school. There was no specific reason
They ended up becoming the popular kids, and I still had my best friend
We met a couple other kids that were a lot like us
And we all stuck by [each] other throughout the next Few years
I was really quiet and kept to myself and so did my friends when we hung out we would laugh and scream and make really
Weird noises, but when we were in public. We were pretty much the exact opposite. We were never really bullied or anything
We just kind of kept away from any sort of drama or [attention]
The only thing people did know me for though was my videos and no not my Youtube videos
I mean my video
Projects that we'd be assigned in class if any teacher ever announced a video project would be coming up
Kids would all be really
excited to see what I put together some of my best memories from school were when kids would laugh and compliment me after watching my
Movies in class keep in mind. I was very quiet. So it was a pretty big deal for me [to] be getting this much attention
Then high school came my parents insisted. I went to a private school
Which was really far away from the public school all my friends were going to it really sucked at first
But it forced me to really step out of my comfort zone and meet new people
I didn't have anyone it was one of the first times in my whole life. I truly felt on my own
I had this idea that since nobody knew who I was I could be whoever I wanted to be
It sounds like a bad [thing] when I say I wasn't truly myself
But really it wasn't I didn't have to be this quiet introverted guy who always kept his head down anymore
I could finally build up the confidence to actually go and meet people. I know it's easier said than done
stepping out of your comfort Zone is one of the hardest things to do but
All you got to do is take that first big step you need to forget about everything else in the world in the entire universe
just
flush out every negative thought and focus all of your energy only on that one thing whether it be meeting someone or
asking someone [out] anything you just got to take that first leap of Faith and
Then the rest takes care of itself [on]
[july] 23rd 2011 [I] made my first YouTube video
At this point in my life. [I] watch youtube videos for hours every single day one day
I decided I wanted to be a youtuber, too
So I downloaded a screen recorder on my slow crummy laptop and made my first Minecraft letsplay
After the first week it got about 20 views, but that didn't stop me over time
I started seeing the same people comment on my videos every time I made a new one which meant I had followers and
This was enough to make me post a video every single day for over a year
Through this I became a part of this small community of youtubers who were just starting out and doing their own thing
This is how [I] met my friend fletch
Who I actually still work with today, but we'll get to that later around this time
I also met one of my best friends named braden some of you may know him as coral little sidenote
This is the same time I met Sam and gent
So anyways braden and I both had small let's play channels and decided to be in a few of each other's videos pretty soon
We were talking and playing games together every day
After about a year it seemed like I put my heart and soul into my channel, and it was simply going nowhere
[I] didn't know what to do so I just kind of lost interest so I stopped
this was also around the time [my] parents divorced my mom moved into a condo across town and my dad married my now stepmom and
her and my now
Stepbrother moved into my dad's house within a year and the next thing I knew I had a whole new family at first
[it] was hard
This place that I knew inside and out and have lived in for over ten years
All of a sudden didn't really feel like home anymore, [don't] get me wrong. I love my new family so much
It was just a lot to get used to
Constantly moving between my mom and dad's place which were both across the city from each other didn't really help
Since the dream [of] being a [YouTuber] was over
I focused my attention back towards making videogames
And I [took] some programming classes in high school and actually got the highest mark in the class
I was still very creative and around this time was also really good at Adobe Photoshop
So the combination of all these things made being a game developer seem pretty promising
I applied to some universities and the next thing I knew I was one summer away from moving to British Columbia for school
Like most people I was extremely nervous
[I] was 18 years old and was moving away from home for the first time in my life
I
Prepared myself by joining some of the university Facebook groups and tried [to] get an idea of some of the people I would probably meet
While browsing I found this one girl that especially stood out. She was gorgeous
she was also living on campus like me and the next thing I knew I moved to BC met her at a party [and]
Pretty soon, we started dating
She [was] my first serious relationship, and I learned so much [just] through my time spent with her
She helped me realize
I should do what I truly loved and not work towards whatever career will make me more money
Or what is more accepted by Society I?
Was starting to lose a lot of interest in what [I] was studying and with distractions like video games and my girlfriend
By the end of the first year of University I failed almost all [of] my courses
I was barely readmitted to the school if you finish the year with less than a 50% grade average you were
automatically kicked out my great average was 51 at
This point. I didn't know what to do with myself
Wasn't interested [in] my degree anymore
I was so behind school and on top of all that my girlfriend
And I were moving back to our homes which are in separate parts of the country meaning
We wouldn't be together for the next four months. We were still so in love and decided we would just get through it
We said goodbye and I flew [back] to winnipeg knowing
I was about to have to get through one of the longest summers of my entire life on August 20th 2015
my entire life changed I
Didn't know it at the time in fact. [I] didn't realize the significance of this a day until about six months later
So you're probably wondering what happened on that day?
Well me coral and fletch who is now our editor by the way
Started making YouTube [videos] again we decided we wanted to give it another try
We all agreed that stopping making videos a Few years back
Seemed like such a waste [and] after all this is what we truly wanted to do
We decided to make one video and just see how it did
About [a] week later. I got a call from my girlfriend
Saying she wanted to break up
My second year of University very nicely splits into two halves the first half for [the] most part was pretty dreadful
my future plans were
Constantly at a downward spiral since I was discovering more [and] more how little I wanted to do all the things I thought [I] was
interested in I also felt incredibly lonely since I lost most of my friends from first year because I was spending so much time with
my now ex-girlfriend [and]
Everything just kind of sucked
until an absolute miracle happened
The video that we posted on August 20th 2015
Exploded out of nowhere
It got hundreds of thousands of views and tons of people were asking [for] more coral Flesh
And I of course continued making videos every video. We posted
Did really well and all of a sudden [the] youTube dream was rekindled sub and Alex which most of you probably know?
Reached out to us and asked if we would like [to] make videos together
We all had unique talents that we felt used together could make a very entertaining channel
So we did it this now brings us to the second half of my second year at [University] it was all about YouTube
nothing else mattered
I finally found what I truly wanted to do and this was when I had the most potential to pursue it starting in January
2016 sub Alex Coral Flesh
And I were working on Youtube every single day, and we haven't stopped since
This video was made to celebrate us hitting
[500,000] subscribers [I]
Cannot explain in words. How thankful I am for the last eight months
[I] was struggling during one of my lower points in life, and you guys changed everything
Each and every one of you
watching my videos has brought me so much happiness if
This story has any moral. It's to never give up on what makes you happy
Your own happiness should be your top priority
[you] will face many situations in life, [or] you need to weigh your options and choose if what you want to do is
What is easier or [more] accepted or did just do what makes you truly happy?
YouTube is my happiness, and I hope I get to do it for as long as possible
Thank you so much
From the bottom of my heart
you