- Okay.
Let's get real honest with you guys.
(sighs)
My first regret and mistake throughout my 20s,
this has been a theme throughout the majority of my life
and is still something I'm working on,
is I care too much of what people think of me.
And a prime example of all this
is I remember last year I made a video
and it didn't perform that well,
it didn't get that as many views as I wanted it to be
'cause I had my fricking expectations were way too high.
And I deleted the video because I was so worried
that you guys would see it and be like,
"Oh it didn't get as many views.
"He's not so cool anymore."
Or I'd have brands see it and be like, "You know what?
"Maybe we don't want to work with him, his channel's dying."
So I would delete the video.
It is so ridiculous.
I did the same thing with Instagram posts too.
I would post something
and if it didn't get a certain amount of likes,
I would delete it.
At some point I was averaging 15,000 to 20,000 likes
on an Instagram photo.
And I remember one photo got 11,000 likes and I deleted it.
I get shivers 'cause it's so stupid.
I'm so sorry guys that I did that.
I'm so ashamed of it.
To mark my 30th birthday, I got two tattoos.
And people always ask, "Well what do your tattoos mean?"
This is what this tattoo and this tattoo
actually mean to me.
They're in very very visible places.
If I'm not wearing a long sleeve shirt,
you can see it and you can instantly go,
"Ooh tattoo, ah."
And you can make whatever comment you want.
But they're in a visible spot so I can remind myself
to not give a (beep) of what other people think of me.
I like this tattoo and that should be enough.
And that is enough for me.
So that's my biggest regret.
Number one, the number one umbrella of 'em all
is I need to stop giving a (beep)
of what people think of me.
That's what I'm working on right now in my 30s.
I got some more juicy juicy regrets for you coming on up.
(water rippling)
Okay, next regret.
Now this is going to kind of sound like the anti thesis
of everything that we've heard
over the last couple of years,
but I regret working too much,
and this is because I totally bought into hustle culture.
Some of my idols at the time were Casey Neistat and Gary V,
and Gary would post videos like this one here.
- [Gary] 20 to 32, for 12 years of my life,
I worked seven days a week.
- And I would, I would listen to these videos
and I'd be like, "Ah, they're so successful.
"If I want to be like them,
"I should be working 80 hours a week, seven days a week."
I would feel guilty.
I would be at parties and I would physically be there,
and in my mind, I'd be like,
"I should be at home editing videos and editing photos"
and I wouldn't be present,
and that sucks because there were awesome parties
in university that I just didn't give myself
permission to enjoy.
It wasn't until I was 28 and I was on a trip in Berlin
that I gave myself permission to have fun,
and that is one of my biggest regrets of my 20s,
is I didn't let myself have enough fun
and I worked too much.
And I also understand the by-product of working so much
also led to whatever success this might be,
a YouTube channel, Instagram, a career.
But at the same time, I also didn't need it
to happen as quickly.
This could have happened a couple years later
and at least I would have looked back on my 20s
and been like, "At least I enjoyed myself."
But don't work so hard.
Book that trip, enjoy yourselves.
You do not need to be a workaholic,
and that's coming from a recovering workaholic.
Okay, this one is going to be
particularly difficult to share,
'cause my ego doesn't want me to share it.
I just genuinely wish I was more authentic,
not only to my friends, but to you guys.
When I first started this YouTube channel,
I got support from my friend, Peter McKinnon.
He also shouted me out on his channel,
which led to me getting 10,000 subscribers overnight.
And at that time, I so desperately wanted to be a YouTuber,
and I had 10,000 eyeballs and this new audience
waiting to watch my content,
and I was so scared of showing my authentic self
that to protect that, I packaged my personality
and my videos in a way that was very familiar,
which was Peter's style.
And I did what was working for him
because I thought if he was successful,
then that would mean I would be successful too.
I watch those old videos
and I don't even know who that person is.
And the person that you seen now, this Chris,
this is authentically me
and this has taken a long time to get to,
but I regret that I didn't just show you this person first.
So hi, I'm Chris.
If you like me, I hope you're enjoying this video.
If you don't like me,
this is the perfect time to unsubscribe.
But if you're enjoying it,
it's the perfect time to subscribe.
To summarize this all, I think one of my biggest regrets,
genuinely, is I just wish I was more authentic,
and that's my goal for my 30s.
So who you see now, welcome to the show baby.
One of the other things that I've been thinking about
is that I wish I didn't put so much weight
on certain milestones.
When I first graduated university,
I remember thinking that if I made $500 in one week,
that was a good week.
I remember thinking if I had a hundred thousand dollars
in my bank account, then that's when I'll feel less anxious
and that's when I will feel happier,
or that's when I'll let myself just chill out for a second.
Well I finally hit that milestone, and for a single day,
one single day, I was proud of myself and happy
and slightly more chill.
And then the next day, it all came rushing back again,
and even more so than when I was making $500 a week.
And that's because I had, and I joke because it's so true,
this is why you hear this all the time,
"more money, more problems", but it's true.
I just waited until the next milestone
to let myself be happy, and nothing was ever enough.
So one of my biggest regrets
was just I wish I was just happy with where I was
at the time and enjoyed the process,
rather than waiting for that milestone,
whether it was money, subscribers, followers,
or whatever the status symbol
or whatever the thing might be.
Just be content with where you are at.
Okay, Chris?
Be content right now.
I think a bird pooped on my shoulder,
which is a great segue into my next point.
I wish I took my mental and physical health more seriously.
So because of the way that I had positioned my life,
which was working all the time and not enjoying myself,
I just kind of lived in a constant state
of stress and anxiety,
and that kind of became the baseline.
So when I did go on that trip to Berlin
and I let myself have fun, I was like,
"This is what other people feel like?"
And Lizzie would always say to me,
"You should talk to a therapist."
And I was like, "Uh, I don't know if that's the thing.
"Maybe I'll do something else."
And then I wouldn't do that, and then I'd be like,
"Lizzy, I feel I'm still stressed and anxious."
"You should talk to a therapist."
"No, no, I don't know about that."
And then I finally tried therapy.
I was like, "Lizzie, the therapist was right.
"He helped me reframe my relationship with work."
And she's like,
"Oh okay, glad you figured it out on your own."
But when I talked to a therapist,
and I encourage anybody who might be feeling
stressed or anxious, or has a bad relationship with work,
to talk to one, he helped me reframe
how I was looking at work, and he also encouraged me
to take my physical health more seriously.
So he's like, "Start with walks."
So I started walking,
and then I started walking every single day,
and then I also started to notice, because I was like,
"I like how I feel after walks,
"ooh and I don't like so much how I feel after bad food,
"I should probably be eating better too."
So then I started eating more whole foods,
I got a better diet,
and by taking both my physical and my mental health
more seriously, I was finally able to just relax
and be happier and more genuine
and just talk to you guys more authentically,
and it's just made my life drastically better
because I finally addressed those things.
And I think there's a huge stigma around a lot of men
not wanting to deal with their mental health.
I mean, I think my stats are 90% male watch this channel.
So to the 90% of men out there
who might be feeling anxious or stressed,
I really encourage you to go speak to someone.
Start off small, and then if you really feel
like you are in a position to do it financially,
it's a great investment to seek out a therapist.
By taking my physical health and mental health seriously,
it's helped a lot.
So that's, that's me being honest with you guys
about the biggest regrets of my 20s.
I feel like I'm in a much better place now
and I'm really excited for my 30s.
And if you guys have any suggestions or tips
that I should be aware of for my 30s,
please let me know in the comments below.
Let's just create a giant thread in the comment section
so that everyone just lives a better life.
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I appreciate you all so much.
Thank you for watching this video.
I love you.
We'll see you again soon.
I'll make a video soon, but you'll see me when I make it.
Love you, bye.
Also, that's a house for a bat.
Isn't that cool?
Are bats that small?
Cool.