We are officially 8 days away from our departure for Amicalola Falls & the start of our Appalachian Trail adventure! I am frantically packing resupply boxes (more about that later), organizing gear, and ordering things from REI. Packages are arriving at our doorstep by the dozens.
So, what am I doing tonight – 8 days before we leave – while my dining room is covered in boxes and our guest bedroom is covered in gear? Why uploading my first YouTube video, of course.
As I have been sharing our plans with family, friends, and strangers (who may or may not even be interested), I am always asked the same thing – how can we follow along? I have been asked to blog, vlog, Insta, and journal. I love to write, so I plan to do that anyways. I am just not sure how captivating our family is on video.
Last July, Matthew, Charlotte, and I made some videos as we taste-tested our 47 year-old Mountain House food for the first time. However, I was never able to bring myself to watch the videos. Thus, a YouTube video was never made.
I am a social media lurker, not a social media poster. My last picture on my Instagram page was from roughly 4 years ago when my eldest put my youngest (then 5 years old) into her old cloth diapers. It was funny. I took a picture. That was one of only 17 pictures I had on Instagram. But, 2 nights ago, I posted an 18th picture.
The communications director at my former church encouraged me to vlog. Throw some videos on Instagram, on YouTube. Bunco friends told me that it didn’t matter if I was interesting, people would watch regardless. (I feel like maybe that was an insult. Though I can’t be sure.) And, in an obvious attempt to keep me humble and grounded, my brother teased me mercilessly. If you’re reading, Trevor…it didn’t work. He’s the one who mocked me, inferring that all my videos would include the phrase “smash that like and subscribe!” I dedicate this post to him.
I do want to give people a way to follow along with us. This is an adventure of a lifetime! But I also loathe being the center of attention and I worry (wait, scratch that, I quake in terror) about what other people will think of me.
So, I’m starting slowly. 1 Instagram picture. 1 YouTube video. 1 blog post (after a long hiatus). We’ll see where it goes from here. I have no idea how to edit videos on my phone, so that’ll be another activity for my next procrastination session.
But, for now, don’t forget to smash that like & subscribe!
MACK family adventures on YouTube!
Insta: joysabounding
