Wait. Where did my videos go?

For those of you who are new here but read the About Me section, you will see that I have issues related to brain fog.  Along with my brain fog I have had six major concussions in my life (unconscious more than  10 minutes), followed by two traumatic brain injuries within a few months of each other requiring rehabilitation to walk and talk again, among other things.  With a traumatic brain injury, wires get kind of crossed or even connections lost.  There is a lot of relearning and regrowing those connections can do but you have to exercise them.  To keep those connections exercising, I work puzzles, play mobile games that make me find things, try to follow recipes, and keep a calendar.

I am an avid LEGO builder.  I love LEGO.  I discovered them again in my adult life while watching different streamers on Twitch on the days I can’t get out of bed. [*Side note:  A streamer?  Twitch?  According to Websters dictionary a Streamer is: a flag that streams in the wind especially : PENNANT b: any long narrow wavy strip resembling or suggesting a banner floating in the wind.]

That is not the type of streamer I am talking about.  Twitch is a service that streams individuals on a live visual stream that you can react with in a designated chat section.  It’s a streaming service somewhat like YouTube.  You can use your web browser or download an app.  It became popular for gamers to stream themselves playing games for people to watch along with them, however it has grown into hundreds of categories besides just video games.  LEGO builders use one of those categories.

I actually started watching my son stream games that he plays online.  There are many people that sign in and watch him as well.  You can chat with others about the game or just simply about life. Oftentimes the streamer interacts with chat as well.  If you are stuck lying in bed in your room, you don’t get a lot of human interaction unless all your friends are available..  If I am watching someone stream there may be others on there from all time zones across the world.  It’s a safe place to chat and you control the amount of information you want to share.  I have made many friends and have even talked to a few outside of the chat room on a more personal level about things like arthritis, for example.  What does this have to do with LEGO you ask?  If my son was not streaming I would browse around for other things of interest to watch.  I watch a wide variety of things from knife making to cross stitching.  Interacting with these streamers gives you an outside connection.  They usually tell you about their lives, show you how to do specific things or just chit chat along with everyone else…..ahh, adult conversations.

After wandering upon a LEGO streamer, I noticed that the instructions are in picture form.  If you have brain fog or damage in any way, you will know that following instructions, both verbal and written, is extremely challenging.  You have to read the instructions which typically have ten or more steps and then comprehend them before trying to remember what order they were in.  Yes, that is very difficult for a person with brain fog.  I discovered that the instructions in the LEGO set are pictures with arrows. You follow the directions shown in the picture to build the set one step at a time.  There are small sets and very large sets.  It’s an at-your-pace type of activity.  You can work two pages or twenty and then take a break.

I decided that videoing my building sessions and posting them on my blog would be a good way to reach out to others who are having brain fog or issues, and explain how they help me, what I do if I run into a roadblock and show how it can be used for therapy.  I have issues with fine motor movement, following/understanding  directions and difficulty with pain in my joints and head.

I started with a very small set in my bed with a little table over me while I was lying down.  Being able to take my time and manipulate the small pieces into a final shape was like finishing a race for me.  It boosted my confidence and made me feel like I could actually accomplish something.  Because I have to take frequent breaks (sometimes even days) I decided that I would not stream as that entailed “running the show” which is virtually impossible. So instead I decided to make these videos and post to my web page for others wanting to learn a new task, or even just have simple creative time.

My first video was just a small part of my build.  I had to take several breaks and I am not able to splice different sections together (that is way beyond my brain gauge) and would have my husband do that part for me.  I was excited to post so I just put up a small section that discussed ways to work around issues with brain fog or even physical issues with your hands.

I became very involved in this LEGO community and people stream amazing content.  Have you heard about the 9,900-piece Titanic set?  Yeah, I can’t do it but there are several who have.  Suddenly my anxiety crept up on me.  I felt inferior and was afraid I would look unprofessional in my videos and quickly my anxiety did take over.  I chose to delete my videos and not do them any longer.

Two days later I was in a stream where the streamer was building a unique small project.  He was building it for the LEGO #buildtogive campaign.  You just simply build a star out of LEGO and post it with the hashtag to any social media.  Lego will give away a set for every star posted under that hashtag to 1.5 million children in need.  My streamer made a statement that resonated back to my videos.  He said to just build what is in your heart with these stars.  Don’t start comparing them to other builds.  That is not the reason for this build and that is not the reason we build LEGO in the first place.  He was right.  Why would I compare my building videos with other streamers who do not have the physical or mental issues that a person with chronic illness has?  I build LEGO because it makes my heart happy and I started the videos (perfect or not) to show others they can do it too.

My videos will return to my website within the next week.  Thank you @Marvelousbricks!  Here is the link to the LEGO information to the #buildtogive campaign .  https://www.lego.com/en-us/build-to-give

If you want to take the time and look around Twitch, don’t get overwhelmed. I follow some great people and would recommend searching them up.

TheLocalBrickshop: Streams sorting LEGO and gives away free minifigures or poly bag sets every Wednesday.  

AZpinoy:  Streams LEGO technic typically building all of the cars such as the bugatti and speed champions racers.

Hyenaplus: Streams RPG tabletop games (role play gaming – like dungeons and dragons) and is about to sort some space LEGO

TexaxHulaMan:  He is a woodworker.  Has multiple cameras in his shot so you get to watch every aspect of the build he is making

I hope you find this as a new world opening up to you.  Sit and watch a stream, interact, learn something you can do while you’re down or learn something you can do with family.  Keep your journey moving.  Love and Hugs to all.