7 Questions with Twitch Streamer, @EnoughAutumn

We created the “7 Questions With” series to meet new and old friends of the Aloe Bud community and to learn about the way they incorporate self-care and take care of their mental health in their daily lives. This month we are introducing you to Autumn, aka @EnoughAutumn, a Twitch streamer and Partner of the Aloe Bud community.

Q1: Tell us about yourself!

@EnoughAutumn: Hey, Hi, Hello! I'm Autumn. Talking about myself is extremely difficult. I do joke around/be blunt about being a burnt-out human who is trying to find themselves after so many years. I'm a theme park photographer by day and a pj-wearing hobbit at night.

Q2: What got you into streaming?

@EnoughAutumn: To be honest, the want to not be alone. My partner was gone at night at work, and I had stumbled upon Twitch somehow. Seeing streamers talk, play games + entertain made me think ' I can do that and not feel alone.' This was in 2018, so it's been a long on-and-off journey since then.

Q3: Tell me about your Twitch community.

@EnoughAutumn: My community? I wouldn't say it's mine. There's people that are frequent hang-out buddies, lurkers, and such. I wouldn't say my community but a community that shares a space. They are a bunch of wonderful human beings who share the want to just be chill and have fun.

Q4: Why is self-care so important to you personally?

@EnoughAutumn: For me, I was brought up to take care of myself in an artificial, nonautonomous way. It was just lower than the bare minimum now that I see it as an adult + once I started living on my own, I realized that I could feel and be perceived better by taking care of myself. As of late, it's become something I really have put as a number one priority due to being ill + ignoring myself after a big life event. It's been an adventure with my therapist and psychiatrist, but worth it.

Q5: What do you do during streams to take care of yourself?

@EnoughAutumn: This is hard since I try to dismiss myself that I even take care of myself and I feel bad when I do it. The things I can point out are eating on stream, which I feel like people don't do. It's a big thing for me to eat + take my time making my food nowadays. Things like hydrating, taking a moment for my brain to load, and completing chores/to-do lists on stream I would say that is a huge part of taking care of myself.

Q6: Do you participate in any form of community self-care?

@EnoughAutumn: Community self-care as in, with the folks around me? I mean, I try to bring a stress-free space for people and force folks to treat streams as a place to just be. I'm obviously not the #1 part of their lives, and I remind people of that. Depending on the person, I do yell at folks about spending money, not sleeping plus a bit of simple things that we all struggle with. But really it's because our streaming culture has not provided a well-structured self-care/appropriate way to take care of oneself.

Q7: What advice would you like to give Twitch streamers experiencing digital burnout?

@EnoughAutumn: At first, I was writing this deep answer, but I ended up feeling overwhelmed. Really, that kinda shows what advice I'd give. Learn your boundaries, set them + follow what you desire with them. It's going to be difficult to find it out, but it's worth it. Try changing your schedule, playing specific games, posting without feeling like it's a chore, plus do things that make your heart sing. I'm going to stop there before it becomes an essay.