I’m not posting this on my main because eh, I’m not feeling it. - So, I’ve done some reflecting these past few weeks/months, and I’ve realized something. People actually *know* me for being, well me. And so, how did I get to this point anyway? Well, it all started around August of last year. I decided to upload a SW animatic I left unfinished onto YouTube for the heck of it. I didn’t expect it to get picked up by the algorithm, since I only had about 10 subs at the time. Yet, another SW fan commented. Few days later, I found out the fandom wasn’t dead. I quickly made friends. I then got out of my comfort zone, and I started posting yap sessions and funny shorts. People liked them. My friends liked them. I didn’t feel alone. Sure I felt embarrassed at times, and did cringe things, but that was okay. I reached 200 subs by the end of 2024. Now, things were stagnant until around April of this year. Around the beginning of April, Jonny RaZeR did a contest where his fans changed his pfp for 30 days. I submitted an entry for the heck of it. I didn’t get featured, but I was okay. That lead me to submit something for the Rumble Pack fanart episode. I grabbed something I drew from January as a submission. 2 weeks later, the episode came out. That was the best Easter Sunday ever. Near the end of the pod, my submission was seen by Danno, Bam, Deejus, and Bundun. They all liked it. They said it was peak! That filled me up with so much euphoria and excitement. I was driven to tears. Now that isn’t the end. A month later, RPK did an episode of looking at server emote entries. I got in there too. And this time, cdot, Jonny, and Pear saw my art. They all liked my entries too! I was so happy. They even got selected as 2 of the winners for the server wide emotes! So everytime I check the server, I see something /I/ MADE! That just makes me feel so… jvknlnhxhvkbkv/vpos And yet, the universe did it again. A few weeks ago, I found out from someone on GWDFI that Jonny did a stream of looking at most of the pfp submissions, AND I GOT IN THERE TOO! I can’t check it out just yet, but I am so happy. And the best thing, Jonny did a short about the whole pfp thing, and my art was on the auto generated thumbnail. I’m not joking, go watch the short. I- just- That means like thousands of people have seen my art- I cry with joy everytime I see the art or I just think about the odds of it even happening anyway. I did it. I got one of my fav YouTubers to see my art. That’s one of things I had on my bucket list for years, thinking it was just a foolish fantasy of my 12 yr old self I peaked in life. I worked hard enough. It all started when I tried to draw The Boss, and now I’m here. I never gave up. I kept going. I made genuine friends again. I stayed true to myself. And the funny thing is, my user on my other sites is just stating that I exist. I came up with it because that’s basically what I do. I really did live up to my name. I do exist I exist with belonging in a niche fandom I exist being an artist in an uncertain time of history I exist by yapping about my interests and being passionate about them I exist right in this moment I exist with a purpose And I’ve accomplished so much in this year alone <3