Some words on crunch, burnout & a thank you <3 (Patreon)

Hi lovelies, 

There's been a lot of talk recently about the videogame industry's bad habit of overworking developers to the point of breakdowns & damage to their mental & physical health. 

It hits home for me in an odd, kind of self-absorbed way as I used to do this to myself a lot. Before Patreon, there were often times I would suffer massive self inflicted creative & mental burnout from hyper-intense overwork. I was doing 70+ hour weeks over & over & over until there was nothing left in me to give. 

Between Youtube's weird algorithms & the transient nature of creative success, I was always terrified of taking breaks, even for a week, in case Miracle Of Sound began to decline and I could no longer afford to do it as a job. 

But since you guys have come here to support me, things have changed so much. I have been able to slow down my process a lot and take breaks when I need to. Creativity is lungs - we can't just breathe out all the time or we'll pass out & suffocate. We need to take time to breathe in, to get inspired, to give each piece of art the time it deserves to cultivate, grow & develop into the best version of itself that we can make it at that point in time - after all that's what our art AND our audiences deserve.

Because I now have the luxury of breathing in & taking that time to create, I feel the consistent quality of my work has improved. And that's hugely thanks to you guys, my Patrons. 

Recently I've been on a short burnout - no decent creative ideas. No inspiration. Nothing worthwhile coming out of me musically. Life had some stuff that got in the way & I was just a little empty after the last 3 songs. And because of you guys - that's ok!! I can afford to take a week away to breathe in without worrying if a drop in views/streams etc will threaten my future in this career. And that is wonderful. Life changing.

I guess what I'm awkwardly trying to say is just a big old 'thank you' - thank you for allowing me this freedom to not only make my best work possible for you, but to be able to take care of my mental & physical health while doing it. You guys rock so much <3 

Big luv. 

Gav