I had an important realization the other morning, and after sitting on it for awhile, I finally decided to face it and share my thoughts with you. Because it’s kinda important.

I recently made a couple of videos about Croatia and Montenegro that each received a lot of negative comments. Not troll type of comments, although there were a few of them. There always are and I just ignore them. No, these comments were pointed, correct, and required me to make a decision.

Do I listen and understand them … or take them as just noise from a minority of those watching?

To be very specific about the concerns those comments addressed, I made several factual mistakes in those videos. Things like saying a certain city was in a certain region, when it was not.

No big deal, right? Only … they were. To those who called that city or region home, it was very important for me to have my facts straight.

But … that wasn’t my realization.

Had I shared those inaccuracies on Facebook or some other social media like that, it perhaps wouldn’t have been such a big deal. The only people who would have seen my goofs would be people that I knew. My friends. If I had a buddy from one of those mis-named places, they would have told me that I was an idiot and that would have been that. I would have been just some guy posting stuff on his wall for his friends to talk about.

But I didn’t post those videos on my personal Facebook wall. I posted them on a YouTube channel which has over half a million views.

I do not know half a million people.

Now I’m not saying that it would have been “OK” to have shared incorrect information with a smaller audience. Quite the opposite, in fact. My revelation was that I’m not just some guy.

Because I’m choosing to create a community that is far larger than anything I can imagine, I have a responsibility that I am ignoring.

I mean, imagine a stadium filled with over half a million people. That’s how many views I’ve already had on the videos I’ve created. On the words that I have uttered.

The comments that I received both on my inaccuracies and on the tone that I was using in describing my experiences were very much heard and felt. And to be clear, those comments were mostly meant to educate me, not to demonize my actions. Or at least that’s how I took them.

What I realized was that words really matter, especially as the number of ears that hear them grow. What may have passed unnoticed as a small discussion between friends was actually left in thousands of people’s minds as fact.

My words were presented to people who knew the truth and were hurt and upset at my casual and flippant “opinions as facts” style of video.

And that is the realization. I realized that I am not just a small YouTuber playing around with all of this as a hobby. Just screwing around in the midst of a few close friends. I have a responsibility far, far beyond that.

I am choosing to share my life with a global audience. My discoveries about other places and cultures to those that already live them. And it was wrong of me to be so casual about all of that.

Why am I posting this here? Because I feel like I’m doing it again, only on a different platform. My mindset has been … Be careful on YouTube and let yourself hang free on Patreon.

Well … didn’t I just cover that?

All of this has made me realize just how large of a scope my “little hobby” has become. And it frankly scares the crap out of me. I hate the word “Influencer”, but there is truth to its definition. Not just by direct action, but by casual interaction.

My words matter, and I will accept responsibility for putting them out into the world correctly.

Thank you for supporting the channel and our shared journey. Be healthy, be happy, and we’ll see you soon.