We all have our hobbies. My new hobby is streaming. I am among a vast community of streamers who for their own individual reasons decided to capture themselves playing a game and broadcast it to the world.

Streaming is an interesting hobby. You meet people from different parts of the globe. I met someone from Finland who solved a Sudoku puzzle for me in a mystery game! When does that happen? The internet makes this seemingly vast planet seem oh so small. I think what makes streaming entirely worth its many hours on the computer is the connections you will make. You may never get to meet each other in person, yet you know each time you get on the computer, people will be there for you. No matter what happened at work, in your life, your fellow streamers and viewers will be there to greet you throughout the day.

For that reason alone streaming becomes a kind of addiction. I still consider myself new to the twitch community, but if livestreaming has taught me anything, it has taught me that we desperately crave connection. We don’t connect enough in our daily lives. It can be hard to find the right people in our immediate social circles. Once we open ourselves up to the world, though, we find the people that make us want to tell our stories, open our hearts, or just meet up for a laugh.

I love connecting to the world. I feel richer, yes monetarily – I am so grateful to have subscribers and people who give me tips – but also richer in mind, richer in perspective. I love getting to know you all. If you haven’t felt enough love on my stream, let me tell you now that I appreciate you. More than I can express in a silly blog post.

Not only has livestreaming forged friendships, but it has also made me a better communicator, improved my focus, my ability to multi-task.  Livestreaming has lit a fire under my butt and fueled my creative spirit.

Though I will always have goals of making my stream more professional, more organized, connections will always be first, because that’s the stuff of quality. Livestreaming teaches all of us the importance of reaching out, listening, supporting others, growing, and encouraging others to grow. For that alone, it is an irreplaceable experience.

So reach out both into cyberspace and your immediate social circles and make things happen. Open up, fall, grow, change. Repeat. Reach out your hand. You will eventually find the people who will take it, and go on a walk with you. It will be worth it. Just don’t give up.