How you doing folks Joe here it's been a hot minute eh I appreciate all of the well wishes and concerns and questions about where I am and how I am and what I'm doing shows me that people do care and that's very nice if you go uh on line and you Google your name right.

Everybody's done it once or twice I've done it a few times it used to be if I Googled Joe Robinette it would be first thing to come up Joe robinet alone Joe robinet fire steel Joe robinet wife Joe robinet dog now if you Google Joe robinet it'll say what happened to Joe robinet again it's a good thing it's a good.

Thing and it's a bad thing it's a good thing because it tells me that people are actively searching me which is nice but it's a bad thing because it was like that before I took my little break my little Hiatus Before Christmas it was like that already which shows me that my channel is not getting pushed anymore and we'll get into that and that's fine.

But um I just wanted to start this off by acknowledging all of that and telling you guys that I am okay and everything is good and my family is good and yeah there's no worse for wear from the last time you saw me um I'm doing better actually so you can.

Look back I honestly can't even tell you off the top of my head when it was I started really going hard but I know for the fact for a fact that at least the past 10 years now I I've been putting out videos way longer than 10 years but at least 10 12 years I've been going full-time hard strong and in that time.

Nothing else in my life has taken priority or even really mattered it's all taking a backseat to YouTube right so what my whole life is consisted of is figuring out where to go going and when I lived in Windsor for a bigger chunk than now of my channel was driving I don't know at least 6 hours we'll get we'll be conservative at least.

6 hours um could be eight could be 10 one way and filming that video a lot of the times going in blind going in to a place where I didn't know what the train was like or what the weather was like when I got there because I'm in a whole other ecosystem basically when you drive 10 hours right even six so doing that and then coming home.

Another 6 8 10 hours sitting behind a computer learning how to edit teaching myself how to edit learning how to edit and editing for the next two days and then getting ready to go on the next trip and in that meantime I had two daughters I got married I um lost my best buddy my dog you know what I'm saying like all sorts of things in life.

We moved we we we we we completely changed our lives we turned everything we knew upside down right like again my wife and I came from nothing and then now it's not that and it it was hard for me to adapt to that you know what I mean that takes something H and it does something to you but anyway.

All that to say I've been doing YouTube for a long time guys and I I can't lie I got burnt out and I got listen anybody who knows anything about YouTube knows that the months that pay well are a month on either side of Christmas basically so it's like November to January is I could be off a little by a couple weeks or whatever but.

That's the gist of it right if I was planning on taking time off off I would not have planned to take time off on those good paying months they're good paying months because a the advertisers are paying more because it's Christmas time and be everybody's home people are watching more uh I really don't know the full meaning behind it but I know that.

Much but anyways I didn't plan on taking a break it just happened like I would not have planned to take a break in those months where they're paying the best and then also if you look all my winter videos do the best right way better than my can videos and it's been like that for years oh jumped it jumped it on that one.

Anyways um so I didn't mean to take this time off it just happened uh my as you know I'm sure my brother passed away this may this past May and because of that like we really wanted to be together for Christmas as a family and every year we go down there and we spend a ton of money because none.

Of our family has anywhere for us to stay right we have too big of a family everybody's got their own stuff going on so we have to either rent a hotel or Airbnb or whatever the case need be so then we're eating out all the time and it's just it's very very costly and it's it's my cross to bear because we moved away but at the same time it's we're.

Always going down there so they all agreed to come up for Christmas and then my mom actually got put in the hospital twice and it was too sketchy and there was no way I was going to have her drive up nobody felt comfortable about it so we ended up going down again and we were down there for a little.

While come back Emerald had a birthday um what else we did the basement finally finally I finished the basement will and I did it ourselves I can finally say that I can put up a wall dry all that wall um mud tape paint you know what I mean all the we built a 6 foot long bulkhead a six foot wide bulkhead will and I that's wild right uh.

I bought a bunch of tools any it took a long time a very long time but it was extremely rewarding but anyways during that I was just home you know what I mean I was just home and it just kind of it just felt good being home and taking a break and doing things that I needed to do around the house for a while and spending time with the kids we.

Took them and did some stuff with them uh like I said Emerald had a birthday day um we went to Franken Mo but oh then I busted my foot up real bad recently and then I got sick like this crazy flu that kept lingering on I don't even know what the heck it was but I'm over it all now I feel fine I feel good.

Oh also in that meantime I I started going to the gym so I would go three days a week and then going after coming down to Windsor we never I never started started going back so I have to do that I took a boxing class I took a boxing class I'm trying to further myself we're doing a little bit of preparations you know what I mean but just living living.

At home living life and um this is actually the first time I've been out since I camped with Joel I think before Christmas so I just didn't have the desire to get out and shoot videos especially here's that other thing I started saying my videos have being suppressed and I I hatte I used to hate when people said.

That and I was like suck it up do better but it's it's the case because like I see people commenting all the time emailing me and everything even before I took my my leave of absence that they weren't seeing my videos anymore and they had to physically go to my page and search them out by by name so it's like something happened you know what I mean.

I made someone angry which whatever it is what it is and and of course I know how it is too like I've I've been around for a really long time I'm old old news now like it I get it there's other people doing some pretty cool stuff um but the thing of it is is that I'm I'm still Joe I'm still doing what I want to do the point I'm trying to make is that.

Like I do have a fire l in my bum again and it's probably for the third or fourth time in this YouTube career and that's should be understandable in that amount of time right um it's like a lot of the times I I think how many times can people watch me go camping right I've done it all already so many times it's like if I deviate from that a.

Little bit people a lot of people get upset about that and say oh what are you doing blah blah blah this isn't what I came for but then if I stick to it and do the same thing over and over people are like oh you want trick pony what else you going to do type thing and I get that people are finicky in general but it's just like I feel those things.

As well you know what I mean so it really like um tugs at that for me like it it points that out even more for me so it's like I think what I have to do is get out often and start putting a video out a week again period but do kind of really what.

I was going to do anyways or what I want to do and film it and do a good job at filming it my best I can at filming it I know there's a lot of people better than me at filming now but go do one outdoor thing a week and film it at least and that's just it you know what I mean and people are going to watch or they're not going to watch and.

I should not stress over parameters for those videos you know what I mean like uh when this is your job and your career and your livelihood and and your your passion and and something that you've grown by yourself from nothing it's like you to you do tend to obsess over it a little bit right and think about it a lot and a.

Lot of the times it's like I'm trying to like make like little parameters for videos and stuff that just like sometimes don't work and I get discouraged because I think that they have to be so I don't know it seems like things are a bit more gimmicky these days you know what I mean don't get me wrong not in a.

Bad way not not gimmicky in a bad way it's just people like have themes for their videos and stuff and that's just never been really been my my shtick my thing like I my whole my whole deal has just been go out and camp and have fun and film it and show the experience along the way and for a long time a ton a ton a ton a ton of people really like.

That because I would get emails and comments and see people in like kopia and just inundated with messages saying that I I know that for sure um but it seems again like now like people have have themes or or or gimmicks and stuff and I I guess um I don't know it's just not my thing I always just I always.

Just really focused on going on bigger trips because like that's what I wanted to do I felt like it was like a more legit thing right like for me personally like I come from the city like I wanted to feel legit I wanted to feel like a real Woodsman so I wanted to go on like real trips and they just don't turn over into big videos as far as like I I used.

To go and like go to a farm bush in in Windsor and set up a little tarp and camp on that and I'd get a million views but like I went up to like say the Northwest Territory there I took three planes to get there and and went and camped out with the musk and caught Lake tro off the Shore and and and and camped there and doesn't even doesn't even.

Transfer you know what I mean so it's like I don't know if I did it to myself with the two separate genres like going on trips and or just doing Bushcraft stuff but like for the longest time I haven't done instructional tutorial stuff and it seems like again if I've deviated it all from like this type of stuff the views just.

Aren't there so anyways who knows um this is something I've wanted to do for a long time here just sit Camp along a nice big rock wall um I've hiked in freaking busted my butt to get in with the dog camped here so I I'm having fun I do like this Camp a lot and hopefully this transfers over into a decent video um but yeah like I said when this is.

Your lifestyle you think about it a lot man so what you can expect from me this year is commitment to the channel um I still will go out and do trips for sure and that's going to be again like summertime I'll go canoe tripping type thing but I am going to try to Pepper in.

Videos that I think people will find interesting as well something that I like that I've wanted to do and that I think that people will find interesting I'm going to put effort into doing that and and um yeah I think it'll be a lot more solo things this year more just with the dog type thing than with other people but that's okay too and um yeah.

You can expect a video a week for the most part if I miss a week don't don't uh sue me but I appreciate you guys I really do and um one what one thing I did want to say is that like for the first time in my life I'm taking my mental health somewhat seriously I never really even.

Paid attention to it before but now since my brother and stuff and it's like I could really tell a difference um in myself and I don't want to be I want to be the person I used to be for my family and for me and for you guys I want to be um just happy and energetic uh it took a lot out of me this whole.

Thing it was a bad year and um not saying wo was Me by any means like that I just I'm just telling you guys how I feel and that uh it's important to take your mental health seriously and it's something that like some people honestly a lot of people are super aware of it I get it it's it's 2024 but some people just it's just not a big deal to them.

And that was me you know I mean it just wasn't a big deal to me just didn't think about it much it's not that I didn't care I just didn't think about it and um you got to take that into consideration with dealing with some people I'm sure um and then also for yourself you know what I mean like uh take care of.

Yourself it's it's the only thing that you can do especially if you have people that are depending on you so we went from a hot barely able to drink tea to a very cold half to reheat tea it's getting dark I need to get some more firewood I need to get a couple more boughs for my bed here Mr Wolfie's taking uh cover.

Over there in the shelter of the of the uh Cliff where there's no snow so that's kind of cool but thank you very much for watching guys I really appreciate the support um I appreciate all the comments and stuff asking where I was I'm sorry if it offended you that I took this time off it was just needed you know what I mean and again it didn't.

Um I didn't plan it it just happened things kept happening and kept happening and kept happening and I just did not feel like going out and shooting a video in the middle of the these things at all and um I couldn't even bring myself to look at my camping gear and I feel different now I feel completely.

Different I'm having fun I have re I hung that a I hung I rehung an axe that I broke today while we were out here so that didn't go well but at home I'm doing things like that I'm planning for trips you know what I mean so um yeah thanks for sticking with me and people are going to watch people who are going to watch are going to watch and the.

People who aren't aren't and there's nothing that I can do about that my only concern is the fact that my channel it has been um pushed back um hidden a little while a little if you will they call it so I don't know if I want to say that word so if you haven't seen my videos.

And you see this one check and see if you're subscribed if not please consider subscri subbing and hitting the like button that might keep you on my in the algorithm uh might keep me in the algorithm for you I'm not sure either way I'm going to make videos until I cannot make videos anymore for whichever reason that is you guys have a great.

Day I do mean that and I do appreciate you and I do have to go get firewood and Bows all right thanks guys