A YouTube reality series born out of friendship and therapy
My mom had recently died of terminal cancer, and I was not myself. Numb, vacant, depressed–I’m not sure what to label it other than grief.
We had also uprooted our entire life to purchase my parent’s home to take care of my mom at the end and my dad going forward. I had quit a job I loved, teaching music at an elementary school in Davis School District. I had left a community I loved, neighbors, friends, fellow church goers. I knew I wanted to be a caregiver for my dad, but my identity felt as uprooted as my family. I was grieving the death of my mom, but I strangely felt like my life had died, too.
Into that emotional tar waded my best friend Kellie. She was grappling with her own issues, but, characteristically, she was more concerned about how I was doing than how she was doing. We decided to go out for lunch. I don’t do lunch. Not really. Maybe I do now, but I didn’t then. Most of my life I haven’t been good at chit chat. Most of my life has been very busy. But we went to lunch.
I conversation vomited that I was worried my personality was reshaping into someone less happy, less optimistic, less fun. I told her I felt I had nothing to look forward to. She told me about her feelings and her struggles. We talked about how her therapist had told her she needed to do things out of her comfort zone. I asked if she was going to take her therapist’s advice. She said no. And somehow, just like that, a webseries was born.
Somehow I persuaded her that she was going to take that advice. She was going to let me plan surprise adventures for her. We were going to film them. We were going to publish those adventures for anyone and everyone to see. And, most miraculously of all, I persuaded her that it was going to be fun.
And so we made a webseries. As of today, episode one of “She Made Me Do It” is on YouTube and well received. Episodes two and three are in post-production. This trilogy constitutes our first season. We had adventures together. She definitely stepped out of her comfort zone. I stepped out of numbing grief and had so much to look forward to. Ideas for season two are percolating in my mind. Time for another lunch!
“She Made Me Do It” is produced and hosted by me, Liz Christensen. Check out our adventures and subscribe at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvHO_s9oMYjKv2crN9_tjqA