Hello r/relationship_advice, I (24F) have a boyfriend (26M) of almost two years and during the time that we have spent together I can say that our relationship is smooth-sailing as we never really argued about anything since our love language matches, he is a walking green flag and overall just a very loving and caring boyfriend. I don’t really have any complaints about him as a boyfriend however, for the past months I have been rethinking our relationship. After graduating and working for almost 7 months now, It got me thinking that I want to start building my future. To give some background my boyfriend used to be a site engineer but he was employed by a very shitty company (toxic environment, late release of salaries, etc) that he fainted at his work and was lay off. After then, my bf decided to apply to other job sites but to no avail he only got interviews and never heard back from all of them. I can say that my boyfriend was never really a fan of working (he always tells me how he wants to become a successful streamer) and I have always supported him on all of his endeavors. However, it really got me thinking since he is almost unemployed for two years now with no stable income, how are we supposed to begin our future together (these future plans is what we both talk about and agreed like living together, starting to save money to fund things we wanna do like travelling, etc) but I am worried since my boyfriend is contemplating about streaming now since he does not have any other job might as well just stream. I love my boyfriend so much, I know he is a very capable man and I support him in things that he do but I think we are starting to have differences in our priorities. I don’t wanna dictate him on what he should do, I like to see him happy and succeed but I am having doubts because not all streamers are successful. I need advice please.
For more context: My boyfriend still earns a little by doing some tutor which we both know is very unstable. While he does that, he is still constantly applying fo jobs (get interviews) but never really hears back from them. I know how draining it is to always get shut down and rejected that is why I support him with his casual streaming and playing of computer games. He also opened up to me how he compares himself to his friends who are getting promotions, living in with their partner and doing something in their life while he is stuck as someone who still plays computer games.
TL;DR: Boyfriend is unemployed for almost two years and is thinking about streaming for a while.
2 comments
I was once married to someone who tried to make streaming a job. His mother and I ended up paying for everything. So my advice would be to set an extremely firm boundary: you will emotionally support his streaming as long as he continues searching for an IRL job. He should also probably look into getting help with his CV and interview skills if he still isn’t getting a site engineer job for 2 years.
As someone that casually streamed and been on twitch since 2012 ( biggest streaming platform) tell your BF is delusional.
If maybe it was 2015 yeah. But this market became over saturated already.
You either need to be a pro player of a competitive game or you personality has to have a tone of charisma and be able to attract people by just speaking.
Usually the charismatic people also need a lot of luck to be discovered.
I watch personally some incredible streamers that are at the top of their game and they average 50-100 viewers FOR YEARS. A good additional income but not something to live with.
So yes – your concerns are valid. Also I will tell you this. People that stream usually grind the sh*t out of it. If you have any plans of going out with your bf – well… it wont happen.
I wish you the best OP. Please tell your bf to chill. He can stream for fun, but the chances to make a living with streaming are small.