Break the Mold

Some advice for being a person in the year 2020, couched in a conversation about TikTok. Of course, there are reasons clear paths exist, they are good paths. And we should absolutely do our best to utilize them. Otherwise, it is very easy to get lost. But we lose something when we never look to the side to see if there might be another way, especially when the other paths get real clogged up...or blocked by a big shitty tree that just fell across it.

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[ryanditodiandaru]

a parody episode of The Anthropocene Reviewed of Tiktok from Hank would be something we’d all watch

[sarahphillips]

i can't believe hank has been on youtube for 13 years and tiktok is where he was meant to be all along. truly great content.

[travis_approved]

Ngl this is my favourite “era” of vlogbrothers thus far ❤️😂. Like ever since you and John have started talking about being “on the other side of the mountain” I’ve found your content so much more thoughtful and it gives me a lot to think about as a 20 year old trynna figure it all out. DFTBA

[clareashcraft]

Uncanny timing, my teacher asked me this morning "who inspires you professionally?" And I said John and Hank Green, because I admire all of the diffrent things they do with youtube, podcasts, books and tours, and I can really see myself going down that path. I guess you heard me.

[tigeress]

I recently moved across the country to start a PhD program as the first person in my family to graduate college so while the path to a PhD is well-trodden for many, there's almost no path from where I'm coming from. I was already in a sensitive emotional state when I clicked on the vidoe but I did not expect this to make me cry as much as it did. Life is scary right now, but thank you, Hank, for reminding me that I am breaking the mold and I am forging a new path and I should be proud of that.

[wilsonxcassie]

As a disabled person I feel like I'm always carving my own paths because even if something's been done before, it's usually missing disabled people. Every day I come across something else where I'm like "If I had another lifetime I'd work in (whatever) industry to make things better for other disabled people." Also I literally paused this video a minute in to watch TikTok whew I'm addicted oops

[pasttenseroyalty]

Been thinking about this a lot lately - and it's super nice to be able to create a new path and do something where the outcome is unexpected, but it takes an enormous amount of existing stability in other areas of your life to be able to do that. If your financial wellbeing is tied to these exploits, it's waaaay harder to take these risks than if you're being supported by someone else or if you have generational wealth. Double that feeling if you have a student loan or anything like that!

[T-hk]

I can totally see Hank coming up with "I hate tiktok" video in coming months.

[Woodsiy]

"You are in the perfect place. You are where you are supposed to be. Is it tumultuous and fragile and you have no idea what tomorrow will bring? Yeah."

I needed to hear this today. During the onset of COVID I was laid off of my job for two months and relied on CERB (Canadian Emergency Response Benefit) through all of that I realized the job I was at wasn't what I wanted. Two months of doing literally nothing gave me the clarity I needed to go back to school to study media arts.

I quoted what you said because it rings so true. Yes, things may be tumultuous and scary but for me, I feel like I truly am where I am supposed to be, and it feels good.

Thanks for the insight, Hank!

[micky]

I read my first John Green Book in my freshman year of high school. Last year. I had constantly stalled reading anything from him because... Well, I don't really know why. That is, until the boy I sit with on the bus learned I loved to read. He pulled a copy of Looking for Alaska out of his bag and practically shoved it into my hands. I had only read about a chapter before we got to school and my first stop was the library. I finished that book before school was out that day. About 2 weeks later I found this channel and have been following ever since.
Yesterday I started reading An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. It's 1:15 am and I just finished reading it. I'm so glad wonderful people like you and John exist. People who can do these amazing things and bring people together and make young adults and the world believe in a good story again. I don't know when, or how, but I want to be an author. The only thing that's ever made sense to me is art and reading, and I want that to be my career. So basically, thank you. Thank you both for being these amazing and beautiful people who made me believe in myself, and who inevitably will always be able to get me out of a reading slump. Thank you

[MsRemuslupin]

"You are where you're supposed to be"

I Didn't need to cry at 10a on a friday

[metropolis]

gotta say the video quality / lighting / makeup on this one was impeccable.

[untappedinkwell]

This is such a lovely video hank! Thank you for making it.

Hey now, nerdfighteria! This is your self care check point: are you hydrated? have you eaten? Did you take your meds? Do you need to clean your glasses/screens? Have you moved your body today? Done something necessary? What about something fun? Whatever you need to do to look after yourself (you can just start with one!)--do that. And, after you've done that: Do you need to take a break and rest?
Hang in there. Best wishes and DFTBA!

[elmiraadili]

This reminded me of Andy and Atlus, which makes sense since Hank has said he used Andy to express things he feels the most.

[KathyTrithardt]

Good morning. I... definitely thought today was Wednesday and that this video was breaking the mold of when you post, but I am incorrect. Time in 2020 makes no sense.

[darkmyro]

I just lost my job, I think I needed to hear this.

[laurav]

thank you so much for this video. I needed this video today, and probably every day. As I break the story my parents had planned for my life and they ask where I'm going to be in a year, I just don't know. As I break away from the ideas of what love, companionship, friendship is and what is looks like in the abusive setting being all that I know, it's rocky. I know that I am not the only one (nevermind the first one) to leave this path, but it's the well paved trail I know, where healthy affections (platonic and romantic) is more like cliff and less like the easy trail to follow. Good times are ahead, but first the tears.

[BoiseFreerunner]

Thank you both for how much you do for the world and how much hope you give us.

[GrymgaRPG]

For the longest time I was like "Why does this Hank Green fella look and sound so much like this other guy named John... Green? Oh shit."

[sryx]

"And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should." -Desiderata by Max Ehrmann