I feel it was a mistake to become a content creator

From what I've read, your experiences and feelings are pretty common.

It seems to me that it takes a very special sort of self-obsession to constantly produce social media content, completely ignore the critics and the trolls, and never feel that what you're doing isn't as good as what others are producing. Being able to do that for any time requires an enormous, absolutely bullet-proof ego.

If you're in social media content production, it's like being in a traditional job where your boss is a huge, faceless, fickle corporate entity, you have to figure out on your own what your job description and role is, your interaction with customers is very restricted, there are constant performance reviews, and if you fail to meet some unspecified performance goals, either your pay is slashed without warning or you're fired. Any normal person working in a job like that would feel very stressed, and most people would burn out pretty quickly.

From what you say, it's clear that social media content creator is not a job that's a good fit for you. That doesn't mean you're worthless or totally shit at life; it just means that this is not the best niche for you. The fact that you decided to give it a shot does not mean you're stupid; it just means you made a mistake, and making mistakes is how we learn about ourselves and the world.

You might want to think about what you hoped to get out of this endeavour at the start. Presumably, you believed it would meet some need(s) of yours and make your life more enjoyable in some way. Perhaps you should consider if those needs can be met in some other way. If it was obtaining the validation and approval of others that mainly motivated you, then I'd suggest that you need to do some work on your self-esteem. If someone fundamentally believes that they're a worthless failure, no amount of adulation from others will ever make them truly believe otherwise.

If your mental health is that bad, you are not ready to be in front of an audience creating content on the daily. Harsh truth. You need to hear it. Go sort yourself out first, get back to content creation when you are happy and comfortable inside your own skin.

Health first. Prioritize your own well-being over pleasing other people.

1. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't.

2. Wait till you are motivated enough.

3. I suggest you stop trying to keep everyone happy. It is one stupid thing to do and at the end of the day, you can't make everyone happy. Stop trying to please everyone.

4. Quit comparing yourself. That is something weak people do.

5. It was pretty dumb to put all your energy in to creating content.

Mental health is important for every job, whether it involves getting naked on the internet or not.

As for unrealistic expectations, many content creators have extremely inflated ideas of self-worth anyway due to having so many guys giving them free attention and validation online, and continuing to create content is unlikely to help you in that regard.

The problem with being in a job like that is that the money can quickly go to your head and then you immediately spend it and then as the years go by you realise you aren't making as much as you were a year ago, 5 years ago, 10 years ago etc etc and it starts to sink in that you can't keep that lifestyle up forever because your bills aren't going down.

I'm looking at starting a blog... The best advice I have received from several well established bloggers is that to only post new content once or twice a week. You don't have to do it daily.

That allows you time to think and recover mentally, and also be creative.

You do have to learn to ignore most of the criticism. People who do things rarely criticize. Most of the criticizers don't do things that challenge their abilities so they have never learned that its the man/woman in the ring who's opinion is important, nor have they learned that it takes time to develop skills - with lots of mistakes along the way.

Pay attention to those who complement you on your goals and make suggestions on possible ways to improve.

I wish you well with continuing your content at a slower pace.

I've been "content-creating" on the side for years now, and one thing that has kept me sane about it is just the expectation that it won't come overnight. It takes years and a lot of content to rack up enough subscribers and followers to become "popular" — for most people, at least. And in those years, you monitor what gets views and what doesn't and adjust your content accordingly. You get better at what works, at attracting the views and subscriptions even more quickly.

So, just do your content on the side. Do it as something additional. Adjust it in the process. And don't expect to shoot up overnight, because that rarely happens. If you're cool with that reality, go ahead; if not, then you'll just be torturing and disappointing yourself.

The only sure way to make it as a youtuber or something is just sacrificing all your dignity for views. Want to go viral? Go into a random walmart jump on the cashiers table and take a shit on it. Sure you'll go to jail but it'll go viral. It has to be something over the top.