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My Artifact, Episode 3503
Rain, Stress, and Chasing Goals
Hello, hello. This is My Artifact, episode number 3503.
Today’s date is July 26, 2025, and the time is around 8:57 p.m.
Since last night, it’s been raining a lot. I live in Wardha, Maharashtra, India, and recently I’ve been thinking about this concept called El Niño. Do you know what it is? Let me explain—though I’m not completely sure myself. Basically, it’s a weather pattern connected to the Pacific Ocean, and it somehow affects the Indian Ocean too. I don’t know the full science behind it, but here’s what I’ve noticed from experience:
In 2020, during COVID, it rained heavily.


From 2021 to 2024, rainfall was unusually low.


But now, in 2025, it’s pouring nonstop—extreme rain everywhere.


Compared to last year, this season feels completely different. That’s why I decided to record this episode earlier than usual. Normally, I record after dinner, but since it’s raining continuously, I worried I wouldn’t get the chance later.
My episodes and rain seem to have a strange connection. I often record while walking outside or on a rooftop, so when it rains, recording gets tough. It feels like rain is inversely proportional to my episodes—the more it rains, the harder it is to record. I even tried this morning, but it was raining then too. Anyway, let’s move on to today’s question.

The Question of the Day
“When you don’t achieve your target, do you feel stress?”
That’s a great self-assessment question. Let’s dive straight into it.
The answer is yes, I do feel stress when I don’t achieve my goals.

The Content Creator’s Pressure
I’m a YouTuber. My niche is graphic designing, Photoshop, and photography. Since May 2024, I’ve been uploading content every single day without missing even one. Everything is pre-scheduled—I always keep content ready at least three days in advance.
So, technically, I’ve never failed my goal of daily uploads. But stress comes in when my execution doesn’t match my vision.
For example, a few days ago I worked on a design for 4–5 hours. Despite the effort, it didn’t come out the way I imagined. After hours of tweaking, I scrapped it and moved on. That felt stressful because the time felt wasted. And since my target is two pieces of content per day, losing one design means I only hit 50% of my goal. That’s pressure.

Goals I Can Control vs. Goals I Can’t
There’s an important distinction here.
If the goal is completely in my control—like creating two designs daily—and I fail, I feel stressed.


But if the goal depends on others—like subscriber growth or view count—I don’t take it as personally.


For instance, in 2024, I set a goal of 5,000 subscribers by year-end. I ended with only 1,500. That was stressful at first, but then I realized: subscriber growth is something I cannot control. The only thing in my hands is creating quality content. So, in 2025, I didn’t set any subscriber target at all. My only goal is to create every day and improve my content.

Viral Moments vs. Consistent Growth
At the start of 2025, one of my Instagram posts went viral—5 million views! Another hit 3 million. I gained almost 10,000 followers in one week. But soon after, the numbers dropped, and now my posts get around 3,000–8,000 views.
This taught me something: viral spikes are temporary. What I really want is consistent, steady growth. Going from 200 views to 2 million overnight doesn’t feel sustainable. So now, I focus less on chasing virality and more on building a foundation.

Lessons from the Past
Let me connect this to a personal story. Back in March 2020, COVID hit, and my office shut down. We shifted to remote work, but our design software needed powerful systems. The company didn’t provide laptops for everyone. I was among those left out and pushed into a training program.
By May 2020, salaries were halved, and then completely stopped. We weren’t fired, but we were put on a “gap”—basically, unpaid leave until things got better. After two and a half years at that company, all my efforts vanished in one Zoom call.
That day, I felt fragile, vulnerable, and insecure. It reminded me of being jobless back in 2014–2016. That’s what insecurity truly means to me.

Failure, Insecurity, and Moving Forward
So, do I feel stressed when I miss my targets? Yes.
Do I feel sad? Yes.
Do I sometimes feel insecure? Maybe.
But here’s the key difference: I never let stress turn into permanent negativity. To me, negativity means accepting failure—and I don’t do that.
I’ve failed many times, but failure is part of progress. I’m not a superhero. I feel weak, vulnerable, and sometimes hopeless. At 31, nearly 32, I’m still not earning, still living with my parents. Some might see that as failure. But I don’t accept it as the end.
For me, the journey continues. I’ll keep creating, keep learning, and keep improving. If I gave up, there would be no reason to live.

Final Thoughts
So to answer the question once more:
Do I feel stress when I don’t hit my target? Yes.