Reflecting on 2021

It’s still January, so does that mean the year is still “New” enough for me to reflect on the last year? I hope so, because here it goes! It’s easiest for me to think in bulleted lists, so here are my thoughts in order.

7th Year: 2021 was the 7th year of Religion for Breakfast. I’ve felt a lot of weird emotions when thinking about that fact. “Wow…I’ve been doing this a long time. Can this continue 7 more years? Will it all crash and burn, or are we just getting started? Does this mean I'm old now?" This channel has been life-changing for me. I’ve learned so much about myself and about religion. I’ve met so many amazing people through this channel and witnessed so much excitement from you all who follow it. It is encouraging and gives me the energy to keep striving to make better and better content.

Growth!: We almost doubled in size in 2021! 188,000 new subscribers. By far the biggest year for the channel yet. Super exciting! The Patreon community has grown a lot too, especially in the last few months with our “700 patrons in our 7th year” challenge. Thank you everyone that signed up!

Serialized content (specifically East Asian religions series): 2021 was the year that I FINALLY embarked on something I’ve envisioned since the start of the channel: serialized content. This year we did Shinto, Confucianism, and Buddhism (which is continuing into 2022). I especially focused on East Asian religions because this was a huge gap on my channel. For 2022, I’m planning Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Jainism. I’m also going to launch two “thematic” series: “Philosophy of Religion” and “Religion and the Environment.”

Scholarly Collaborators: Partly b/c of the increased funding through you all, I’ve been able to contract scholars to help me write the episodes as consultants and writers. The “Maya Religion Explained” video was written by an archaeologist and expert on Maya religion. The Buddhism series is also being made in collaboration with 3 different scholars of Buddhism. This undoubtedly has made the videos better. As a scholar of ancient Roman religion, I am 100% out of my depth when trying to write a video on Shinto or Buddhism or anything that isn’t ancient Mediterranean religion! So thank you to each and every Patreon patron for helping me bring these scholars on board!

Going full time: For all of 2021, I was doing a post-doc research fellowship at the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE). This has been an incredible experience, and I love doing academic research. However, the whole time, my heart was truly in the YouTubing, and it was EXTREMELY difficult trying to balance the fellowship and the channel. The fellowship officially ends February 1st (NEXT WEEK!!), so as of that day, I will be a full-time YouTuber!

Thank you everyone. Whether you've only joined us a few days ago or have been part of the RFB community since 2014, I appreciate each and every one to you. Here's to an excellent 2022!

Sincerely,

Andrew