A YouTuber who has 2.25 million subscribers announced a temporary halt to his YouTube activities, citing emotional exhaustion affecting his entire family. He revealed that a specialist recommended at least six months of treatment and rest, eliciting sympathy.
On October 8th, Oliver Ssam posted a lengthy message on his YouTube channel community, announcing that he and his family would be taking a long break. This is the first such decision since he started his YouTube career 10 years ago.
He shared, “Over the past decade, my family has enjoyed immense happiness thanks to your warm support,” but revealed, “Recently, we faced major changes and hardships such as my father’s sudden passing and a cross-continent move spanning over 1,600 km.”
He added, “I believed that with effort, love, and passion, we could overcome everything. I even documented the process in my recently published book, American Survival, and thought our family had overcome all difficulties. But thinking we had overcome everything was arrogance and overconfidence,” he confessed.
He particularly noted that the mental suffering his family concealed was far more severe than expected.
Oliver Ssam explained, “While rushing forward tirelessly, the wounds and fatigue buried deep in the hearts of my wife, children, and myself were much deeper and heavier than we realized. Without time to properly address our sadness and exhaustion, the strain took a toll on our bodies and minds.”
He went on to say, “We’ve reached a state of emotional exhaustion where our brains and hearts feel as if they’ve stopped, making it difficult to carry on everyday thoughts and video production normally.”
After consulting a specialist, he revealed, “I was advised to stop all work for the time being and undergo at least six months of thorough treatment and rest.”
He also expressed his fear of stopping activities after 10 years of continuous work. Oliver Ssam said, “This long break for my family is the first in 10 years, so my heart feels very heavy and scared. But I’ve concluded that repairing the cracks in our hearts firmly, rather than forcing ourselves to push through now, is the most appropriate long-term path for my family and all of you.”
He asked fans to “please wait with warm hearts so we can return stronger and healthier.”
Oliver Ssam started as an English instructor in Korea before becoming a YouTuber, gaining huge popularity with content about cultural differences between Korea and the U.S. and his family’s daily life. He married a Korean wife in 2016, has two daughters, and currently has around 2.25 million subscribers.