Chris Olsen, one of PEOPLE’s Creators of the Year.Photo:Kevin Sinclair
Kevin Sinclair
Chris Olsen’s past year has been one of his hardest, full of change, introspection and tears shed privately. But coming out on the other side of the hardships, he’s discovered new ways to make his own world a special place to live.
“I’m like, ‘What did I do? Did I do anything?’ I haven’t left the house much. I feel like I’ve just stayed at home and cried,” he begins. “While it has been a really big year, it’s also been probably one of the hardest years of my life since I got sober seven years ago.”
He says he views his life “in seven-year increments, and I think every seven years it seems to be that there’s a big change, and the change is always net positive.”
Chris Olsen, one of PEOPLE’s Creators of the Year.Kevin Sinclair
In August, Olsen recalls having “a bit of a public breakdown” due to all of the pressure he felt piling on top of him. “I decided whatever I was doing wasn’t working anymore for me personally. So I decided to change everything I was doing,” he adds.
Most of those decisions were deeply personal, and he made them alone, like choosing to make one of his social media accounts private. “That turned into a whole world on its own when all I really wanted to do was block out people who were being mean,” says the social media talent. “All I really wanted to do was be more singular and be more alone.”
Chris Olsen.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
“I feel like I’ve been in the industry … for long enough that some of the magic has faded,” he tells PEOPLE. “But that’s just meant I’ve had to create new magic moments.” The excitement started to return as Olsen reminded himself why he started making videos in the first place — “Wanting to create what makes me happy,” he explains.
Prior to his late-summer revelation, Olsen says he was a “very methodical creator.” His outlook was straightforward — he identified what people liked, and then he made it. He noticed which videos got the most views out of his audience, then he made more of that content. Olsen shaped his account around what brought him steady growth.
“I think that served me for about three years, but then I also think I got to a point where it was serving me almost too well without a purpose,” says the influencer. “People were seeing my face everywhere and wondering, ‘Who the f— is this? And why can I not escape him?'”
Unfortunately, it was a reaction he could actually resonate with. “As someone who struggles with mental health, I can feel that so deeply. I want to sometimes escape out of my own head. I completely get that,” he admits.
“I could have kept going the way that I was probably forever and maybe continue growing my account and making money,” Olsen shares. “But the day after I had a breakdown, I was like, ‘Why didn’t I do that sooner?’ That had been living within me and been building up for months and months and months, and it felt so good to let it out, and it felt so good to just be real.”
Chris Olsen.Karwai Tang/WireImage
Karwai Tang/WireImage
Olsen says he never set out to be a “huge creator.” He started posting as a college student studying musical theater at theprestigious Boston Conservatory at Berklee. During the COVID-19 pandemic, making videos on his phone became his much-needed creative outlet. Back then, he says, his content was all about having fun “without the expectation of getting views.”
That mindset has guided Olsen in his recent reset, but it’s not so black and white. He’s found that what makes him happy often makes his viewers happy too.
“Part of the magic of it all is that the answer was within,” he tells PEOPLE. “I think what was making that magic fade away was me pretending that nothing was affecting me when that’s not me. Touching back in with myself is what helped. And it continues to help.”
source: people.com
