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Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTING?
I tried to find a thread on this, but I'm so tired, couldn't manage to see one,(so I apologize if this has already been answered). I cam 7 days per week,because this is now my primary job(for the last 2 years), and with the high percentage taken out of my pay, and the cost of living in an expensive city, I must.
I've worked a corporate job dealing( face to face) with assholes and jealous co-workers on a daily basis,. that wasn't as exhausting as camming-I even left the city at one point and left the corporate world and hustle and bustle of the city -moved to the desert to have a calmer life with less traffic, etc. I worked full-time managing a tanning salon.10 hour days.(I know-who knew a tanning salon would be booming in the middle of the desert?) The sound of silence and quiet became unbearable), and it was then that I realized that I was a born and bred 'city girl'.
Came back to the city, and started camming because the economy was so bad and I loved the idea of working from home, and knew I couldn't commute anymore,etc.
Even though I just adore camming, could you gals tell me if it's the constant staring at the computer screen for hours(with a headache at the end of everyday)or waking up with a headache on a daily basis, or the constant answering of the SAME QUESTIONS hundreds of times per day-(I can no longer say (Hi,How are You), in my social interactions).I am tired, irritated, and annoyed. The last straw for me that made me realize that things have to change, or I'm gonna blow happened a couple of days ago- I was running an errand, and a woman walked up to me, got in my face and asked if my hair color was naturally blonde or do I color it?' Um, WHO SAYS that to a stranger!! The way she said it was so condiscending too. I thought I only heard that kind of a question when a jealous model comes into my chat room. I wanted to 'clobber ' that dark haired mexican bitch, but just looked at her with devil in my eyes, and she said-'ooh, sorry', and backed the fuck up out of my face.Even the homeless men begging for money get me annoyed, where all of this shit NEVER used to bother me-I was always a happy-go-lucky kind of gal,and always just figured that the shit people in the city said to me was the price I had to pay to live IN a city. Now, I don't even want to leave my apt,.and a vacation is out of the question,because I don't have the money, so, any suggestions would be much appreciated. I take vitamins, sleep well,eat great and exercise,so How is camming causing this? Thanks Ladies very much for your imput! I have to jump back on cam now,because I STILL have not made quota for the week. Have a great weekend Ladies!':(
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
No, you're right! I find camming extremely draining. I used to say when working a phone job: "People drain the life outta you"!
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Camming IS exhausting.
Personally, I think that it is the effort of being "on" all the time. My friends sometimes snort at me when I say that I am exhausted because I worked 8 hours - the way they see it is that they work 8 hours + every single day, so I must just be spoiled, but I honestly believe that camming hours are kind of like dog years. One camming hour = 3 vanilla hours!! From talking to friends who are performers (comedians, musicians, etc) I have found that they feel the same way - that if you are performing, it just takes a lot more out of you - the constant need to be fully engaged, focused, energetic, giving 100% all the time and giving a little bit of yourself to the "audience" - it is much more exhausting.
I know that for me, it isn't the computer thing - I've worked in offices, and spent 9-10hrs in front of a computer and not been so drained. I also don't think that it is the repetition or the customer-service angle - again, I've had jobs where I have been a barista, or a cashier, and they are far more repetitive and mindlessly "polite" - yet camming feels "longer". I really do think that it is performing - putting all your energy into it, putting yourself forward and trying to maintain this constant "up" for hours on end.
It sucks that you are feeling so drained right now - sounds like a bad case of burn out. I think that everyone in the industry gets that at some point (if you stay in the industry long enough, that is). I've definitely had my burn-out moments, and they are AWFUL - just feeling like I can't bear to drag myself to work - that if I have to flash one more smile, answer one more inane question, make one more sexy quip.....I will just EXPLODE with rage. (Open head, bb....LOL)
The best advice I can give you is to take whatever break you can right now, and do a little me-time focusing. Spend a couple of days totally alone - turn off your phone, stay off the internet. Work out, do some yoga, have some long hot baths with giant glasses of red wine, read some books, watch a movie, take a walk. Remove yourself from the world to decompress as much as possible. Sounds like you are taking great physical care of yourself, so maybe just give your mind and soul a little break!
To try and stave off the dreaded burn-out in future, I have found the following really helpful:
- Take at least one day off per week. I know that you are stressed about money, but you may find that you end up staying on longer for the other 6 days, and making the same or more because you are giving yourself a break. Use that day just to switch off - ignore the world a little.
- Try to separate your work and real life as much as possible. Set your work hours, and include in that your social media stuff, research, etc etc. Do not do anything camming-related outside of those hours. I know that sometimes I'll catch myself failing at this - working 5 hours...but then constantly checking my camming fb, tweeting, checking e-mails, updating amazon wishlists...and at the end of the day, I have spent 14 hours immersed in camming, and feel totally drained.
- Meditate. Nothing too airy-fairy needed...just sit down at the end of your shift and take 15 minutes to breathe deeply. Breathe out your day - release all the freeloaders, let go of the insults, let it all out, shake it off, and then walk away from it.
- Inspire yourself. Before you go on, work yourself up - watch clips from movies, watching motivational videos, listen to music that makes you want to dance.
- Stretch out your brain. I do classes online, crosswords, sudoku, learn new alphabets, etc etc. It feels so good to me after a day of being a brain-dead sex bot to do stuff that challenges me, that reminds me that I am hella smart, not just a fluffy little sex kitten.
Basically, take as good care of your mind as you do your body, and make sure that you aren't swimming around in camming-related ooze 24/7.
Hope you feel better soon!!!
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
haha i felt i wrote that myself.. man! you only been doing this 2 yrs?? What you described is EXACTLY me! I used to be happy go lucky etc etc.. and now i am just like you are saying.. except i am 10 yrs in it.. next year is 11.. unless something else happens.. I am working on another business.. cuz i have so had it.. I like the idea of making money all the time.. and even passive income.. so don't know if i could ever give that up.. unless i seriously didn't need the money!
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
after four hours of camming I wanna sleep or do nothing for the rest of the day but I don't feel this way after hours of pso. LMAO I just reread the part about you giving the woman a dirty look.
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Camming? Exhausting? Oooh noooooo it's not :).
Hell yeah it's exhausting.
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Yes, I find it to be absolutely draining. If I work anything more than 4-5 hours in a day I get headaches, exhaustion, it affects my diet because I am literally too tired to eat, and I find myself with aches and pains all over because even though it *looks* like I am sitting in bed all day when I am in shows I am literally dancing up a sweat, bending in crazy uncomfortable positions my body wasn't meant to bend in just to get good angles, I have a chronic back pain and a sore throat that does not go away because of all the big toy deep throat requests I get on a daily basis...
I love camming, I've also been at it for 2.5 years and I am still having a hard time balancing my desire for more money with my need to stay healthy. Incantatious wrote a GREAT thread on it a few weeks back about not pushing too hard and allowing yourself to not over-exert yourself because in the long run not only will you tire yourself out but you'll actually lose money... I'd try to find it for you but my mood says "asleep" for a reason :)
The only thing that really helps is figuring out how much money I need for bills, taxes, savings, fun money, then how many days I want to work that week/month, setting a quota and then Logging Off when I reach that quota so I can enjoy the rest of my day. But I am very bad at that. I always push for more. If my goal is, say, $100, and I get to $103 and it's 2:18pm I think okay, well, I'll just work until 2:30 because I like even numbers.... And then I get a private or a series of nice tips.... I'm almost at $140, and I think.... $150 is a nice number, I'll just work until I make that.... Because I like even numbers so much.... And then before I know it I'm sitting in front of my laptop at midnight, cross eyed, still in free chat... I've more than doubled my goal but I feel like death so I take the next two days off....
Passive income is amazing but I have huge expenses for the holidays and relocating cross country so these next four months are going to be killer for me. I need to cam to make big money *now*, I don't have the time to wait for passive income to start to grow but once everything is bought and I am settled in my new apartment I have a game plan for building up different streams of non-adult income. I think every cam girl should do that, so that you don't *have* to cam the crazy hours that some of us do. Gosh I'm so tired right now...
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
This is why I like Adultwork, so I can do non-free, but even time between shows is tiring as you don't completely relax. 4 hours a day, 5 times a week is plenty for me. It's about energy too...people can drain us, I try to remember to look after mine.
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Agreed, I don't do free chat either. I'm not convinced it actually brings in much more business, and it certainly cuts down the amount of hours I can work because it's so draining.
I can't relax when I'm camming, but at least I can stand up and stretch, make a brew, mess on my phone etc etc. And post on here ;D
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Its very exhausting compared to dancing, but with camming you are able to work only when its good for you and whenever you want.
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Classy_Katy
This is why I like Adultwork, so I can do non-free, but even time between shows is tiring as you don't completely relax. 4 hours a day, 5 times a week is plenty for me. It's about energy too...people can drain us, I try to remember to look after mine.
Adultwork is awesome for girls who broadcast from the UK, but for American girls & otherwise, its not so great. AW is a UK site with majority of traffic being UK guys, and those UK guys see UK girls first because that's the way Adultwork is set up. Customers see the girls in their country listed first. And there is very little US customer traffic (mostly just UK guys who are traveling for work or who recently moved from the UK).
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
I think it's the people draining you and not the camming necessarily. I was a bartender for many years, and was always "on" because I was there to make money and not be a crappy bartender. If I had to be there I was going to make as much $$ as possible and what worked best for me was friendly chit chat, building regulars, and being attentive, etc. I was so exhausted mentally that when I wasn't getting paid for it, I rarely wanted to go out and socialize anymore, especially in a bar. I'm naturally an introvert as well, so anytime I have to force socialization it burns me out even faster. Big city living burnt me out to people quickly too. It can be tough living in one.
But yes, I also notice I get fatigue and headaches from being on the computer much more than I used to be.
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
I think it's really important to break up your hours. Rather than doing 8 hours in a row, do 4 hours at different times twice a day.
Or even 4 shifts of two hours or something.
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MotherTang
Adultwork is awesome for girls who broadcast from the UK, but for American girls & otherwise, its not so great. AW is a UK site with majority of traffic being UK guys, and those UK guys see UK girls first because that's the way Adultwork is set up. Customers see the girls in their country listed first. And there is very little US customer traffic (mostly just UK guys who are traveling for work or who recently moved from the UK).
I haven't noticed the site working like that...when you enter the camming sections from the front page all the girls are together and anyone can pay for positioning...maybe it's just that the UK girls are more likely to pay for positioning.
It's true that girls tend to prefer UK girls but if you look at who is in session there are many busy Eastern Europeans charging low prices. From what the guys tell me, they find the site is full of Eastern Europeans and they comment how they finally found an English girl when they come into my room.
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Oh, Many Roses, Many Thanks for that Wonderful advice! I'm so glad You can relate, and now understand why this job is exhausting- it's the 'having to be 'on' all the time, like the musicians,comics, etc. that u mentioned, who go through the same thing.
It IS sooo different from the corporate world in all the ways u mentioned. It's like You are reading my mind when suggesting that I walk outside, take a bath,read,watch movie clips, dance to music- They are ALL my favorite things to do. I am the ultimate 'nature girl', and find that it is very restorative, and feeds my soul.
For helping me see the 'light at the end of a dark tunnel', You will be prosperous beyond your wildest dreams! Thanks so very much from the bottom of my heart! Hugs!
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Thanks Ladies for Your GREAT input! You gals are AWESOME!!! I am going to try all of the suggestions from all of you.
I just wonder if I would benefit from living in a small suburb, now that I am so sick of living where rude people are crawling all over each other-10 million people(and growing), to be exact- damn, my apt. hi-rise alone has over 1500 people living in it!
Plus, now that I have told my closest friends what I do, they don't want anything to do with me. 'FUCK EM!' I was sooo bored of listening to their whining about how they are looking for men to 'love' them, and having lots of 1 night stands, and 'god,why didn't he call?, etc-All these bitches are way past 40, so, it comes off as being annoying,desperate, and B_O_R_I_N_G to listen to that same story over and over!! I'm not interested in sex anyway, and besides, I think I'm going into menopause! Shit! On top of everything else,Hormonal changes? wtf? LOL!!!
Thanks again my friends! So glad that I found sw, because, it can be so isolating doing cam work as you know.
May You all be blessed with prosperity for helping me with this issue! I feel inspired already! Lots of hugs and Appreciation!
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Exhausting is an understatement! This is why I can only handle 3 hours of camming a day. Great thread, OP!
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
LOL i hope u keep posting, u are hilarious !
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Another day-another---- ps- did everyone remember to turn their clocks back? Now sm's cut off time is an hour earlier-Yeah! omg! No added Pressure to make that daily goal now ladies! OY!!!Attachment 32163 Look who I ran into on my daily morning walk- "deal,or no deal?" 'America's got talent?" I'll show You talent Howie! lol!!
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Camming IS really exhausting.
What you can do is to see if you can make things easier for yourself by trying out Adultwork paid chat only for example.
I have the sound on really loud and only sit behind my cam when the things rings, the rest of the time I sit on the sofa enjoying my Sex and the City dvd box.
Or maybe you can try Mygirlfund too?
On days where I really can't be bothered being on cam I try to make my daily goal on there by sending paid messages, selling content and getting custom orders.
All things you can do while laying on the sofa in your pj's.
Maybe open a C4S store to get some extra income (sorry I don't have a store yet so not sure what is a normal monthly income there).
It might not all be enough to live on, but it might give you one less camming day a week and just one day of sitting on the sofa selling content etc.
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
I hate SM cut off time - WTF its not the next day for me - I want all my money on the day I worked for it ;)
Yes, camming is exhausting. I could never do 7 days a week all the time - maybe here or there when I am motivated but 5-6 hours a day 5 days a week works for me and I do it in two shifts.
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
I hope you gave Howie your cam info girl!!! :)
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
:jester:I didn't give Howie my cam info, because his wife was with him,as well as one of his bitchy daughters, and it was his son-in-law who took the pic with my phone. (Not exactly an appropriate time to talk about camming!) lol!
If I ever see him alone, I will have a business proposal for him to back my new project-it has to do with a stand up routine (show), BECAUSE EVERYONE has ALWAYS told me how freakin' funny I am, but, it's only until recently am I taking it seriously. The money is CRAZY off-the charts in the entertainment biz, and just my 2 years of camming would keep people rolling on the floor. Fingers crossed.
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
Quote:
Originally Posted by
MotherTang
Adultwork is awesome for girls who broadcast from the UK, but for American girls & otherwise, its not so great. AW is a UK site with majority of traffic being UK guys, and those UK guys see UK girls first because that's the way Adultwork is set up. Customers see the girls in their country listed first. And there is very little US customer traffic (mostly just UK guys who are traveling for work or who recently moved from the UK).
My own personal conspiracy theory is that it's continent based, with Europe first and the other continents trailing. I cammed in Australia, and even paying 15-20 credits for placement, I could only get to second page. And it was just DEAD! Also seemed to get more Aussie men than usual, even though I was camming at peak UK times.
I've no proof, but that's my theory!
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Re: Ladies(especially girls who cam full-time)-Is it just me, or is camming EXHAUSTIN
If you look at the auctions for Cammer/Escort/etc of the day, you can bid to be featured on the UK homepage, the US homepage and various others. So it seems that the only thing changing for customers based on where they are accessing from, is who is featured on the front page of Adultwork.
The people who are actively using DirectCam are all bunched in together regardless of location, and this is true whether you use the webcam tab at the top, or the front page widget. The only thing that changes the order of those appearing are profile updates and paid hourly positioning.