How I discovered James Breakwell
An English-only special on getting to know and like a person who gave me lots of inspiration in writing and many more things
As I have mentioned in my starter post, vast part of why this Substack came into being is thanks to and his publication launching in here. The moment never felt right for such confession, but hence it sticks in my mind for some time now, let it be my belated (or fast-forwarded) birthday present. It may sound odd, so I hope this tale wonât freak anybody out.
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Iâve found James in the Internet completely by accident and thanks to the mysterious mechanics of how YouTube algorithms are working (although I canât rule out the possibility that factors that led me to his content). In November of 2021 I found myself watching compilations of childhood/school memes, which were containing situations, events and memories from the earliest years of their respective authors, all coming from different world regions. It wasnât my first time reflecting on how relatable those were, as I had a similar phase two years earlier, but this time I watched more of them. The algorithmsâ suggestions guided me through meme videos, finally popping in my recommendations a compilation of Jamesâ tweets, though not on his channel. Having some free time and feeling curious after seeing the thumbnail, I cliked the video and instantly got hooked.
Then, after enjoying few of those, I searched the social media in pursuit of whatâs happening in Jamesâ and his clanâs lives those days, following or subscribing everywhere I could. On the âroadâ of that research I saw some similarities between the Breakwells and my family, despite living so far away, that had strengthened my enjoyment of following their peripeteia. There were also some other spheres of life I felt were important and present in their and my lives. Faith, love and knowledge for most popular fantasy universes (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter to name a few), big appreciation for gaming (though Iâm not that much into Halo) were among the ones I thought about the earliest. I lost count how many times I thought to myself reading yet another sassy conversations (I didnât know at the time some of them were only inspired): âwow, if I had said that to my parents, Iâd be in serious trouble!â.
My road to Jamesâ newsletter was as follows. I was completely unaware of its existence until there was an issue with its sending somewhere in early 2022. James posted a reel on Instagram with the info all the problems were solved and itâd be sent again, adding also a link to sign up. I began reading carefully every piece, spending lots of time on it in order to make sure Iâm understanding everything properly, as I had forgotten or never seen before some of the words and expressions. I found the coyote story to be great, but even better was getting to know the Easter egg hunt the way itâs done in their family. Getting to read Jamesâ newsletters gave me a great opportunity to use English, as at the time I didnât have much opportunities of practicing the language, so I have to thank him for helping me maintain its knowledge (or whatâs left of it, given how often I catch myself making stupid mistakes that are later patched through editing the comments).
Becoming the paid subscriber and beginning to comment my thoughts and stories after James moved to Substack felt like a big step - never before had I liked a content creator so much to support them financially. It turned out to be money well-spent, as over the years all of Jamesâ post gave me plenty of fun and reasons to make reading his works a permanent point in my daily routine. As I said here âYou are right - I don't regret any cent spent on this subscription. I can't wait to hear/read more!â
But the bigger deal in my view was that until now I was only having brief and meme-like interactions with foreigners online, and now I was about to initiate a much more complex conversation with a popular author and great writer. I admit I was determined not to embarass myself and really afraid other commenters would point out my mistakes and language skills, on the other hand being confident thatâs exactly what Iâve been preparing for all these years doing excercises in school. But what I found was an author who often found my sounding off interesting and that a community of wonderful people was formed around him. Chatting in the comment with people from many parts of the world reminded me of what someone told me about a decade earlier. They said that the access to Internet is gonna allow us to casually text people from the other side of the world. At the time I was sceptic Iâd ever chat with people online and said to them I think such web interaction is unlikely. Well, well, how the turntables.
Recently I dug through Jamesâ archives to find when I posted the first comment. In terms of any message it was âAs European, I fully agree with everythingâ, which was my reaction to this post:
But the first longer thought was what you can see below:
The first proper comment I wrote on Substack
Discussion Thread: Cure for the Common Cold (19th July 2022)
When I'm catching a cold, which occurs as frequently as once per six months, I have this things in my routine:
1 - I drink a lot of tea with raspberry juice produced by my mum for every family member specifically for the season of illnesses. Not only it tastes wonderful, but also keeps the throat warm and hydrated. Mum always says to spare the juice for sicknesses, so maybe that's why I love it so much.
2 - I take pills twice a day, usually with the previously mentioned drink to help the swallowing process. The most satisfying phase of swallowing is when after some time you can feel that it's working, which is a reward for the earlier pain. Because I know about it, it makes the whole thing easier. Just like in Harry Potter "You're gonna suffer but you'll be happy about it".
3 - Other activities of sick days consist of such things as watching historical documents on YouTube, then depending on the day either non-competitive gaming (for example building something in Minecraft, but not too long) or some studying/remote work tasks that aren't too complicated, does not require much thinking and/or their due isn't today or tomorrow. I firmly believe that keeping your brain far from thoughts about body's current state is essential part of recovering. Of course, sometimes you have to do harder things, but when the opportunity arises, and you are a good negotiator with your tutor/boss, then it's a sin not to take it.
4 - Sleeping is also helpful, so I do that quite a lot, in which I'm similar to my cat. Sometimes you are forced to be lazy, so I try to maximize it in order to be productive when necessary.
5 - Another habit that is also benefitial is the possibility of enforcing more help from your relatives. I use this opportunity often, but not too much, unlike what my brother used to, especially when we were teenagers. He was always pretending to be at the verge of death, but in spite of our parents' suprevision, I all the time had to act "responsible", which is the curse of being the oldest sibling.
To conclude and make the long story short: use homemade tea & juice, do easy tasks and take help from relatives or make them to.
P. S. I'm terribly sorry if my thoughts are not entirely gramatically correct, because I did't have many occasions to use and improve my English in the last few months and it may have got a bit "rusty", as we would say in my whereabouts.
Why I liked James and his content? There isnât a simple answer to that question, as there are various reasons for it and even preparing to list them I wonât be able to identify all of them. Just like I mentioned previously, the first one has to be those Twitter (I refuse to call it X) conversations. Secondly, the stories that make me think of similarities or evoke memories or mind associations that I like to share in the comments. Thirdly, Jamesâ Substack was a big inspiration for me (beside the encouragement from my family, as I told in 3, 2, 1, Start!) to begin writing down my memories and doing so in the form of this publication. Though I try keeping in mind that (paraphrasing a famous quote from âThe Legend of Korraâ) âIâm not James and I should not be James. I am Maxâ.
Although Iâm a protagonist of my own story, I âsaw (a bit of) myself in Jamesâ writing, him and his familyâ that November evening when compilations popped up in my YouTube recommendations. I thought "Hey, I know some of the situations - something similar had happened before in my family ". Then, after discovering your newsletter and the peripeteia of your family, I wanted to know more. I have never regretted becoming paid subscriber because I love his writing as well as everybody else's memories shared in the comments.
Thank you James for all of they joy you bring me with your texts and replies to comments - I can't express how much it means to me that you appreciate what a completely random young Pole has to say. I can't be grateful enough for all of your work and as usual, I'm waiting for more! Thank you for making your Substack a place to share our, commentersâ stories - I love exploring them too. Also this is the only place in the Internet I didn't experience or witness online hate. Jamesâ decision to write on Substack gave us all a true safe haven to form a lovely group telling nothing but great stories - and I'm grateful to be a part of it.
Iâm gonna end this confession by pasting what I had to say under âMy Huge Loss in Hollywoodâ (15th of April, 2024). The story of discovering James Breakwell is the first leg of an amazing adventure I got to experience, but the essence of why it means so much to me is in my perception best expressed in those few words I wrote in reaction to an awful thing happening to him.
To say it wasn't nice would be an understatement - "this is outrageous, it's unfair"! You didn't deserve having such awful experience and I feel for you. I hate seeing something that should've been the beginning of something great turning to be a slap in the face for you. Had the movie been filmed, I'd certainly watched it with my dad, a huge sci-fi fan. Although I'm far from having any idea for a book, let alone publishing one or selling rights for an adaptation, I will keep your advice and experience in mind if the opportunity ever arises. Thank you for writing here and please continue doing it - reading your works is among the fondest parts of my daily routine. As I said here: (https://jamesbreakwell.substack.com/p/the-loudest-sound-in-the-world?utm_source=publication-search), "I'm very happy to be among "your people" and you have my (not only verbal) support. I can't be grateful enough for all of your work and as usual, I'm waiting for more!" I still stand by it and will continue, a random guy from a distant country, to be your paid subscriber. Reading about your family's peripeteia always felt relatable and your newsletter inspired me to start preventing the adventures of mine from fading through writing. "And for that, I truly thank you".
Max
Well, Max, I learned a new word today, thanks to you: peripeteia. I consider myself rather aware of English vocabulary but you had me stumped on that one. Anyway, keep writing! It's always enjoyable to read about another country's culture. I think it turns out we are not so different than you, just geographically distant.