Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lukas Pennington. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lukas, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I have to say that even now I’m not sure just how solid my sense of purpose is… Most of my life I have just wandered from place to place and job to job. I had friends, family, a place to stay, and food in my pantry. Truthfully what more could I ask for? College just hadn’t clicked with me and I didn’t have the money to invest into another run at college or a trade school. So by my mid twenties I was out in Arizona working as a self-taught IT Tech and Teacher’s aide. I was making less than minimum wage, living in low income housing, and constantly having my own job threatened over things outside my control.
That’s probably the lowest point in my life. One night I was in horrible bout of depression and anxiety and I don’t even remember most of the day. I was just out of it and then my phone rang snapping me back to my senses. I realized I was a moment away from suck starting my shotgun when the phone had rang, I was still shaken by the idea of how low I had gotten when I answered the phone. I was expecting another ranting call from my job putting more responsibility on my plate or blaming me for not working more unpaid overtime.. but it was my pop calling to check on me since I hadn’t called home in a few weeks. This led to my family and myself realizing just how low my mental state had gotten.
I moved home to Arkansas soon thereafter to be near my small and aging family. I began to actively take a role in caring for my two remaining grandparents and spending more time with my family and beginning to heal mentally and spiritually, but I still didn’t have a real purpose… Then one day while working at mt job I get a call from my parents. My only sibling, my little brother, had been in a motorcycle accident and his head had been crushed and was currently in a coma in Texas. My boss told me flat;y, “If you leave or ask for time off you’re fired.” So I stayed and worked while my parents and grandparents went to see my brother,
After 3 months of waiting he woke up but was forever changed. I had just kept working my dead end job barely making a living and yet I was once again in that same low I had been in Arizona. I has family and friends nearby but still no purpose beyond paying bills and just living. Time passed and my life continued to be shallow and worthless… My family’s energy was obliterated by my brother’s up and down condition capped off by his wife revealing a whole plethora of affairs against my brother and schemes to harm my parents mental state leading to my mother having a “heart break heart attack” landing her in the hospital despite her physical health and further reducing the family’s mental state… and then in the next Year my aunt and grandfather died. I had to do something… but I had no idea what.
It all changed after my job demanded I go to the hospital after an anxiety attack at work. My doctor had me talk to a psychiatrist and In just a few meetings and some talks with my doctor I was convinced to take my mental health seriously. I also had lost my job due to my anxiety so I was now handed a new start. I began working as a caregiver for my grandmother, The pay was very low, but the job felt satisfying and I was helping my family. I then began helping out my mom more actively as I had more time.
This was it. I had decided to help my family out as much as I could to improve our overall health. Simple things like fixing large batches of food and packaging the extra for easy meals for her and pop made their lives easier and made my mother feel more loved and reduced her stress allowing my parents to rest more often. This was the best I had felt about a job in my life. I was on call 24/7 but I was also allowed a lot more free time due to my job being focused on caregiving. This allowed me to get a puppy for the first time in my adult life… which came with it’s own struggles, but has been a great blessing to my anxiety and stress levels.
Sharing videos of my Puppy with friends led to me uploading the clips to youtube… which in turn led to me recording nature videos to share with others as well and now I have people recommending that I stream video games to get back into gaming again I had stopped playing games due to my anxiety making it hard for me to enjoy devoting time to any one thing for very long. My doctor has also encouraged the idea saying that i need to find a way to begin enjoying the things I used to enjoy again. This will be a sign that I am healing and handling the anxiety and depression.
All of that leads us to today… I am a caregiver with a 7 month old Catahoula mix who hopes to supplement his income with a bit of blogging on youtube and other sites like that.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My channel is a secondary focus behind my current job as a caregiver, but I hope to see it grow into a stable source of income via Patreon and Ko-Fi. The focus of my channel, Duker Does, will mainly be Nature and Dog Videos with a few construction projects sprinkled in and maybe even some gaming streams as time allows. I want my content to be relaxing and entertaining at it’s core. We get far to much “in your face” entertainment so I’m hoping for a relaxed “southern” feel.
I have recently upgraded my internet which should allow for streaming games and I am saving for a capture card to allow me to stream old games I have collecting dust on shelves. This fall could also see the beginning of a series of video where I will be repairing an old lot after it was recently logged and cleared. These videos are planned to be more of a series of montages of work progress accompanied by project outline videos and perhaps some nature recording as deer and other animals still pass through the lot often.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Looking back my three best skills are a simple mix of Manners, Work Ethic, and Patience. These skills are a bit of learned habits mixed with experiences, but in combination they have gotten me to the small amounts of success I have encountered in my journey through life.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
It is difficult to give your family the attention they need and have a good source of income. It is even harder when I’m trying to enter into a field with literally tens of thousands of creators all fighting for an audience in every way possible. Thankfully I don’t want to be the biggest streamer I just want to have a stable income.
Contact Info:
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@DukerDoes
- Other: Please support me on Patreon and/or Ko-Fi
patreon.com/DukerDoes
https://ko-fi.com/dukerdoes
Image Credits
These Images and pets are all Taken by me and owned by me at different points.
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
