Follow Me Page 13

  The best is when I get to meet you in person at events. Not even because you’re so nice to me (which you most definitely are), but more because I love seeing people make new friends when they’ve come together with a bunch of other people who have the same interests. It makes me feel so good to see you all out there having fun with each other, able to connect with strangers in a way I never could have when I was younger.

  My favorite comments that I get on my videos aren’t the ones that compliment me, they’re the ones in which people write that they were having a terrible day and I was able to cheer them up and bring them out of that headspace. With all that you do for me emotionally, I’m so happy I can give even that much back. I would be nowhere in life without you.

  CHALLENGE

  #CHEERUPFORRICKY

  Post your favorite thing that you do to make yourself feel better if you’re having a terrible day. (Besides watch my videos! )

  CHALLENGE

  #SHORTFILMFORRICKY

  Make a short movie that’s less than ten minutes long. It’s got to have a plot with a clear beginning, middle, and end. Don’t sweat the special effects, unless you want to!

  SELF-EMPOWERMENT

  Demi Lovato is a huge inspiration to me. She is the living embodiment of perseverance and true talent. The fact that she went into recovery at such a young age and has managed to stick with it without crashing means she must have an iron spirit. In a way I feel like I’ve grown up alongside her. Actually, I have. We’re the same age, and I’ve charted her personal growth along with my own every step of the way, ever since her days on As the Bell Rings and Sonny with a Chance.

  Her song “Really Don’t Care” has always meant so much to me. I know it’s technically about the end of a relationship, but the chorus is just so, I don’t know, universal somehow. To be able to say that you don’t care about something that has hurt you, be it a person or just a life moment that’s knocked you down a peg, and to actually truly mean those words, is such a freeing experience. Chanting “I really don’t care” along with her is an anthem to everyone and anything that has ever hurt you. It gives you your power back.

  By the summer of 2014 I was still riding high on releasing the video for “Ordinary.” It was getting tons of attention and support, but as always, there were haters. People telling me I had no business trying to be a singer, and that I should stick to my regular videos. Even worse were the people who made fun of my speech impediment. Who even are these people? Was I suddenly in middle school again?

  But I didn’t care. I was suddenly in a place in my life where I loved being myself—something I learned from Demi—and I was feeling more self-confident than ever before. I genuinely didn’t care what people thought of how I looked or acted. It was sort of an epiphany, because even though I’d had so much fun shooting “Ordinary,” and had felt so much love from my friends while we danced around in that field, I’d still felt a tiny little bit self-conscious inside. But I’d finally come to realize something very important: You will never, ever be able to please everyone. It’s impossible. There will always be people who don’t like you or what you do. It sucks, but it’s true. And honestly, who would even want to live in a world where everyone loved the same things? It sounds like kind of a boring place to me.

  Once I started to look at things in that context, I realized it didn’t matter one single atom’s worth of thought what another person’s opinion of me was. I have a seriously blessed life.

  At the end of the day the only person whose opinion matters when it comes to you is yourself. I don’t mean that in an “always look out for number one” kind of way. I mean that you’ll never be able to reach your full potential if you waste time looking at how you interact with the world from someone else’s perspective. As long as you follow the golden rule (you know, do unto others, etc.), nothing else should matter.

  Finally letting go of that last remaining bit of self-doubt was so freeing that I knew I had to celebrate. Publicly.

  Right after VidCon I recorded a cover of “Really Don’t Care” that Charlie Puth produced for me, and Shelby and I hit the streets of Los Angeles. The idea was that I’d go up to total strangers and start dancing next to them while singing the song. And ideally the person or persons would dance with me, but you know what? If they didn’t, I REALLY DIDN’T CARE!!

  We drove everywhere, from Venice Beach to Santa Monica to Hollywood Boulevard. Shelby filmed me going up to strangers and dancing my butt off in front of them. No big surprise here, but teenagers were the most responsive. I got some professional break-dancers involved at one point and did my best to keep up. My favorite was when I convinced someone dressed up as a gorilla to get down with me. Oh, and apparently I danced up on some members of a massively famous Korean pop group called BTS, but I never realized it.

  I’d say overall that the reactions were split about 50/50. Half the people looked at me like I was insane before slowly backing away, and the other half would dance along with me. I think I might have gotten a higher dance participation percentage if we’d had the music blasting, but all we had was this tiny speaker that you could barely hear anything out of, especially if the street was crowded. So a lot of the time it just seemed like I was dancing to nothing. I think those instances were when we got the most people to run away from us. Those were also the moments when I most felt my new power of not caring soar. Even just a few months earlier I probably would have felt a twinge of disappointment or embarrassment if someone sneered at me, but not the new Ricky.

  New Ricky didn’t give a what.

  CHALLENGE

  #PUBLICDANCEFORRICKY

  Make a video of yourself dancing in public.

  CONCLUSION

  Well, that’s it, for now. Emphasis on “for now.” So much has changed in my life just in the time it took to write this book, so who knows what’s next? I shot a short film, I released an album, I made several music videos for it, I posted a new video every day for a month last December, and I traveled to Hawaii and Japan (I almost made it to Paris, but got diverted due to a security issue). I swam with sharks, took a dip into a volcano, booked a national tour with Trevor, and moved into a new apartment right down the street from Connor. If I took a minute to stop and think about it all, I might actually get exhausted. Better to keep on moving.

  You want to know the real reason I decided to write a book that was full of challenges? It’s still definitely because I want to follow along with all of you and have us do fun projects together, but I have to confess I had another motive. I’ve been so incredibly lucky and blessed to get to do the things I’ve done in my life, and I want everyone to experience new things in theirs, too. Getting up off your butt and putting yourself out there is the only way to learn who you are and grow into the best person you can become. Sometimes that involves picking up a book, or a camera, or a microphone, or a pencil or paintbrush. All the time it means not being scared to try new things, and never being ashamed of who you are. It means learning from mistakes and putting the pieces in place to make your dreams come true. Life itself is the ultimate challenge, and I know that every one of you can ace it.

  Another big reason for the challenges is that I’ve learned life is all about connectivity. It’s my biggest hope that by sharing all of the tags in here as you make your way through the book you’ll get to meet new people and start conversations. Maybe you’ll find a new best friend, or someone to date, or a person who five years from now will be sitting on the other side of the desk when you walk into a job interview. Our common ground doesn’t just bond us—it builds us.

  Okay, maybe I’m getting a little too philosophical here. I’ll reel it back in. The most important thing is to get creative with this book and just have fun. Interacting with all of you as we do these challenges together, I know I will.

  Love,

  Ricky

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Thank you first and foremost to God. I’m so blessed and forever grateful to be able to live the life t
hat I live. It’s so important to me to be a good example and role model for people, so I always hope I’m doing just that.

  To my family: Thank you, all of you, for the unconditional love and support for everything I do. Mom and Dad, I’m so blessed and grateful to have such incredible and supportive parents. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without everything you’ve taught me growing up. Tara, thank you for being the best sister I could ever ask for and for being my role model growing up. I truly believe I got through so many things as a kid and teenager because I had someone like you to look up to. And to the rest of my family—my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents—thank you all, as well, for the amazing love and support. It always makes me so happy to see you supporting my career.

  To Shelby: Thank you for being the absolute best friend I could ever ask for. You’ve been with me through everything! Friends come and go, and it’s sad to lose touch with friends from high school, but that isn’t the case with us. I’m so grateful to have had you as a best friend for so long. I don’t think I would have gotten through so many things if it wasn’t for you. You’re literally my rock. I’m so lucky to have you as my go-to person for nearly anything and everything. I can’t picture my life at all without you. I can’t wait for the future because I know you’ll be a huge part of it!

  To the O2L guys—Connor, Jc, Kian, Sam, and Trevor: The O2L channel may be over but you guys will always be such a huge part of my life. I love how we’re still such good friends even after O2L. O2L aside, you guys are some of my best friends. We’ve always said we are all more like brothers, which is so true to me. Thanks for being such a huge part of my story and having such a huge impact on my life! I wouldn’t want to have had the experiences I’ve had with you all with anyone else. I can’t wait for even more craziness with you guys in the future.

  To all my other friends from YouTube: It’s weird for me to call you “YouTube friends,” because at this point in my life practically all of my friends are from YouTube—haha. Jenn, Andrea, Jack, Andrew, Rebecca, Anthony, Colleen, Mikey, Luke, Lia, Drew, Alexa, Shane, and so, so many more. Honestly, I’m so lucky to have the number of amazing friends I have. I wish I could sit here and list all of you. Thank you for being such awesome people in my life! The coolest part about the YouTube community is how supportive and friendly everyone is. I love the community so much and am so grateful to be a part of it. It’s changed my life.

  To my incredible manager and business partner, Andrew Graham: I don’t even know where to begin, but thank you for everything. I count one of the biggest turning points in my career when we met and started working together. You’ve been such an incredible manager and friend to me and always pushed me to be the best me I can be. There were so many times where I truly don’t think I would have survived if it wasn’t for you. Thank you for having such a huge and positive impact on my life so far. I can’t wait to work with you even more in the future!

  To my amazing producer and music mentor, Bobby: I’m so glad we started working together because you have dramatically changed and helped my music career in such a positive way. I’m so excited for what the future will bring.

  To my awesome director, Andrew Vallentine: Literally all of my best and favorite videos I’ve ever made are thanks to you. I love working with you and honestly can’t picture myself working with other directors because you’re just so perfect for me! I can’t wait to continue creating with you!

  And to the rest of my team behind the scenes, thank you all so much for keeping me sane—haha. The adult/real world is hard and scary, and the biggest reason why I get through it is because I’m surrounded by such a phenomenal team of people.

  And lastly, thank you, Joshua Lyon, for helping me create this book. You were such a joy and pleasure to work with. Also, thanks to my awesome and hardworking team at Keywords Press/Simon & Schuster: Rakesh Satyal, Judith Curr, Peter Borland, Ariele Fredman, Jackie Jou, and Jin Yu. You guys are the best, and it’s been such a pleasure to work with you all! Thank you for your patience with me as we worked on the book in the midst of my crazy schedule and life! We made something pretty awesome here that I will cherish for the rest of my life.

  RICKY DILLON is a vlogger and musician with millions of fans worldwide. A former member of the popular YouTube group Our Second Life, he released his first studio album as a musician, Gold, in 2016. Follow Me is his first book. To learn more, visit youtube.com/RickyDillon.

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  Copyright © 2016 by Ricky Dillon

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  First Keywords Press/ edition June 2016

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  Interior design by Kyoko Watanabe

  Cover design by Ella Laytham

  Cover photography by Koury Angelo

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

  ISBN 978-1-5011-3201-8

  ISBN 978-1-5011-3202-5 (ebook)