Why did Luke Nichols retire from the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel?

Luke Nichols, the creator of the popular YouTube channel Outdoor Boys, has disclosed why he retired from content creation. Luke Nichols appeared as a guest on an interview hosted by MyLifeOutdoors, a channel run by backpacking content creator Steven. At the eight-minute mark of the video titled The TRUTH Behind The Outdoor Boys Return, Steven asked Luke Nichols why he "kind of retired" from the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel.

In response, the 47-year-old stated that he "always knew he wasn't going to" run his YouTube channel forever, adding that being a YouTuber is comparable to being a "professional athlete" in the sense that it is not a job that "most people grow old in":

"I always knew that I wasn't going to do this forever. You know, the idea of me being out 60, 70 years old, you know, like, 'Click subscribe!' You know? Being YouTuber is probably analogous to being a professional athlete. You know? It's not a career that most people grow old in. You know? And I just always kind of knew that there would be an end to it. And I've been thinking of retiring for a couple of years, actually. You know? I've been talking."

Luke Nichols went on to elaborate on the "big part" of his decision to retire from the Outdoor Boys channel:

"A big part of it was the exposure. The channel blew up really big, and it kind of went from, 'Oh, people recognize me every once in a while,' to people recognizing me everywhere I go all the time. You know? And then, you know, we started to have really serious conversations about security issues and the safety of the family. And, you know, I was looking at, well, at the rate I was going, my channel size would probably double in a year or two."

Timestamp - 08:17

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Luke Nichols says he "didn't want to live" in a full-blown celebrity lifestyle while explaining why he retired from the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel

Luke Nichols continued the conversation by saying that he "didn't want to live" in a full-blown celebrity lifestyle following the success of the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel.

Expressing his desire to be able to go out in public with his family without causing any problems, the traffic attorney stated:

"And, so, I'm looking at, you know, 'Okay, I'm going to be, you know, a really full-blown celebrity lifestyle.' I'm like, 'I don't want that. I don't want it for the kids. I don't want to live that way. I want to be able to go out in public and eat dinner with my wife at a restaurant and not have it cause problems. I want to be able to go to my kids' school events, and not have it be a distraction to them."

Luke Nichols also mentioned the "unhealthy lifestyle" of working 80 to 100-hour workweeks as a factor in his retirement from the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel.

Edited by Aarnesh Shrivastava