Things are not fine in 2020. We know it. There are a lot of things to worry about. There is also a distinct need to be able to disconnect or distract from our problems. One of the ways I do that is having a series of YouTube channels to watch. I’ve listen nine of them below that are what I consider to be “gentle.” They are happy, have little in the way of stress, and are interesting.

Cute Animals

MilkyBokiTan – This is a channel about a Samoyed dog (Milky), a Norwegian Forest cat (Goboki), and a recent adopted orange rescue cat (Tan). It is super cute. The owners adore their pets. In fact, at this point, it appears their job is taking care of the pets and giving them interesting enrichment. This channel posts almost every day. English subtitled.

ChooChoo's Story – This is a quiet channel about a woman who has semi-tamed a colony of chipmunks around her house by a lake. She feeds them, pets them, and keeps you up-to-date on their lives. It’s super cute. This channel posts a couple times a week. English subtitled.

Walter Santi – This channel is about a colony of cats in a guy’s backyard in Bulgaria (I believe). This is the closest I’ve ever seen to a living Court of Cats in the real world. Every cat has a name and a personality. They feed the cats, make up stories about them, and build shelters for them. The most persistent sounds are the cats and the guy laughing. He also has two indoor cats and a dog. This channel posts about about once a week or so. English subtitled.

Got Skills

LockPickingLawyer – This channel is about what it is named: a lawyer who is a champion lockpicker. I watch this dude because he’s fast, has a nice voice, and his videos are short. The writer in me loves this. So does Fantasy Jenn. You don’t see his face. And you won’t have faith in locks after this. Updates several times a week.

Gardeners Cottage Blakeney – Set in the UK, this is a new channel for me. This channel visits seaside cottages, English flower and vegetable gardens, and other such pleasant places. Updates several times a week, the host has a nice, quiet English voice, and shows the viewer just places of beauty and interest.

Renovation East – Set in Germany, this is one of those channels that blew up overnight. It is about a guy buying and renovating a house next to his by the lake. He’s not a professional renovator, but he’s pretty good. He explains what he’s doing, why, and where he makes mistakes. It’s a once-a-week channel and is weirdly interesting and soothing to watch.

Knowledge and Information

The British Museum – The official channel for the British Museum. It posts about once a week about something intriguing found in the museum. It’s random. It’s interesting. It’s informative. The video lengths vary. Bonus, British voices which I find soothing.

The B1M – This is the “definitive” channel for construction all over the world. It has a regular weekly post on some topic involving construction. This is one of those really neat channels that inspires my writer brain. Especially for near future stories. There’s so much that’s really interesting about how skylines are constructed and the technology involved.

Launch Pad Astronomy – Science for the win! This channel is run by one of the two main professors for the Launch Pad Astronomy for writers workshop. Christian puts out 2-3 videos a month about something in-depth about astronomy, telescopes, NASA, or the like. Super interesting and informative. Bonus because I know Christian personally.

These are not all the video channels I watch. There’s a lot more on PokemonGO, animal rescue, DYI channels, tiny houses, minimalism, and a variety of vloggers. These were the ones I chose because they soothed me. 

As a bonus, I’m going to leave you with my Slow TV Playlist. This is a YouTube playlist of train rides (driver’s view), snowfall, the ocean shore, a campfire at night, and a birdfeeder. This is the kind of thing I like to put on in the background for ambient noise and pretty moving pictures. You don’t have to pay a lot of attention to it. It’s more to keep you company than anything else.

I hope you’ve found something gentle and soothing for you to enjoy in this list.