I love listening to episodes when podcasters get a little more personal. One I really enjoy is when Kendra Adachi, the host of the Lazy Genius podcast, talks about what is saving her life right now. Kendra says she got the idea to do episodes like this from author Barbara Brown Taylor, who asks and answers this question in her memoir, Leaving Church. I’ve started doing my own version of these episodes too.
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Inspiration During Hard Times
Most of the time I do these episodes when I’m having a hard week, month, or season to help me remember that there are a lot of great things in my life. I hope that you can find a nugget of information that can help you with your life. More than anything, I hope that listening to my list can inspire you to make your own list of things that are saving your life right now.
The Perfect Music
The first thing that is saving my life right now is the Quiet Music for Reading playlist on Spotify.
I listen to it whenever I need to work in a loud space. It is mostly on Mondays when I have my work time and Scott is hanging out with the kids upstairs. They are having the time of their lives, stomping, dancing, wrestling. All of those things are happening while I’m downstairs trying to write episodes, answer emails or read a business book. I am literally listening to it right now as I write this episode. It is full of calming instrumental songs. They are not distracting and keep me focused on the task at hand. I love it so much even though I’ve been listening to it for a couple of months now, I am not sick of it at all.
Time for Mom
The next thing that’s saving my life right now is that I have roughly two hours that is almost kid free Tuesday through Friday. We are three months into the school year here. I have a first grader and a preschooler. Luckily, my two year old still takes a nap. I get about two hours almost every weekday where I get to do whatever I want without child interruptions. It’s absolutely amazing. I get to work, watch a show, take a nap, or do whatever the heck I want to while staying at the house. It is glorious.
Video Games Together
The next thing that is saving my life right now might sound silly to a lot of you. Regardless, it has done awesome things for my relationship with my partner, Scott. I’ve started playing a video game with him called Valheim. It’s kind of like Minecraft, but with Vikings.
We get to build a homestead base with a cool house, gardens, a dock for our boats, and other fun stuff like that. Then we get to go on cool adventures where we travel to new places and discover new biomes. We figure out how to help our characters survive in the new place with new dangers. Playing this game with Scott has helped us both have fun together in a new way and helped us improve our communication skills. It’s another thing that we get to share, can have conversations about, and look forward to doing together.
Feeling my Feelings
The next thing on my list of things that is saving my life is therapy. For about five months I have been going to therapy. I am so grateful for all of the things I’ve learned. I’m also thankful for all the ways I’ve been stretched to see things from a different perspective.
One of my favorite things about therapy is that it forces me to slow down. At least once a week I have to feel my feelings instead of shoving them down and ignoring them. I honestly didn’t realize all of the automatic decisions my brain/ body was making without me even noticing. Now that I’m slowing down and noticing, I’m realizing that I don’t love all of the automatic decisions my brain/ body has on repeat. It has been hard, but really great to slowly figure out what’s going on in my head. I can decide if I like it and if I don’t, I’ve been trying to figure out what I want to do instead.
Podcast Consultations
I’ve been able to talk to some amazing podcasters about their shows while doing interviews for the friendly podcast guide. Along the way, I’ve learned so many tips and tricks on how to start a podcast from personal experience and from the hosts I’ve interviewed. I’ve talked to them about what made their launch successful and what made it more difficult. I for sure know what I would do differently if I could go back and launch my show again.
Now I want to share my knowledge with you. I’m offering podcast consults and I have a couple of spots open in the next month. If you need help nailing down your podcast idea, figuring out your niche, or any other podcast questions, I would love to work with you to make your show’s launch the best it can be.
If you’re interested in working with me, fill out the intake form in the show notes. I can’t wait to make a podcast plan that is tailored to you and your podcast, and we’ll make your launch as smooth and successful as possible.
Helping Others
The next thing on my list of things that are saving my life right now is actually helping people start their own podcasts. That wasn’t planned, but it’s kind of perfect with me. It’s referring to the podcast consultations I was just talking about. Several months ago, I got serious about helping coaches start their own podcasts. It has been one of the scariest things I’ve done in a while. I’m super proud of myself for buckling down and diving into something that I’ve been doing on the side for a while. Being able to help coaches launch their podcasts without feeling overwhelmed or stressed has been amazing.
Not only do I love that I get to talk about podcasting even more than I was before, but I also really love helping people succeed. It allows me to reach even more people because the people I coach are helping others with their content. It’s been a lot of fun.
The Chosen
Another thing that’s saving my life right now is the show The Chosen. I know that I’ve talked about this before, but if you’re new around here, I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
One of my goals as I finish up this year is to have a closer relationship with Jesus. I’ve decided to watch The Chosen, which is a series that chronicles Jesus’ life. It brings Bible stories to life in a way that I’ve never been able to do in my brain while I read the New Testament. You might not think that watching a show would help me build a better relationship with Jesus, but it has.
Seeing Jesus interacting with his disciples instead of just reading about it has helped me understand him in a new way. It helps me to recognize him in my life more than I did before. If you’re interested in learning more about Jesus, I highly recommend trying out this show. It’s free on the Chosen app or on their website.
Story Button
The last thing on this list of things that are saving my life right now is the kid podcast player, Story Button. My oldest has had a really hard time going to sleep for the past six-ish months. It has been a struggle. We have tried so many different things and nothing seemed to work.
I decided to have him listen to kid sleep podcasts after I left the room and it worked. I was using a Bluetooth speaker hooked to my phone. This meant I wasn’t able to listen to my own podcasts, music, or call anyone. That was making my evenings hard. We bought a Story Button and it has been a game changer.
Mr. Jim, who is a kid podcast host himself, created it. You can tell it was created by a podcaster because it has so many features that make listening to kid podcasts easier. We use it at night to help my oldest go to sleep. During the day, the kids use it when they want to play in their room. If I’m at my wits end, I’ll grab it along with some coloring pages and the kids will sit at the kitchen table and listen while I try to get something done or just take a break.
I hope this list has helped you in some way or, if nothing else, it’s helped you think of some things that are saving your life right now. Also, if you’ve been thinking about starting a podcast, but you’re overwhelmed by the process, let’s hop on a free podcast consultation call to talk through all of your concerns.
