Launch Day! After such a long time wondering if we would ever get this baby into the world, it feels strange to celebrate such a big deal with a simple blog post.
“Start a podcast!” They said. “It is super simple!” They said.
Indeed, the heart behind this cast is simple; creating space for brave souls to share their stories of discomfort, growth, and grace in life. We all need to be reminded that we are living & breathing, capable of taking risks and living to tell the tale. Even finding victims (ahem, episode guests), willing to speak vulnerably about their process and struggles isn’t the hardest part.
In his book Atomic Habits, author James Clear writes, “Human behavior follows the Law of Least Effort. We will naturally gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work.” Essentially, make your work easier because at your core, you are lazy. I don’t know if I completely agree with him. My Dad used to say, “Work smart, not hard.” And hard work means something, but when these two perspectives stacked upon one another, I personally spent a very long time trying to work hard enough not to be considered lazy, but to also be very smart about it. That resulted in a LOT of analysis paralysis and slow decision-making (which is the worst, if you ask me).
What we really faced in the two year waiting period for this podcast to explode, was resistance. Resistance is self-sabatoge (thanks Steven Pressfield). As we awakened to the people and writers we want to become for this project, the Resistance reared up, ready to list the litany of distractions that needed attention first. The loudest distraction? Misery.
Podcasting is like this glorious, magical, slightly distant realm of people I never understood, but wanted to join. The interviews, the constant interactions with new people, the creativity… all of it appeals to my creative, extroverted heart in a way that current jobs just weren’t. I didn’t expect, however, for myself to be miserable in the pursuit of trying to figure it out.
Between self-doubt, despair, the incessant vulnerability hangovers, and confusion, I allowed resistance to tell me I deserved to be happy and fully prepared for podcasting when the time finally came. It needed to be perfect, and could be, if only I studied a little more or waited a little longer.
How dismissive of process. And therein lies the irony; I wanted perfection on a podcast about uncomfortably leaning into grace when you need it the most. After all this time, I was in agreement with the resistance. You’d think a rebel leader like myself would feel GREAT about such an alignment, but this resistance is less revolutionary and more dying-a-slow-boring-uncreative-lonely-death.
Thankfully, we had two incredible advisors come alongside our team in this project. As we are celebrating this baby joining the airwaves, we want to thank Tom Boyles, host of the Loot Box Podcast and Danny Hall, of Danny Hall Films for their expertise, encouragement, guidance and website/media hosting help in the face of panic.
Tom Boyles is our web support and long time Rubeus Hagrid impersonator with one of the most generous hearts on the planet. His podcast features friends from across the country, discussing video games, movies, pop culture, and more. Check it out! (https://www.lootboxers.com).
Danny is the photographer for all the beautiful images you see in our marketing, but you should see his drone film work (indeed, you can at https://dannyhallfilms.com/). The man has vision.
Nothing left for you to do but listen to our first episode on Apple podcasts, or wherever you subscribe, and for the LOVE, leave a great review – they are SO HELPFUL. And if you’re really committed, leave us a tip on Buy Me A Coffee! If you opt into a recurring monthly membership, you will receive early access to podcasts (as soon as I figure that out), as well as exclusive Instagram content and swag giveaways (as soon as we figure that out). See? Nothing needs to be perfect. It just needs to get started. Take the risk.
Love y’all!
Mandy