5 Podcasts With Wisdom (and Wordle Nerdery)
Goodbye, January 2022!
I haven’t been this happy to release a month since March of 2020.
Emotions ran high. PTSD from early pandemic days loomed large. Decisions became impossible to make, to get right and to stand by.
I drew my energy and my peace from my new daily writing practice (I passed my one month anniversary!), my work helping more women identify and claim their career desires (we just wrapped an exciting 4-week group program), our family Wordle competition (That somehow my 10-year old is winning. I want 10-year old neural pathways!) and of course, you know me…my podcast addiction.
Here’s a round up of podcast episodes that are giving me the tools and the inspiration to keep moving forward and doing my best despite the big expectations I had for 2022.
The Happiness Lab: Stepping Off the Path of Anxiety
https://www.happinesslab.fm/2022-new-year-mini-season/stepping-off-the-path-of-anxiety
First of all, I recommend the entire 2022 mini season that dives into the tougher emotions we don’t like to recognize or talk about like anger, anxiety, grief. In this episode, Dr. Laurie Santos talks with Psychotherapist and meditation teacher Andrea Wachter about tools to acknowledge and quiet anxiety. Have a notebook handy for this one. I listened to it twice!
On Being: Pico Iyer and Elizabeth Gilbert - The Future of Hope 3
https://onbeing.org/programs/pico-iyer-and-elizabeth-gilbert-the-future-of-hope-3/
This is part of a 4-part series of conversations around hope and I’ve enjoyed all of them. Having experienced the loss of her partner, Raya Elias, in 2018 Liz Gilbert connects lessons of surrender she learned from this loss to similar insights during the pandemic. I always find wisdom in Liz’s vulnerable observations and clear words that capture our humanity.
Dare to Lead: The Great Awkward
https://brenebrown.com/podcast/the-great-awkward/
Brené always knows how to name the things none of us want to say. She and her sister Barrett discuss what “going back to the office” will look like and how inevitably it will be different than it ever was and we should expect it to be awkward AF.
PS. This was the last episode Brené released before announcing she would hold off on releasing episodes until further notice. While she didn’t say it, this is clearly in response to Spotify continuing to give a platform to Joe Rogan and others who are spreading misinformation. Way to use your expertise and power to make change and stand in your values, Brené!
CYG: Grief Companionship
https://www.callyourgirlfriend.com/episodes/2021/10/29/grief-companionship
This conversation is from the fall of 2021, but I thought it was so relevant as so many people are grieving both the people they lost in the past two years and also all of the things we’ve missed out on because of this damn pandemic. We have so little language and conversation around grief and this episode provides really practical things you can do for your people who are suffering alone right now.
Pop Culture Happy Hour: Wordle is a daily dose of delight, despair, and sometimes smugness
For those of you who didn’t think you could create a new daily habit…you were wrong! If you’re like me and you haven’t missed a day since you started playing…I see you. This is some Worldle Nerdery that will make you smile all the way through.
Enjoy this list and let me know some other favorites of yours that are getting you through!
Quietly listening and wordling,
Rachel