Content lessons from podcasting

December 21, 2022 ~ meximinnesotana ~ 2 Comments

Hello Dear Friends!

Happy Winter Solstice to those in the northern hemisphere!

It’s been a minute since I updated here, though there’s plenty to read in the world. I hope you’ve been finding good content that nourishes you and gives you valuable food for thought.

Writing and blogging have been loves of mine. I was thinking about how podcasting is different, and what relative advantages/disadvantages arise from this medium. In case you’ve been debating those as well in thinking what creative goals you may have for the new year, here’s my reflection. I’ve reached about two thousand downloads of the Somatic Wisdom podcast in only 36 episodes for my first 6 months. Clearly it is a way to grow an audience when you create content in specific niche.

What I LOVE about podcasting

You still “write” the episode. I find that when I have a topic, it helps me the most to have an outline and/or script to speak from. I typically draft the episode 2-4 days before it goes live (for a solo show) and then as I read it out, I edit. This works well, and using Descript software has been AMAZING for audio editing. I love it. I can edit out my filler words and sound smarter and more concise for my listeners.
I can listen back to my own wisdom. I don’t know what it is, but sometimes we learn things at a superficial the first time we read and practice. But then when we have to teach or explain them to someone else, our learning becomes much more refined and clear. So it’s fun to create and “audio record” of what I’m learning. I also can hear the “conviction” in my voice about things I’m really passionate about.
Interviews are fun! So far I did five interviews in 2022, and I’m hoping to keep offering ~2 interviews per month in 2023. While they take a little more preparation and more editing to produce, they feel like an awesome way to network and provide valuable perspectives for my audience. In blogging, we are pretty much a “solo” offering. That can be wonderful if we have a lot of subject matter expertise. But the interactivity and personal connection of podcast interviews always feels energizing. Plus, I realize how much I love promoting others’ expertise and geeking out on subjects I enjoy. Go figure.

What’s hard about podcasting

There’s no immediate feedback. When you podcast, you “broadcast” into thin air and generally don’t receive feedback, unless someone reaches out via my website link. But most listeners are not going to do that. While I like the fact that it takes away my tendency to “live for the like” it can also be very uncertain which episodes are resonating with listeners. I do have a dashboard on Libsyn, the hosting platform, which tells me how many of each episode have been downloaded.
People tend not to leave reviews. I speak for myself when I say this. There are a lot of podcasts I listen to where I fail to leave a review. It’s not that hard, but I’m usually in the car or on a walk while listening, and that makes it more tricky. While I’m not “all about reviews” it can provide helpful feedback when someone leaves a sentence or two about why they liked the show.
There are a few technical steps. Unlike blogging, where I usually write, walk away for breakfast, then edit, and post, podcasting has quite a few more steps. Granted, you can attach the same intro/outro each time, and Descript makes audio editing very easy, it still takes time. I estimate spending about 5-7 times the length of each episode on the editing, show notes, quality control, etc. I hear some podcasts with terrible editing, but I’m a long time audio book listener. So I don’t love that kind of sloppiness, and prefer to spare my listeners.

All in all, podcasting has been a wonderful adventure, and a lovely way to have conversations with people about topics that interest me related to Somatic Wisdom and wellbeing. I will continue it in 2023, likely releasing in seasons, since that feels like a sustainable way to flex when other life activities get busy.

What about you? Are you ready to start expressing yourself in new ways in 2023? If not, why not?

Be well, Amigas/os! Wishing you a wonderful holiday break, if you are fortunate to have one, and the best in the year ahead.

Edginess of new media

July 20, 2022July 25, 2022 ~ meximinnesotana ~ 7 Comments

Hello Friends,

Hope your summer is going well.

I’m on the verge of completing my first 10 podcast episodes for the Somatic Wisdom podcast! There are about 8 “in the can” as they say in the movie business, and two more concepts on the way that I’ll record or re-record.

Right now I’m going for a twice-monthly “minisode” format because I always feel like I’m making progress when I take small steps but do them more regularly. I realize many people release weekly, but given my personality, I have so many ideas for episodes, and weekly feels WAY too slow.

*Yep. It’s a little messy. And it works surprisingly well!*

But of course, I reserve the option to cut back if needed. While consistency can be appreciated, I have often found that I respect podcasters or bloggers or people who go “on hiatus” now and then. It is a noisy world out there, and if we think people are going to be wondering where we are if we take time off, we are likely to be disappointed. Of course, if your listenership is relieved when you’re gone, then maybe you need to examine your motives… 😉

My favorite part of podcasting rather than You-Tubing is that I don’t have to get ready for the camera. Of course, not that I did a lot to get ready for it before, but I at least made sure there wasn’t anything on my teeth, and that I wore a decent shirt and brushed my hair. But with podcasting, nobody cares that I’m growing back my long hair and it’s in this icky stage of needing barrettes like my 7-year old self used… they have no idea!

And I’m sharing a photo of the makeshift podcast “studio” here because it’s currently either my dining room or my closet (lots of padding to avoid echoes and weird sound stuff). While I someday hope to “go pro” on it, right now it serves. My biggest goal is to serve my audience and any potential clients who might feel as though they know me better through the podcast.

What about you? Have you begun to explore other types of “edgy” media in your creative lives? How has that gone? Do you like it more or less than blogging?

Take care & be well,

Cristy

P.S. If you might be willing to give me some feedback on the Somatic Wisdom podcast, I would truly appreciate it. And if you would like to receive a free copy of my book (either eBook or paperback format) for doing so, I am happy to provide this as a thank you gift for your support. Mil gracias!

Cycles of letting go

February 9, 2022 ~ meximinnesotana ~ 3 Comments

Hello Friends,

How is your winter going? I am on the eve of letting the email address associated with this domain expire since I have been gradually moving toward a modified portfolio of work.

For the past month knowing that Feb 10th is my deadline so I’ve been unsubscribing regularly. I am conscious how much more work it is to monitor one additional email account. I’ll be back to two main ones, and one I use for a business where I consult from time to time. That feels easier.

*Photo taken in Schroeder, MN where the maples show us beautiful rituals of letting go.*

As I do this, it’s been kind of nostalgic to walk back through projects and files that I started from 2018 to 2021 marking a period of experimentation with a number of offerings. 2022 feels like a year where I may “land” a bit more and embrace a couple of main areas. At the same time, I am looking for a nice ritual of letting go to mark the occasion. I don’t know about you, but rituals of completion feel important to me.

So often I feel excited to head off into the next big challenge, but then I leave “open containers” along the way. Then they continue to exist in the background, taking up bandwidth like the extra windows we have opened, or those apps we forget to close. It’s no wonder our brains start to feel tired and burdened.

I like rituals involving fire. Safe ones, of course, but I’m considering how to mark this occasion as a burning away of old pressures, identities, obligations. I haven’t decided on how to do that yet, but I’m curious if you do this type of thing to mark the end of a project or effort, and what feels right.

Can you share with me any ideas that you find especially helpful?

Thank you!

cristy@wedefydefinition.com

We Defy Definition

December 31, 2020January 4, 2022 ~ meximinnesotana ~ 5 Comments

Hello Friends,

I hope you are well and are enjoying some New Year’s Eve peace and joy. As we bring this year to a close I know many of us are hoping that 2021 brings a little more lightness and brightness than 2020.

As someone who treasures time alone or in small groups, this was a year of relative freedom for me. While being released from a job can be stressful for many, I was grateful to have solid savings and unemployment funds to tide me over during the transition to my next venture.

I began a team coaching certification program in September at The Medici Group, which I will complete in February 2021. I enjoyed teaching yoga online through Healing Within Acupuncture & Wellness Studios. I provided personal coaching services to a few 1:1 clients, and I had lots of time for my favorite things: reading books, writing and snuggling on the couch with my hubby, with no pressure to be social.

I co-taught yoga sessions like “De-Stress for the Holidays” (available free on YouTube) with yoga sisters Amy Klous and Krista Steinbach, and connected with other wellbeing professionals at Ikigai Lab. I worked with my lovely coach, Stephanie, founder of Our Natural Wisdom. And I re-discovered my sense of purpose and mastery that led to me leaving a corporate position in 2018 to pursue my own endeavors.

One day, upon being asked (once again) for a bio prior to a presentation I was about to give, I threw up my hands in despair. Why do people keep wanting me to define myself based on my past? Seriously, it is an existential and also a practical question. I prefer to define myself based on my vision for the future. So I wondered if I might create community and offerings around embracing everyone’s gifts, not defining people based on roles, job titles or diagnoses.

As someone with variable attention (which I do not consider a deficit, as a diagnosis might suggest) I struggle to BE just one thing. I enjoy so many things, and my creativity is enhanced by my ability to see the connections between things. And while I am “mexi-minnesotana,” it is only ONE aspect of my personality, not the totality of me.

And I know this is true of YOU also! You are not just a mother, a sister, a teacher, a writer, a caregiver, an employee. You are a multi-dimensional, beautiful human being! Can we all take a moment to celebrate that? Okay, now carry on with your day. 🙂

While I know my business will evolve over time, for now I plan to write, speak and advocate for those of us that refuse to be tamed and tethered by the terms others use to define us. We will together Unleash, Unlearn, and Enliven. The world needs us, and it is time to step out of the shadows and be our full selves.

Grateful for the supportive community here that has actively championed my contributions here for 3+ years. Much love to you all!

cristy@wedefydefinition.com

Quiet places (and my noisy mind)

November 22, 2020November 22, 2020 ~ meximinnesotana ~ 5 Comments

I transport myself to a quiet place in nature, not necessarily truly quiet, but a place that calms my mind. Listening to the sound of flowing water, my nervous system feels immediately soothed.

I have often had a “noisy” mind, a busy mind, an exuberant and thoughtful (also thought-full) mind. I have been rewarded for this in many ways. And this over-active mind is also a source of suffering all too often.

Learning to calm myself through yoga, running or dance and through journaling, has helped to slow the racing thoughts. I sometimes forget these practices, like anyone, when my mind becomes triggered by a painful thought. At those times, I feel myself bracing and going into “defense” mode, constricting and pushing back.

A video of my favorite quiet place in nature (in Schroeder, MN).

When I can take a breath or two and recognize that I’m not actually under attack by anything physical, and I’m responding to a painful thought or belief, I can allow my emotional response without reacting.

I keep training myself to do this, and re-training myself. It’s a lifelong journey, it seems. And maybe that’s what it means to be human, this acknowledgement of unhealed wounds that need tending and self-compassion. We may realize intellectually that they are no longer threats, and yet they still activate a primal place within our nervous system.

When they trigger fear or sadness or another painful emotion, there is a cascade of “stories” that usually follows (for me). And then that feedback loop can lead to even more painful thoughts. I bring myself back again to my physical sensations, my senses both internal and external, and re-ground myself.

The noisy mind is still there. And now I access a place where the “watcher” can lovingly and compassionately see the pattern, and offer comfort. Nothing has gone wrong. This is what minds do, generate thoughts like bubbles in a stream. They are not necessarily true, particularly the painful ones.

Stepping back, I access that bubbling stream knowing all is well. A bit of distance, a bit of perspective, and the noisy mind calms itself.

Be well, dear readers.

cristy@meximinnesotana.com