PODCAST UPDATE: Going fortnightly

#085.  This episode contains podcast updates, exciting new ventures, an invite to a grief panel I'm appearing on, and general news about The Silent Why.

Welcome to another episode from me, Claire Sandys, host of The Silent Why podcast.

This one's an update on why I've decided to continue releasing podcast episodes every other week, and it's all linked to an exciting new venture I'm planning, so tune in to find out a little bit more (but not too much, because my Buy Me A Coffee supporters get to find out first - although there is an offer in the episode to get yourself on that list).

I'm also going to start a mailing list which I talk about and I'll let you know how to sign up to that when it launches.

To register for grief panel discussion I mention - 'Grief. One size fits all' - just fill in your details here:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScA3SJennwkC6HfQalsmiD1AC6oK96j1p7eaGPaOBjIX2yRkw/viewform

Transcript

Claire Sandys: Hello, and welcome to The Silent Why podcast, especially if you're a newbie, if you’re an oldie, then welcome back old friend! (Probably a bit of overkill with the ‘old’ there, but you know what I mean.)

I’ve been out of the recording loop for a week or two because I caught a cold and my voice sounded all weird, but it’s 90% back to normal and I wanted to get this episode out so I’m recording regardless and will edit out all my sniffs and coughs along the way. 

This is just a quick update/announcement episode for you to keep you in the loop. I’ve worked out I'm just not the kinda character that can switch things up or move things around without telling you what I'm doing and why, and as they say, communication is key!

Those of you that were early listeners to the podcast will know that when we first started we released a full podcast episode, usually with an interview, and a blog episode every week. And yes, we realised after about a year that two podcast episodes a week was a lot of content to keep up with. It suited me well at the time because I wasn’t in any other employment and it meant I practically had a full-time job from home that was completely flexible, which after recovering from health issues and going through the whole Covid lockdown was a perfect solution for me. However, I then realised I wanted to do other things in my week, like my fiction writing, so we decided to release one podcast episode a week, either a blog, a 101 loss episode or a Let’s Chat or TV analysis episode. This gave me a lot of freedom with the episodes and a slightly easier workload to do other things. That was 10 months ago and since then the podcast, areas I'm working in related to grief and my writing have continued to shift and move. Recently, over the summer we released episodes every other week so I could do my novel editing and I didn’t have to pre-schedule as many episodes before the break which just makes it a bit easier for me. And now, for a new exciting reason, I’ve decided to keep releasing podcast episodes every two weeks, like we’re doing now, for the foreseeable future.

Aaand being the kind of person I am, I've found this a hard decision to make, almost like it’s letting people down in some way or it might give the impression I’m less passionate about it, which couldn’t be further from the truth, so I’m going to explain why I’m doing this, and be encouraged, because they’re exciting reasons. As Olaf says to Marshmallow the snow monster in Frozen - 'All good things, all good things.'

And with so much content in the world now, I know that Chris (that’s my husband, co-host sometimes ‘Senior Editor’ - although to be honest he only comes in to tweak the music for me now, so I might be demoting him to Assistant Editor, but don't tell him that before I’ve had time to have that conversation!). Anyway, sometimes Chris and I struggle to keep up with the podcasts we listen to that come out weekly - because there’s so many podcasts now! So I know that this will be the case for some other people too, especially when the ones you listen to can be up to an hour long. So I’m hoping that every other week will allow people to feel like they can keep up with the podcast more easily, rather than disappoint people that it’s not every week. The voices in my head when making a decision like this run from - 'do what's best for you’ - right through to - ‘well you've done it now, your downloads will drop through the floor!’ Being an introverted, type 2, hormonal woman is such a fun journey. 

A bonus of my new plan is also that having an empty week in between the main episodes will give me space to release more impromptu bonus short episodes, like my ‘the even more silent why’ episodes where I give you 2 minutes to think on a particular question in a specific setting with me, or my blogs (which I've missed doing lately).

And lastly, but most excitingly (yes, I think that’s a word), the main reason for creating this space is because I’ve been working on something very special. It’s an item that I can sell, and you can buy, to gift to grieving/anxious/hurting people to help them feel less alone. And here’s a hint…it begins with H. 

The full details of this new venture will be shared with my monthly Buy Me a Coffee supporters first, as a thank you for their support, and for allowing this podcast to exist and continue, and also for funding the start-up costs of my new venture - even though they didn't know until now that they were doing that. If you’re interested in supporting me as a one off or monthly you can do that at buymeacoffee.com/thesilentwhy. In fact, anyone that buys me two coffees or more before Tuesday 31st October 2023 I'll add you to the email that shares all the information of my new venture before it goes public. 

I’m also going to be starting a mailing list where you can sign up with your email address and just find out about any new things happening with the podcast that way. I’m not going to be sending out anything weekly or monthly, its just be so I can share news when I have it about the podcast and this new venture. It’ll also help those who aren’t on social media, or want to keep away from social media for a bit, just keep in the loop with what’s going on. I’ll release more details on the podcast and social media for how and when you can sign up for that soon. I’ll also be doing a launch on my social media for the new ‘venture’, so keep an eye out for that, I’m on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Threads and I post the same content to all of them so you don’t miss out wherever you are. I did try YouTube and Pinterest too, but a girl can’t do everything!

So putting the podcast out every other week will help me grow this new exciting area that I’m developing, hopefully make some money, and allow me to expand our work to help grieving people feel less alone.   

Another exciting event that's coming up, is that I’ve been invited to be part of a grief panel called; ‘Grief. One size doesn’t fit all’. It’s going to be a great conversation about grief, how to talk about it, and how to help others through it, whether personally or in a work setting. This will cover all kinds of loss, not just bereavement and the panel has a broad range of experiences when it comes to loss. In fact two of them are previous Silent Why guests; Samantha Langford and Sue Bryane. It’s completely free to register and watch, you don’t have to have a camera on and be seen and you can ask questions too, to register I’ll put a link in the show notes. It’s on Tuesday 5 December, at 11:30am (UK time).

Donella Meadows said:

“The scarcest resource is not oil, metals, clean air, capital, labor, or technology. It is our willingness to listen to each other and learn from each other and to seek the truth rather than seek to be right.”

So whether it’s through the podcast or panel discussion like this, let’s keep listening to each other and learning from each other when it comes to grief and loss, it’s the only way we will change society’s approach to it, people’s comfort levels with it, and make it into something shared rather than something just endured.

I’ve missed doing blogs lately, I’m going to put one out next week, in between this episode and our next 101 loss episode on cumulative grief. And I’ve written a special one on a very big, wide, deep, complicated topic - clouds.

Thank you again for listening to The Silent Why. I’m so grateful to have you with me. Don’t forget if you want to encourage me on this journey, please leave a podcast review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify or Goodpods, or share the podcast with a friend who might need to know they’re not alone in whatever they’re grieving right now. 

And if anything on this podcast has encouraged you, blessed you or fed into you in some way, don’t forget you can give back by going to www.buymeacoffee.com/thesilentwhy and buying me a fancy tea or supporting the podcast regularly to help pay for the cost of the show and my time producing it - and those emails that arrive really do make my day.

As Amit Kalantri said - “When one gives, two get happy.”