I spend 90 minutes driving to work each day, and I’ve done this for the last 4 years.
From the initial dread four years ago to my current state of sometimes looking forward to it, I’ve gone through various tactics to keep myself entertained, focused, or awake sometimes, while I drive. The things that I am finding myself gravitating toward the most over the 4 years though, are audiobooks and podcasts. These are the BEST TWO THINGS that have ever been created for commuter’s sanity. I can’t imagine what my drives would be like now without them.
I want to create a series where every few weeks I will share my favorite podcasts at the moment.
Radiolab
Radiolab is what started me on the journey into the Podcast world 4 years ago. I still remember bing-listening to the show for those few weeks.. like you binge-watch The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. This show has been around for over a decade, and is done by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, a very funny, witty, and harmonious duo. This show takes you on a magic carpet ride and examines overlooked and unconventional angles on scientific, cultural, medical, and biological events. Some of my most favorite episodes are as follow (you can listen online if you don’t have or don’t want to use the iPhone app)
Note to Self
This podcast designed specifically for Gen Y-ers (those of us born in early 1980’s to early 2000’s) and the very particular challenges we deal with everyday. For examples, dealing with digital devices EVERYWHERE, living in a text-based cultural, and the having the conflict of having no privacy yet extremely privacy sensitive… you get the deal, this is basically you. Well, it’s also me. Read some of these titles and just TELL ME you don’t find yourself at least a bit curious?
- Stop Going on Bad Dates. Here’s how to Fix Your Online Profile
- Why Google “Thought” This Black Woman was a Gorilla
- Why Texts From Your Ex Is a Thing
- It’s Time to Deal With Your Photo Clutter
The Lively Show
This is what I call radio therapy. As career minded and professional women, many of us find it hard to find balance everyday in trying to stay focused and driven at work while living a fulfilling life and tending to your family, significant other, sometimes children. There are times when you are just lost in the middle of all of this “always trying”. Listening to Jess and her interviews always lifts me up, whether I am feeling stressed out, anxious, lost, or just frustrated. She’s interviewed very many that are considered “successful” – Elizabeth Gilbert, the author of Eat Pray Love, and Tal Ben-Shahar, renowned scholar on positive psychology, Bea Johnson of Zero Waste Home, to name a few. Episode after episode, Jess manages to find what’s most relatable and inspiring from the vast pool of knowledge and experience each expert has to offer, and share that with us. My favorite episodes:
TLS #96: HOW TO DIVERSIFY SELF-WORTH WITH TAL BEN-SHAHAR (HAPPIER.TV)
TLS #100: ELIZABETH GILBERT ON CURIOSITY, EPIC SELF-COMPASSION, & CREATIVITY (“BIG MAGIC”)
This Won’t Hurt A Bit
I literally just discovered this Podcast today. The Podcast is very new, with only 4 episodes currently available. But if you liked the TV show House M.D., you will like this podcast. The hosts are all Medical Doctors, in the show they discuss historical cases or their own experiences, but more likely these are ones that have some yuck or gore factors. So far they have talked about maggot therapy, Alice in Wonderland Syndrome, medical use leeches, to name a few. If you need something to keep you awake and entertained, this one will do it for you!