When your job or business requires you to always be out and about, it’s hard to squeeze in some me-time. Sometimes, you feel guilty wasting away time lying in bed on a Saturday morning just staring at the ceiling. You feel like every hour of every day should be dedicated to the grind, to paving your way to success, whatever that word means for you.
You probably know that this is not the right way to handle things, yet you can’t change. You should be taking long hot showers, reading books, watching movies, and meeting friends because all of these things nourish the soul.
If you want to transition out of this kind of life, there is a perfect way to do this. Podcasts. They are subtle, non-intrusive (except for the thought department), and engaging. Listening to podcasts can help you deal with the guilt you associate with taking a rest. At least while you listen to a podcast, you can do something else.
You can be listening to a podcast while you clean up your house and while an emergency electrical repair is being done. That’s hitting three birds with one stone, perfect for people who don’t like wasting time like you.
What podcasts should you listen to? It actually depends on your interests. For some suggestions, read on.
The Happiness Hustle
This one is going straight for the jugular. The Happiness Hustle is a podcast that deals with your dilemma. The general theme explores work-life balance and how to find happiness amid the grind, the rush, and the chaos.
It helps that the general feel of the audio is raw and natural. While audio-engineered podcasts are literally music to the ears, this one feels like you are in a phone call with two caring friends. If that is something you like, this will totally help.
In one episode, Mike and Ben, the hosts, talk about the concept of work and time. They discuss how people’s emotions and thoughts actually affect their perception of how fast time flies or how it is supposed to be spent.
Their other episodes discuss happiness in the workplace, company culture, networking, and even burnout. It’s definitely every corporate guy or gal’s guidebook to corporate life. It’s a very chill and laid-back conversation that you will undoubtedly enjoy during downtime.
Why Won’t You Date Me?
If you want to spend your podcast adventure away from topics on work, try this one, especially if you are single and have a lot of stories to tell about dating. This is going to be fun and a bit raunchy, if you don’t mind.
Nicole Byer is single and has been for a long time now. She invites friends to her podcast. They share their dating stories so that Nicole can figure out why she is still single now. It even has a catchy and hilarious opening billboard that she sings herself.
You will need some tissue for this one when you cry because you can’t take the laughter anymore. The topics include the art of taking a selfie, bad dating app bios, or asking your date about their credit score. The guests make the topics stray everywhere they can.
However, there are also pretty serious episodes where they talk about being a single mom of three kids, the power of words, and thriving alone.
The Truth
If you don’t like listening to real people talk about real things like work and dating, the doors of the fiction world are wide open. You can start with this podcast. It’s a collection of short stories in radio drama form.
Each episode is a different story that is about 20 to 30 minutes long. Prepare yourself to be blown away by the themes and revelations of each story. Expect that you will raise your eyebrows a lot while muttering “what.”
While it’s not sci-fi, the feeling each episode invokes in you will remind you a lot of how Black Mirror makes you feel–weird and in disbelief. One episode, in particular, is called The Decider. A girl receives this device as a birthday present. The decider shows her a prediction of how much action or decision will make her happy before she does it. Whether the decision is about what dress to wear or whether to quit her job or not, she sees the predicted rate in numbers.
Another episode talks about a man who has been cryogenically frozen. He wakes up to a world he did not quite expect. Do you feel excited?
It’s all the more exciting because of the format. It’s an actual radio drama complete with a music bed, sound effects, narration, and characters.
Final Thoughts
Keep exploring all kinds of podcasts to find what works for you. Soon, you will look forward to doing tasks that will let you listen to podcasts while doing them.
