Podcasts to Listen To: The Slumps

It happens with reading, it happens with crafts, it happens with anything we enjoy doing. We look at what we love and go "absolutely not" and feel like we're drifting, lost in a void of not being able to pay attention.

It's the dreaded slump.

In A Listening Slump

Today is Tuesday which means it's Queuesday. This is typically when I try to share a list of podcasts I'm listening to, or have listened to. Maybe it's a list another podcast friend has put together from a "Q&A With Your Queue". It's my favorite day of the week when I get to steal a few minutes with other podcast listeners.

And yet I am a little sad - I've been in a listening slump for the last week or so. This isn't the most unusual for me. I typically have a slow period every few months. I get busy, it's harder to steal time, my brain is too full. Sometimes I just need a break.

Right now, though, I'm staring at my feeds, my queues, the pitches people have sent me, and I can't find something to chew on. I'm sad about it, because I know that some of these podcasts that aren't appealing at this moment are absolutely wonderful.

I just don't want to?

When this kind of slump hits, I have learned that there is one really easy solution for me. I need to go back to "the basics".

"The Basics" to me are the podcasts that I started listening to years ago, that I don't need to listen to a bunch of episodes to know what's going on. They might feel like "filler" but to me they're good podcasts that often reset me. It's often a good mental spring cleaning. I curl my mind around something familiar, interesting, low commitment, and easy to listen to.

This is what works for me. Your mental reset list will be drastically different, but what's important is finding what works for you.

The Basics of My Listening

Stuff You Should Know

One of the very first podcasts I ever listened to, and one of the only ones I would actually consider central to an American Podcast "Canon" (I don't like canons, we'll get into that later). Episodes are a great length, a little more than a Wikipedia article, and excellent for commutes. It's not meant to be anything other than what it is, and it works extremely well.

Part-Time Genius

This one I dropped off listening to. I don't know why, but I recently picked it up. It's another one that's a little more than a Wikipedia article but it is so bouncy and fun in its production without going over the top. It's great for more family friendly topics and a great way to start your day.

Stuff They Don't Want You to Know

This is a "maybe" podcast on this list. It's a podcast that analyzes conspiracy theories and other controversial topics. Subjects can jump back and forth from being things I can't get enough of, to things I really don't want to think about. It's a good one if you want to spend some time with more topical subjects. I don't listen to the Strange News segments because once again, I sometimes just don't want that.

You're Dead to Me

I can't stress enough how sometimes you just need to laugh. This is a comedy history podcast that is produced by the BBC and its feed hosts some of the only episodes I've ever listened to twice. There's a decent back catalog when they're in between seasons. It's just lovely.

Other Options

This isn't even all of my "basics". I could add about ten more podcast to this list, and then maybe even five more that I can't think of right now.

But if "the basics" don't get you going, or you don't have basics, maybe we need to go in the opposite direction of what we usually listen to.

If you usually listen to chat-casts, try a limited series. If you usually listen to non-fiction, try a fiction podcast. If you listen to business and news podcasts, try something on the other side.

Not every moment of your listening has to be productive, or special, or contribute to you being something better. You can listen because it makes you happy, entertains you, or because you're just curious.

Or you can just not listen at all until the Next Big Podcast hits the Mainstream, or whatever that means.

Yeah, I prefer my way.

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