I recently found myself in a bit of a slump with regards to podcast-listening. It’s a rare find these days to come across a podcast that isn’t either teaching you how to optimise your optimisation strategy, selling you a skin-care routine, or unloading a dense opinion that nobody asked for. I’ll often be next in line at Tesco having gathered all of my food for the week and realise that I have no idea who has been nattering about what into my ears for the past twenty minutes. Making sure that I’m picking up the cheapest brand of kitchen-roll seems to be more captivating for me.
It is for this exact reason, that I have saved my airpods their battery life and have put an end to the never-ending background noise. How ironic it is that muting the cringeworthy motivationists seems to have been my simple strategy to “maximise my efficiency” all along. That’s not to say I’ve given up on podcasts completely. I have instead begun to accompany my lunch-time walks and sunday admin with a story-telling style of audio, and it’s nicely fitting the bill.
There’s a few reasons why story-telling podcasts are my latest enthusiasm, one of them being their convenient length. I require a podcast that caters to my gold-fish-like attention span. Let’s be honest, no matter how enthralling a podcast may be, it’s a strenuous task to hold your attention after the forty minute mark.
Diary podcasts are usually a handy twenty to thirty minutes. In fact, a recent one that I’ve been tuning into, ‘The Diary of an Accidental Mother’ rarely exceeds a length of over eight minutes, the perfect amount of time to keep you captivated throughout the entire thing. This podcast was originally published as a blog by the Huffington Post and is written and presented by the Irish author and creative writing tutor, Lana Citron. There’s currently 26 episodes of diary snippets that are short enough to keep you engaged but lengthy enough to entertain you while you’re pottering about.
Another reason for my new found appreciation of diary podcasts is the enjoyment I get from simply listening. Not learning, note-taking, agreeing or disagreeing, just listening to a story that’s being read. It’s refreshing to be mindlessly entertained. Rather than switching off the computer to switch on a serious, topical discussion, I now actually take a break during my lunch hour.
Do you find yourself listening to something you have little to no interest in, for no reason other than the fact that it’s highly rated on the Apple podcast charts? Or perhaps you often find the need to replay what you’ve been listening to, simply because it’s so painfully dull that you entirely forgot it was playing. In these cases, you probably need to give your podcast playlist a revamp. Cut out the mind-numbing lectures and conversations that you’re not genuinely interested in, and start to opt for episodes that actually appeal to you.
‘The Diary of an Accidental Mother’ podcast tells the story of a 42-year-old single mum, who, despite having no intention of having a baby and a reliable contraception method, found herself with a pregnancy test that was, in fact, positive. Lana Citron brings you on her journey of unplanned pregnancy- from her initial concerns of a possible ectopic pregnancy disrupting her tennis lesson to having to track down her baby daddy ex-boyfriend who happens to be on tour with his rock band.
As you can guess from the title, each episode has a unique story told in a frank and humorous way that will have you chuckling away to yourself down the aisles of Tesco. Lana is a trained actress as well as being an author, so tells the story with an honest tone in a straight conversational style that’s easy to follow, entertaining to listen to and doesn’t feel like a chore.
There is a bombardment of podcasts coming out on a daily basis and it can be difficult to know which one to choose. If you find yourself stuck in a bit of a rut, endlessly scrolling down through the charts and listening to five minutes of conversation before losing interest, why not look elsewhere? Take a break from the streams of information and news we’re constantly being exposed to and listen to an episode from a series of stories you enjoy. These types of podcasts are a great way to give your mind a little distraction throughout the day!
The Diary of an Accidental Mother can be heard on lanacitron.com/podcast or morleyradio.co.uk
