The Future Of The Podcast Is Something I’ve Been Thinking About A Lot Lately.

If you’ve been wondering what’s up with the podcast… join the club. After doing this for so long, I was really thinking that maybe it was time to turn the page and put it to bed.

But the more I thought about it, the more I knew that that decision wasn’t coming from the right place.

The last thing people would say about me is that I’m indecisive.

In fact, I’ve probably made a lot of decisions quickly that could have used a little more processing time to weigh the pros and cons, but that’s really not how I operate, so I’ll leave that one alone.

The past 6-8 months have fascinated me when I step back and examine what’s happened and how my mindset has shifted (read ‘grown’).

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I attribute this to a few things:

• Experience – having been in this game for a long time, I know enough that in times of uncertainty or the need for clarity, it’s best to be patient.
• Age – there is something so freaking delightful about getting older and caring a whole lot less about what other people think
• Life changes—The move back to California in February 2023 was right for me, and now I’m heading back to Costa Rica. People have asked how long I’ll stay there, and I honestly don’t know. I want to stay put for a while (which, to me, is 3+ years). Ultimately, I’d like to buy there, but we’ll see where the economy goes.

A little history about the podcast:

I started podcasting in 2013 when I was “The WPChick” and the podcast was “The WPChick Podcast.”

There were maybe 5 other WordPress podcasts at the time, so getting some traction was pretty easy. I alternated between solo shows and interviews, which was a smart strategy because it really grew my audience.

I think the years between 2019 and now were so challenging personally that to host interviews and truly show up for other people felt like a lot of work… work that I didn’t really have the energy for… until now.

During that time, I went through some extremely challenging situations with my son, and then my Mom passed away unexpectedly in 2019, and my world was turned upside down.

Then, we all know what happened in 2020, when I decided to move to Boise, ID, followed by a move to Costa Rica in 2021.

So… needless to say, the last 5 years have been a lot (with other things happening in the background, but I’ll save that for my therapist).

Here’s the thing with all of this: To some people, this may not seem like a lot, and to others, it may seem overwhelming. I’ve been so incredibly hard on myself for things I’ve done, not done, not done enough of, woulda’, shoulda’, coulda’…. the judgment is what’s really gotten in the way.

None of us get through this life unscathed, without messing up, losing people we love, and without challenges and struggles.

That’s life.

It really is how we handle what happens to us that makes all the difference.

SO… all that...