The World Didn’t End: What Happened When I Was Interviewed on a Podcast

I did a podcast, therefore I am.

It all started when I finally sent an email update to Rachel, a career coach that I previously worked with. I had been meaning to reach out awhile, but always found a reason not to: I forgot, I got busy, I thought about it some more and thought it wasn’t a good enough reason and would it be awkward to randomly hear from me after not reaching out for so long? I finally sent the email shortly after I started my current job. It wasn’t the first job I had gotten since I worked with Rachel after feeling burned out. It was actually the fifth job, but it felt significant. I felt like I was standing on the top of a small hill and when I turned around and looked back to where I was previously, it was down there and far away. I didn’t realize it when I was in it, but somehow, I had climbed upwards enough since then that my progress finally seemed tangible to me.

I ended up writing in the email everything that happened to me since I worked with her and how my experiences led me to where I was now. In short, it was unexpectedly long. A real stream-of-consciousness type of an email that probably read like a text to a friend about what happened that day, except it was about the last few years.

The response I received from Rachel came soon and the gist of it was: Wow that’s a lot. You have a story. Why don’t you come on my podcast to do a normal person interview? The invitation was exciting, but I was also kind of scared. I had never done anything like that before and I was not one to share, especially with strangers on the internet. I kept going back and forth and ultimately realized that it was something I really wanted to do. I wanted to celebrate how far I’ve come and say out loud, “Yeah, I did it! And I am doing it!” I feel like there is so much we don’t notice because we’re busy living our lives. I wanted a public space to realize, reflect, and share about my life.

5 Things I Got From Being Interviewed on a Podcast:

1. I put myself out there authentically. It’s a beautiful thing to own who you are and talk about yourself. It was good practice being me and being able to talk about everything – the good, and not-so-good – something I really had not done much of before.

2. In the words of Pitbull, I “took my life from negative to positive” and spoke about my experiences in my own voice. My not-so-good experiences turned into learning experiences. It felt empowering. It was also good practice for potential future job interview questions (think: tell me about a time you failed and what you learned from it).

3. I practiced my speaking skills. In my role as a UX Researcher, I frequently give presentations. Sometimes presentations can be fun, sometimes they’re less so. Going on the podcast was fun. And it opened the door to show me that there are lots of different ways to speak. Speaking at a conference in the future? Sign me up – I can do it.

4. I connected with others on my own terms. Isn’t connection what life is about? Pre-pandemic, I’d go to networking events from time to time. They’re…ok. A lot of times, it felt like forced socializing and I’d often wonder what I got out of them. Since I did the podcast interview, a few people have reached out to me one-on-one and it felt so great to hear from them, connect with them, and know that something about what I said resonated with others.

5. The world didn’t end when my podcast episode was released. I felt so much anxiety about putting myself out there. What if it’s embarrassing? What if someone heard it that I didn’t want hearing it? What if a future employer hears it and doesn’t want to hire me? My fears ended up being unfounded. In fact, not much happened other than a few people reaching out to me, and none of it was bad. I felt the tension release from me. The world is big and we’re all mainly concerned about ourselves – no one really cares what I do, in the best way possible. I accomplished something I wanted to do and life goes on.

My last thought is that I didn’t listen to my podcast episode. Like many people, I don’t like to listen to my voice - it makes me feel weird. So, I didn’t. I might…in the future. But, I lived that interview and I don’t feel like I have to listen to it. Additionally, Rachel made me feel very comfortable and after I recorded it, I felt like I had represented myself truthfully, and I didn’t regret anything I said. I knew I had the option to change my mind about being on the podcast if needed, but it’s been good so far and it’s out there in the world, just like I am.

If you are interested in listening to the podcast episode I was interviewed on, you can find it here.