7ToF: November podcast roundup

This is going up late, which most of you probably won't even notice, but if you did, apologies. I wrote almost two entire posts yesterday but they were both so meandering that I decided to spare you. Either I'll work on them and repost them, or I'll ditch them. By the time I'd finished those, I was out of ideas. And by the way, this got really long and wordy, so save it for when you have time.

1. The only podcast I listen to every week, usually on the day it comes out, is What Should I Read Next, a podcast for readers hosted by Anne Bogel. Highly recommended. Of course some episodes are better than others, but I have yet to listen to a bad one, and the most recent one with book recommendations for Christmas gifts was great.

The rest of these I listen to whenever I need to pass the time on a drive or whatever, so some of them are old episodes even though I only listened to them recently.

2. Happier podcast, episode 185, Create a Facts of Life Book. Gretchen and Liz, the hosts, recommend putting together a document or a notebook that has all your accounts and passwords and whatever information your surviving spouse or children or executor would need if something happened to you (I created a spreadsheet because I loooooove me some spreadsheets). I've been meaning to do this for years, so it was an excellent reminder. They have lots of good tips in this episode and then more ideas from their listeners a couple of episodes later.

I'm the one in our family who handles most of the financial stuff, so it only took a couple of hours to put it together. But if I'm in an ICU for ten days somewhere, or some unspecified worse scenario, it will enable someone else to step in and figure out what bills are on auto-pay, which ones aren't, what automatic online subscriptions we have (Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc), where our long-term care insurance is, or whatever else they need to know.

3. The funny thing is, though, that I was really paranoid about it. I did it the day before I was leaving on a trip, and I had this freakishly unshakable feeling that if I did this, I would die on the trip. So if you have a similar feeling, I am happy to report that I have been on three trips since then-- one solo, and two with Dean-- and I am still alive and healthy. It was really weird how strong that feeling was. The only thing that got me to push through it was thinking, well, if I really am about to die, then this really is necessary.

4. On the By the Book podcast, the hosts Kristen and Jolenta read a self-help book and try to live by it for a week, then report back on how it worked (so you listen to two episodes to get the full report). I find them somewhat annoying, because they often gleefully bash books that have been helpful to thousands of readers and then get their feelings hurt when people bash back. (What did you expect?) But, on the other hand, they usefully summarize the contents of various books, so I don't have to read them, and that is a total win. And also I usually agree with them when they're bashing, so it's not so bad (their episode on The Secret was hilarious).

5. On their August 16, 2018 episode, they read a book called The Curated Closet, about figuring out what to wear and how to organize your closet. I almost didn't listen to this one, because as you know I've already obsessed about closet organization and decluttering, and I am not one to think much about what clothes I wear beyond do I have a clean pair of jeans, but it ended up being pretty helpful. The author recommends pulling your favorite outfits out of the closet, the ones that are the most comfortable and make you feel most like yourself, and then figuring out what makes them work. Then once you've got that figured out, clear out the stuff that doesn't meet that criteria, and more importantly don't buy anything new that doesn't fit that criteria. I haven't actually done this yet, but I've thought about it a lot and it has been useful. Also it has helped me avoid making a couple of recent purchases that I probably would have otherwise.

6. I'm still listening to Enneagram podcasts. I'm less enamored of the system than I was at first, because that's what happens, I think. At first, it's so helpful and it explains so much, and then the more you dig into it, the more you start realizing some pretty unlikeable things about yourself that you'd been blind to before. That has helped me understand why it's so popular with Evangelicals these days (even though it's not at all bible-based), because it's like the doctrine of original sin. If you dig down far enough, you are bad.

That's not the only way to take it, of course, but certain Enneagram experts really do take it that direction (no surprise, the books by Evangelical authors are most likely to do this). But I can't tell you how helpful the Enneagram has been for me, as someone who approaches life through their intellect, to get a handle on certain things about myself I've never understood. I'm in an entirely different place than I was a few months ago when I wrote this post, and although there are several reasons for that, the main one, I think, is the enneagram studying I've done. Podcasts to try: Enneagram for Idiots (lots of NSFW language, but fun and interesting), Typology, and Conscious Construction.

7. I've just recently started listening to The Liturgists, which has three hosts who discuss Christianity from an informed and non-dogmatic point of view. Their third episode on reading the Bible was fascinating. And they just recently completed a five-part series where they asked various people, "Do you identify as Christian? Why or why not?" So far, highly recommended.

Well, this got pretty long and wordy but maybe it will give you some good ideas for podcasts that might interest you. Have a great weekend.