If You Are Sick Of True Crime, Listen To These Wholesome Podcasts
If you too are feeling a little bogged down by all the shittiness in the world, these podcasts will hopefully make you feel less so.
It’s 2019, and wholesome podcasts are the best podcasts.
Anyone notice how everyone has jumped on the true crime bandwagon? I personally am so on board with this. Corruption is all around us, friends.
But I know as someone who has an obsessive personality and pretty poor mental health, I think falling into that rabbit hole has at times done me more harm than good. What I’m saying is, I am true-crime’d out.
So, I’ve subscribed to new podcasts, ones that invoke more positive feelings in me rather than anger at said corruption, or fear that one day I’ll be framed for someone else’s murder (seriously, we should all be afraid of this).
If you too are feeling a little bogged down by all the shittiness in the world, these podcasts will hopefully make you feel less so.
1. When You Need Motivation — Sisteria
Sisteria’s hosts and guests are the exact kind of people I want to be friends with, and I think most young creatives will relate.
There’s something incentivising about seeing someone else do really well, while doing something they love. Especially as as an emerging writer, it’s a beautiful thing to know that not all hope has been lost — you can still make it!
Sisteria’s hosts, Stephanie van Schilt and Veronica Sullivan, do more than just interview their guests, but get to the root of why these artists’ work is necessary and important in the broader landscape of Australian arts, and also the issues that both emerging and established artists still face.
2. When You Feel Like Laughing — Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!
Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me is the Have You Been Paying Attention of podcasts: just a funny recollection of the last week’s news and general trivia, but with less casual racism.
It’s all very US-centric based news, so use it to keep on top of headlines or as a way to learn the ridiculous goings on across the pond.
Each episode also has a celebrity or stand-up comedian that either co-hosts or participates with other panelists, making light of some truly horrendous things that have happened in their nation (mostly because their president is The WorstTM).
This show is so enjoyable though because it’s kind of the antidote to letting the world weigh you down, and instead let the bizarre things wash over you.
3. When You’re Feeling Hopeful — Tender
CONTENT WARNING: This podcast discusses abusive relationships and mental health issues in detail, we recommend you don’t listen to this if you’re not in the right headspace
When we talk about abuse, a lot of what we focus on is how to identify it, and what you should do to remove yourself from such situations.
But how do we move forward when we still feel tethered to the past? Tender, hosted by Madison Griffiths, follows the intricacies of what life looks like after you leave an abusive relationship.
This all sounds pretty grim, but the willingness to show up and be there, not only for those around you, but for yourself, is an incredibly earnest and powerful story.
While tackling the importance of a healthy recovery, we also see how beautiful it is to love and live again, without sugarcoating how difficult and jarring this may be.
4. When You’re Being Nosy — David Tennant Does A Podcast With…
You know what I struggled most with season one of Jessica Jones? Believing David Tennant would be the bad guy, because he always seems so lovely!
This podcast is relatively new, so don’t be alarmed if you only see a couple of episodes when you find it. The concept of this show is pretty simple: David Tennant having an in-depth conversation with a different celebrity friend in each episode.
Imagine a cross between Desert Island Discs and The Graham Norton Show, only no top five favourite songs.
Obviously listen to them in order if you’re interested, but if you only have time to for one or just want to test it out before committing, definitely listen to the one with the world’s new queer icon Olivia Colman.
His conversations are revealing without being abrasive: it genuinely sounds like eavesdropping on a conversation.
5. When You Feel Like Learning — The Infinite Monkey Cage
I love science, but I say that as a 25-year-old who is no longer forced to listen to a high school teacher who does little to make science interesting (kids, things can be fun when you’re not forced to participate).
The Infinite Monkey Cage is the talk show panel of science shows, hosted by Brian Cox, Robin Ince, and three other guests, who discuss one particular science topic in-front of a live audience. Remember that time Brian Cox was on Q&A? I feel like this is the kind of intelligent, fun, and sophisticated show he expected — and was sorely mistaken so he created it himself.
Vanessa Giron is a freelance writer based in Naarm/Melbourne. She is a member of the West Writers Group with Footscray Community Arts Centre, contributor for Djed Press and critic for The Big Issue.