Podcasts that Helped Me Survive the Pandemic
One dream-sifting team of Jungian analysts. One plastic-bag-wearing Irish polymath. One Canadian seminarian-turned-photographer. What do they all have in common? Answer - they make amazing podcasts.
Hello from The Gargoyle! I hope you’re having a great week.
It’s November 2022, which means we are almost three years into the pandemic. Generally speaking, all of us in the U.S. are in a better place than we were one year, two years, and definitely three years ago. While our collective process of healing has only just begun, it does feel to me like there’s finally enough emotional and physical “room” to be able to begin peeling back the layers of my own “COVID onion.”
One thing I’m grateful for is that the pandemic really introduced me to podcasts. Before 2020, I hadn’t been a listener – and honestly, I didn’t even know where to listen to them! But the long “stupid mental health walks” I took to break up my work-from-home schedule gave me an opportunity to test the podcast waters.
Two years into my listening journey, I can attest there are a ton of amazing and entertaining podcasts out there. But there are three in particular that impacted me in ways that I know will last beyond the present moment. As such, I thought I’d share about them with you.
This Jungian Life Podcast
Focus: Seeing the world through a depth psychology lens.
Hosts: Lisa Marchiano, Deb Stewart, Joseph Lee
Avg. Episode Length: 60 mins.
Link: https://thisjungianlife.com/podcast/
This Jungian Life was the first podcast I really spent time listening to. I found it by chance on Spotify, and the “depth psychology” angle really intrigued me. Plus, I had read some Jungian books before and was interested in concepts such as archetypes, symbols, introversion and extroversion and the Meyers-Briggs personality typology - which was influenced directly by Jungian concepts.
The three hosts - Lisa, Deb, and Joseph - are all trained social workers and Jungian analysts working in respective private practices. While it’s usually just the three of them on the show (sometimes with a guest analyst, author, or researcher), they frequently highlight case studies from their practice and share about the insights and achievements their clients are able to make through their work in analysis.
The very first episode I heard – a rich discussion of the archetypal symbolism and religious meaning of masks from antiquity to COVID – simply blew me away. This episode (and the many I binged afterwards) utterly nourished my curiosity and helped me to process the very weird times we were experiencing. At the end of each episode, the hosts also very carefully and respectfully analyze a dream submitted (anonymously) by show listeners. This aspect made the podcast particularly intimate and connective during the peak loneliness of COVID.
The Blindboy Podcast
Focus: “An eclectic podcast containing short fiction, interviews, and comedy.”
Host: Blindboy Boatclub (formerly of The Rubberbandits)
Avg. Episode Length: 60 mins.
Link: https://www.instagram.com/blindboyboatclub
I discovered The Blindboy Podcast around the same time as This Jungian Life, this time by searching for podcasts on mental health and creativity. The producer and host, Blindboy Boatclub, is one half of the former Irish comedy hip-hop duo The Rubberbandits. His podcast just turned five years old – in that time becoming one of the most streamed Irish podcasts ever with over 100 million downloads worldwide.
Blindboy is funny, insightful, and empathetic. His weekly shows alternate between intensively researched “Hot Take” episodes, more intimate and personal mental health episodes, interview episodes with notable guests (recorded via Internet or sometimes as a live gig performance in front of an audience), and lastly a kind of free-rambling format in which reflects – seemingly off the cuff – on anything from the history of the color beige to the semiotics of a Guinness pint.
Every podcast begins with Blindboy imploring new listeners to go back and lister to earlier episodes so they can become familiar with “the lore of this podcast.” This is wonderful advice, as the sizable back catalogue thrums with Blindboy’s unique brand of curiosity, creativity, and craic. Most of all, the reason I keep coming back week after week is Blindboy’s encouraging of his listeners to be creative and put their own work out there – hence my own humble Substack (and forthcoming podcast).
A Beautiful Anarchy Podcast
Focus: A mostly-weekly kick in the pants for anyone desiring to create anything with soul.”
Host: David duChemin
Avg. Episode Length: 20 mins.
Link: https://www.abeautifulanarchy.com
Last but certainly not least on my list is A Beautiful Anarchy podcast by David duChemin. A former theology student who moonlighted as a juggler and magician while in seminary, duChemin eventually decided to follow his creative stirrings, becoming a well-known photographer and author before eventually starting his podcast. His own show bio describes A Beautiful Anarchy as a “mostly-weekly kick in the pants” for creatives – but the truth is these episodes are less kicks in the rear and more like free, chopped wood for anyone building a fire.
Failure is frequently discussed – and celebrated. Doubts are named, and thanked. Encouragement is constant, genuine, and heartfelt. Episodes stand perfectly on their own; there is no need to listen in order. During the heights of the pandemic, when I felt the most like creativity and inner work simply didn’t matter, duChemin’s podcast gave me hope, encouraged me to keep trying, and reminded me to focus on the artistic process, not the final outcome.
Important to note – while duChemin draws frequently from his own experiences as a photographer, this podcast caters to creatives of all kinds.
Conclusion
It may be a bit early for anyone to start counting the silver linings that came with COVID. I’ll just state here that I am thankful for the momentary pause in regularly scheduled programming, which led to me discovering the awesome people behind the three podcasts above.
I know I’ll keep listening to them long after the pandemic’s over! I hope you might find them interesting as well.
Thanks as always for reading.
-Rian