At first, I wasn't the biggest fan of podcasts. My mind tends to wander 24/7, so how can you expect me to sit down and listen to two strangers bantering on my headphones for over an hour? Like many of you, I preferred just listening to the carefully curated playlists I created for myself on Spotify. There's only one problem with this:
Listening to the same old songs day after day gets so unbearably boring and tedious.
So one night, during a long drive to the beach in the middle of the summer, my boyfriend put on a podcast featuring Chuck Palahniuk, the author of "Fight Club." And I was transfixed. Sure, my mind wandered at first instead of actually paying attention to every single word, yet once the initial plugs and advertisements were over with, I was surprised at how much of what was being said resonated with me.
Listening to a podcast gives the same inspirational energy as listening to a TED Talk or a particularly motivating professor's lecture might. Picking a subject you're interested in shouldn't be hard, with the vast amount of content that's being uploaded to Spotify and Apple Music (among other platforms) daily. Now you can listen to conspiracy theories, serial killer MOs, or simply just two best friends being idiots during your morning commute.
Instead of zoning out the way you would by listening to music, a modicum of whatever is being said during the podcast is being absorbed by you, whether you're aware of it or not. Unlike music, which can just serve as background noise, a podcast can serve as a means to expand your mind on myriad topics that might be of particular interest to you.
Even something that you wouldn't normally care about can be riveting with the right announcer. For example, I pressed on Spotify's featured podcast of the day instead of the true crime section, and instead of exiting immediately, I gave it a chance. I ended up listening to an hour-long story about Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street, with such enthusiasm I devoured the rest of the podcasts in the series.
So go ahead, swipe from "Music" to "Podcasts" on Spotify. And thank me later.
