14-10-2023
Making Interruptions Work for You
Send us a textIf you've ever tried to record a podcast without the proper sound proofing it can be challenging. This episodes illustrated the frustrations I encounter with interruptions and how they can be good practice for resilience. The secret to happiness is also revealed. ScriptMaking a podcast is challenging in many ways but can be a particularly frustrating when you don’t have the proper sound studio set up, meaning a separate room lined in egg grates, foam squares, marshmallow peeps, or whatever soundproof material you can get your hands on. You may be at the mercy of all the noises in your immediate vicinity and sometimes ones coming from your own body. Just when you think you are in your finest podcast moment, recording the most profound, , brilliant, hopefully helpful narrative in your life -- your cat plays with a bell toy, the leaf blower next door roars for 15 minutes, and i when it finishes, the leaf blower on the other side goes off, airplanes fly by, sirens sound off, dogs bark, dump trucks thunder down the street… things fall from the sky, satellites come weirdly close to the earth, the French national anthem is serenaded by random strangers, unidentifiable sounds come out of the wall sockets, someone throws a rock through your window, your souffle' explodes, your stomach growls, and your neighbor sticks his head in the window and says Hello (voicy) You may ask, Why not use a more soundproof studio? Or you may say loudly… GET A SOUNDPROOF STUDIO. It would save a lot of time, aggravation and trouble. My answer? Putting things off until conditions are just right is not the way I roll. I like to do with what I got..My motto? ready-fire-aim! otherwise hesitation, researching, ordering, planning, constructing, testing, adjusting, decorating, the sound studio could steal the momentum. Plus it’s expensive and the cats are in possession of the spare bedroom. So yes, I end up spending time pausing, editing, cursing, and rerecording because of the unexpected sounds … but in a way, it’s lesson in patience, practice to endure, to make the best of the situation as is, to there’s a certain satisfaction in overcoming obstacles as insignificant as noises on a podcast because we all know life is filled with complications – and practice with the small ones can make us more effective with the bigger onesSo I suffer through having the sounds that end up on the reel but when the final recording comes out, it’s as if they were never there, there’s just a merry sound track playing in the background and a friendly narration with no evidence of the insanity, , profanity, throwing of things has been cut out. No one listening to the final production knows the troubles I’ve known. It’s therapeutic to be able to manipulate reality like that. Therapeutic and satisfying – then I think of the things I might edit out of my life. Things I shouldn’t have bought, or said, clutter, cat hair, bad decisions, people who turn on you, sadness, irritability, chin hairs … but I don’t want to edit those things out except the chin hairs. What would I write about? These are the grit of life, fodder for creative expression, metal waiting to alchemized to gold. They make the splendid moments splendider, the marvelous, marvelouser, the people who are on your side more treasured. For ways to triumph over distractions to your creativity, subscribe to my newsletter. Other places you can find me. Come to Italy with me October 2024Support the show Upcoming art and creativity programs www.themuseisin.com