The Great Responsibility of Storytelling - Behind The Pod

As Seamus and I were doing our normal, pre-episode prep at a cafe in Grey Lynn - I felt the tears start to flow.

The emotional wight of the space we were operating in undid me.

Eighteen hours earlier I'd been recording a 'legacy interview' - the beautiful personal journey of a 70-year old mother of four, filled with twists and turns - to be treasured by her family for generations to come.

And now we were about to do the same, for a woman the same age as me, with kids the same age as mine, who was fighting a terminal cancer diagnosis.

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We take great responsibility in getting the telling of these stories right. 

And that carries with it a significant emotional toll. It's changed my aptitude for depth in everyday conversation.

This podcast journey has strengthened my relationships with friends. Meaningful conversations feel more important. The mundane, less so.

As we prepared for Lauren we knew there would be big questions needing answered. There would be intense passages that would challenge our perspective on mortality. It was going to be hard. It was going to be important.

But they were beautiful tears. Leaning into the art of story-telling has been the most fulfilling job of my life. Our episode we released this week with Lauren Rae is one I will never forget.

She flew over from Australia to record with us. She trusted us with her story. She delivered one of the most powerful eps we've ever produced.

Here is some of our favourite feedback so far:

“This episode floored me. Living for true connection with others, analysis of what’s important and what your values are, being kind and forgiving, but having the guts to be ruthless in the pursuit of all that! That was a special, special episode!”

“The Lauren Rae episode, wow. What an absolutely amazing woman. Her sheer determination and fight for life is something else. And she's just so real. Tears were rolling down my face as she talked about how scared she was of leaving her daughter if the dreaded 'C' was to get its way. I lost my Mum to it 19 years ago and recently my Dad aswell, so it really did hit a spot.
She is one gutsy lady and hearing her battles really does make you want to just fucking live life the absolute maximum.  Thank you guys so much for bringing this to us all”

Next week’s guest:

Next week's episode isn't any less epic. 

You may know Mark Stafford as a Senz radio host, or as the face of the TAB for 20 years. But his 'behind the scenes' story will blow you away....

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