Lifestyle, food and drink, and our family life and travel adventures.
Anyone who lives quite a bit of their life online will know that podcasts are pretty huge right now. They have probably been popular for a couple of years now, but I really feel like this year they have become much more mainstream, and anyone who is anyone has a podcast themselves.
Until recently though I really wasn’t particularly interested in them, and didn’t really see why I would choose to listen to something rather than watch something. The medium just didn’t appeal to me.
That was until one weekend I was clearing some stuff out in our house (story of my life – will the clutter ever be gone?!) and wanted to listen to something, but not have to keep an eye on the thing on the screen. Enter Podcasts. I’d also heard a lot of people talk about the ‘Serial’ podcast, so despite thinking it wasn’t my type of thing, I thought I’d give it a go, which I did – and I became so absorbed, so quickly, that I didn’t want to speak to my family for the rest of the day. Tidying and sorting suddenly became way less boring as I was gripped by the fascinating and confusing story of Adnan Syed.
I really hadn’t believed that just listening to something could have me so engrossed, especially so quickly, but I really loved it and listened to the whole thing in a couple of days, and was a bit gutted when it was over.
That was a few months ago now, and since then I have been as captivated by podcasts as everybody else. I love being home alone and having something to take my mind off the dull as dishwater washing up, but not having to concentrate on a screen. I have learnt lots, and I think it is probably one of the few times I am not looking at some kind of screen; so it’s good for me too.
So after that incredibly fascinating story of how I got into them, I thought I would share with you my top 3 podcasts from my listening journey, so far.
Liz Earle MBE has been a respected authority in the world of beauty, natural nutrition and wellbeing for over twenty years. Her podcast (or as she calls it – her audio wellbeing magazine) features guests who are experts on many different and fascinating topics on health and wellbeing – from gut health (which I am now hugely interested in!), to free range dairy, the menopause, and food labels.
I’ve learnt so much from these episodes, but they’re also really interesting to listen to. My family’s health is so important to me, and I’ve been interested in natural health for a long time now, so I love these. I have started drinking Kefir Milk and Kombucha since listening to Liz’s podcast, and finding out more about them and their potential health benefits, as well as buying her newest book ‘The Good Gut Guide‘ which I’m really enjoying.
I do need to concentrate more when I’m listening to Wellness with Liz Earle, than I do with some of the other more lighthearted, chatty ones, so I can’t always listen (especially if A is around!), but I find it all so interesting that I don’t want to miss anything!
Find it here.
I love Lily and Anna and have watched them both on Youtube and read their lovely lifestyle blogs for years. This year they brought out a great podcast together, where they have a different guest on each week and they explore their amazing homes whilst chatting about their lives, together.
The first season has recently finished, and they have had a great selection of interesting and successful women on each week, including the brilliant make-up artist Lisa Eldridge, Jo Elvin the editor of Glamour magazine, and the lovely Giovanna Fletcher. I love that they have the base of the guests home to chat about, as there’s so much to discuss and find out about from someone’s home and how it all relates to their life and who they are.
Listen here on iTunes or on the Acast app here.
Like I mentioned earlier, Serial (season one) is the podcast that got me into podcasts in the first place, and I loved it so much. Serial is the story of Adnan Syed in Baltimore in 1999. Hae Min Lee, a popular high-school senior, disappears after school one day. Six weeks later detectives arrest her classmate and ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, for her murder.
It is incredibly fascinating and I really love how it is narrated. It had me gripped from start to finish (although I was slightly disappointed in the slightly abrupt ending – although this is real life) and I just couldn’t stop listening and wanting to find out more. I was so disappointed when it ended as I wasn’t expecting it, and I’d love for some kind of follow-up if there were ever anything to add.
Listen to seasons 1 and 2, here.
Some other podcasts I’ve been listening to and enjoying recently:
I have loads more that I’m subscribed to but haven’t listened to yet. I’ve heard great things about ‘Hashtag Authentic‘ from Sara Tasker, which doesn’t surprise me as Sara is great and really knows her stuff about blogging and Instagram in particular. I really want to listen to the second season of Serial which is completely unrelated to season one, as well as S-Town who is by the same people.
I love that I’ve found a few recently that are more parenting and family related. I like hearing from mums with differing opinions and experiences – even though I sometimes really disagree with them, it’s great to hear from them in a such an honest way, where they are just chatting, rather than in say a highly edited magazine article.
But yes, I’ve kind of fallen in love with podcasts a little bit recently – they’ve kind of changed my life a little bit to be honest (and maybe being slightly dramatic), but I just think they’re brilliant and I’m so glad more and more people are doing them.
I’d actually really love to start my own one day – I would absolutely love to chat to some of my (non-celeb) mum and dad friends about parenting and other things too.
Do you listen to podcasts? Do you have any favourites I haven’t mentioned? I’m always looking for new ones to enjoy so please share in the comments!
Welcome to Birds and Lilies! I'm Lou: mother, blogger and freelance writer. This is my lifestyle blog, where I talk about motherhood, infertility and IVF, beauty, my love for food and wine, as well as my thoughts about stuff, and our real-life and travel adventures.
Contact: [email protected]
