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100. 100 Episodes and Beyond- With Kendra Rinaldi
77 Plays3 years ago
Celebrating 100 episodes of the podcast!!
On this episode I share what I've learned about grief in the last 2 years of interviewing over 100 people. I also share the process of creating each episode as well as my interview process.
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https://www.griefgratitudeandthegrayinbetween.com/
Thank you once again for being on this journey with me!!
Excited for what's to come!!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to the Grief Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
When I launched this podcast, I honestly felt there was a need for this type of platform to be out there. Something I had personally not seen, but maybe I had not even looked for as much was this, like podcasts in which people were talking more openly about grief.
00:00:22
Speaker
talking more openly about death as well. And also, the relation of grief, not just being associated with death, was something that was crucial for me. And if you guys ever hear in my intro, it says, you know, changes and transitions that people have experienced. So I don't say deaths in that intro, it's just changes or transitions that shift our life.
Exploring Grief Beyond Death
00:00:52
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Grief, Gratitude, and the Gray in Between podcast. This podcast is about exploring the grief that occurs at different times in our lives in which we have had major changes and transitions that literally shake us to the core and make us experience grief.
00:01:15
Speaker
I created this podcast for people to feel a little less hopeless and alone in their own grief process as they hear the stories of others who have had similar journeys. I'm Kendra Rinaldi, your host. Now, let's dive right in to today's episode.
Podcast Milestones
00:01:37
Speaker
Welcome to episode number 100, 100th episode of Grief Gratitude and the Gray in between. I am so happy you all are here. This episode will be a solo episode. I believe this is probably only my third episode in which it's just me talking. The other three
00:01:58
Speaker
Two, I think I've done maybe three because I did one in Spanish as well. We're just in introduction to what the podcast was about. And the other ones were regarding Mother's Day that I did a solo one then. So I am actually not used to me being the only one talking. I'm usually more comfortable interviewing someone than I am chatting myself. But I wanted to do this
00:02:28
Speaker
hundredth one myself because honestly i would have not known which even episode to choose to be the one hundredth episode i do have a little several that i pre-recorded but also because it is also two years since i launched the podcast and thought it would be a good opportunity
00:02:46
Speaker
to be able to talk a little bit with you all about this process and what it has meant to me, as well as sharing a little bit of the ins and outs that go into recording an episode. These are questions I'm sometimes asked, as well as how I find guests to be on the podcast. And also just a little bit of my learnings and what I've learned in this
Early Episodes and Guests
00:03:10
Speaker
process. So that's what this short solo episode will be about.
00:03:16
Speaker
So I'm going to start at the beginning, which was March 2020 when this podcast was launched. The first person I interviewed was my brother. So that was the first episodes, and plural, there were two episodes that were released with my brother. And those were regarding the topic of the grief he experienced when our sister passed away.
00:03:46
Speaker
And he was seven years old when that occurred, so it was him recounting what it was, the grief through the eyes of a child, as that one's called. And then the other episode was him sharing the experience after our mom passed away. So in that episode, you guys also, the listeners, got to hear a little bit about my own grief journey since I was talking to a member of my family.
00:04:10
Speaker
I have yet to interview my dad and my sister, and they have, of course, stories as well, and they will, I'm sure, come on at one point or another. But that was, again, the beginning of this podcast. From there on, I ended up interviewing people that I knew, some that I knew through work and stuff, and people that I had related
00:04:37
Speaker
with, you know, had interactions with or had conversations with regarding grief and as well as friends. So the first guests were primarily people I knew. As I launched the Instagram account and started
00:04:57
Speaker
interacting with other people that were in the grief space either because they were grief coaches or they themselves had podcasts or they were following podcasts like this because they had their own grief journey.
00:05:18
Speaker
Then I started to get requests to be people to be on the podcast. And then I would also then find stories and friend them on Instagram and connect that way in order for them to be on the podcast. So those were some of the other interactions that occurred. And so some of the guests that you've heard have been primarily because of those connections on Instagram.
00:05:48
Speaker
Then the other type of connections I've had and other guests I've had have been authors.
Connecting with Influential Guests
00:05:56
Speaker
Several authors that have contacted me, either they themselves or their publishers and so forth or their agents in order for them to be on this space. And that for me was quite, let me just say humbling. I'm going to cry.
00:06:15
Speaker
It was really humbling. It was one of those pivotal moments when people started reaching out to me to be on the podcast in which I was like, oh my gosh, the fact that they even found the podcast and want to share about their book on the podcast means so much. And this was probably a little bit less than a year into the podcast that I already started to get these requests.
00:06:38
Speaker
and it just felt so amazing and honestly a lot of times you know the whole imposter syndrome would creep in as well as I would do that interviewing people that I'm like oh my gosh like this person's been interviewed on Good Morning America or Today Show or whatever you know things like that that I'm like
00:06:57
Speaker
How am I going to interview this author? They have so much experience and doing all these imposter syndrome that a lot of us end up going through. But the reality is that the one thing that we all
00:07:15
Speaker
and that I've had in common with everyone that's been on the podcast is that we all share a grief journey. Even if that's a different type of grief, we all understand that we have that commonality, and therefore I can just relate to that. I can relate to people's stories and their journeys, and that's how the interviews are formed.
00:07:41
Speaker
So let me share with you a little bit about the interview process.
Interview Style and Guest Promotion
00:07:46
Speaker
If you've been hearing this podcast a while, you may know that I do not prepare questions. I believe I've only maybe written questions down twice and it has been from authors twice, maybe three times, authors of books that were sent to me months prior to the interview that after I read the book, then I'd had some notes and I would then relate back to that.
00:08:09
Speaker
But there's, for example, other authors I've interviewed that I've not read their book prior to interviewing just because of the timeliness of when they schedule the interview and me not honestly having all the time in the world to read every single book that I am given prior to interviewing the person. That's just a reality. I wish I could read everyone's book, but it actually doesn't happen to be the case all the time.
00:08:38
Speaker
But anyhow, so my interview process is normally the following. I tell the guests, there's a few back and forth after the person has already scheduled their appointment, which they just got on my website and scheduled a time slot to record.
00:08:55
Speaker
Then I send them an email letting them know where we're going to record. As of now, we've been using a platform called Zencaster, only a few interviews. We've had to use Zoom just based on people, you know, the Zencaster not working or somebody not having the appropriate setup for using Zencaster. And then we go into, and in that email, then I request for them to send me their bio and their picture because that's what I use on Instagram and on Facebook to promote the episode.
00:09:25
Speaker
So if you were ever curious, I was like, Oh, what does this person look like? I know. I know. Like my dad, for example, is like, I want to know people look like I'm like, Oh, I post their picture on Instagram and Facebook. It doesn't show up on the podcast platforms, but it does show up on the social media platforms. So.
00:09:43
Speaker
make sure that if you've heard these interviews and you're like, I'm so curious what this person looks like, or I'd like to connect more with that person, either go to Instagram or just go to even just the links I share in the show notes, their websites are there and that way you can connect with those individuals yourself as well.
Grief from Life Transitions
00:10:00
Speaker
So anyway, so in that back and forth, I let them know that the overall kind of arch of the conversation will be what was their grief
00:10:11
Speaker
journey or story. And again, as you have learned from this podcast, it's not all these stories or interviews I share have to do with death. And some of them don't have anything specific that you're like, oh, is that grief or not? Because sometimes it's career changes, but yes, there's grief in that. There's a change, right? So remember that when you're listening to this, you might think like, where does this fit into that?
00:10:37
Speaker
It's basically anything that's happened in someone's life that's made them either pivot or shift or grow or experience then some form of gratitude in the process of this shift or change. Anyhow, the overall umbrella of the conversation is always, what was the situation?
00:10:58
Speaker
what were some of the tools this person used in that process and then the kind of the arch of this conversation will be what were the learnings, what was the growth, or what were the aspects of gratitude from going through that experience. So that is pretty much all the guests get from the podcast. That's it. That's all they get before they hop on an interview with me.
00:11:26
Speaker
Then from there on, it's just a matter of a conversation. The reason I'm sharing all these details is because I do have friends that have then launched their own podcast and have even asked me, how do you do it?
Podcast Production and Editing
00:11:42
Speaker
How do you do it? That's why I'm sharing in case you as a listener are even curious as to how it is that
00:11:48
Speaker
so you could have a podcast yourself. So in that conversation, that's the thing. It's like, don't we all just talk? Don't we have conversations? Do we plan out our conversations if we meet a friend for dinner? Do we plan out our conversations if we got for coffee? Do we plan our conversation if we go and buy coffee and we're talking to the person
00:12:10
Speaker
that's selling as a coffee or the person at the grocery store and we have a conversation about the day and this and that. No, it's like you listen and then you ask. So that is basically what this whole journey has been for me, has just been asking, listening, and when they're sharing, anything that comes up in their share, another question comes up and then it's just that conversation. But for me, having that overall
00:12:36
Speaker
an arch again of what the conversation is going to be about that also guides me as to what questions I ask throughout and also trying to maintain it to be about not more than an hour long conversation. Now, with some exceptions, as you have seen in the podcast, there has been some exceptions.
00:12:57
Speaker
I think my longest episode was one that was like two and a half hours that I was able to shave off 30 minutes of and edit it to two. But in general, that is what I try to do. But also respecting that everyone has a story and sometimes you know these guests is sometimes the first time ever that someone's sharing their story in this way.
00:13:19
Speaker
So also knowing that this space is not only for you as listeners to be able to learn and relate to someone's story, but also it is a space for the person that is sharing to have this process of their story to be, you know, being heard.
00:13:41
Speaker
And especially when it comes to the death of a loved one, when someone gets to share their loved one's name and their story is just so important. And I hold space for them in that process. So that's why sometimes then interviews can go a little longer than planned. But that gives you an idea of the interview process. Now, the back and forth of the communication plus the recording plus the editing
00:14:11
Speaker
The whole process can take about three hours. So when you're listening to an episode, know that there's been about three hours of work put into each episode. The reason I share this is because sometimes we undervalue the time that it goes to people that produce something like TV shows, movies, that goes into
00:14:36
Speaker
getting this out there, books, all the process that goes into that. Even eating, even food, when we go and eat at a restaurant, we forget all the time that's even taken for that food to even get to our plate, not just from the kitchen, but even just the fact that it was
00:14:56
Speaker
It has traveled sometimes miles and miles you know of a produce coming from another country to then end up on your plate and we really disregard that time that goes into things. So by maybe you guys understanding a little bit of that process also when you're listening to an episode or you wonder
00:15:14
Speaker
How come there's no more, you know, there's only one episode a week? Now you know why. Because my husband does have a full-time job. He's my editor here, my producer after we, you know, when we record, he helps me produce the podcast, make sure that it sounds right.
00:15:29
Speaker
So he can only edit on his days off. So therefore that is where it is. That's where we're at now. Eventually, if something shifts and in the process, then maybe we can have somebody else do that and we can launch more episodes so that you all can get more of these juicy connections. I had a friend named Nikki who would love the word juicy. And every time I say juicy, I think of her as like,
00:15:56
Speaker
Oh, do you have any juicy stories? So if she ever listens to this episode, she'll know I'm talking about her. But anyhow, so that is the production part of the podcast. Now you know the time it took. And now I want to share with you guys a little more of my learnings in this process.
00:16:18
Speaker
Oy vey, oy vey, as they say. So when I launched this podcast, I honestly felt there was a need for this type of platform to be out there.
The Need for Grief Discussions
00:16:33
Speaker
Something I had personally not seen, but maybe I had not even looked for as much was this, like podcasts in which people were talking more openly about grief.
00:16:42
Speaker
talking more openly about death as well. Also, the relation of grief, not just being associated with death was something that was crucial for me. If you guys ever hear in my intro, it says changes and transitions that people have experienced. I don't say deaths in that intro. It's just changes or transitions that shift our life.
00:17:09
Speaker
That part for me was extremely important that would come across in these episodes and these interviews was that grief occurs in different areas of our life and at different times. So anyway, that was why I launched the podcast. Now, once I launched it and once I had the Instagram going and so forth, I started seeing that there were other platforms. I don't know when these are, not other platforms, sorry, other podcasts as well.
00:17:39
Speaker
that we're talking about the topic of grief. Now, I do not know if they all launched around the same time. I don't know because as I was even kind of researching even to put this out there, I didn't see that many first off when I was first starting to do it. So I think there was a need and a lot of us
00:18:00
Speaker
basically came out with these offerings of podcasts or blogs or articles on newspapers, things like that regarding the topic of grief or Instagram accounts that people share because there was a need out there.
00:18:15
Speaker
And it was so timely because then also it was right around the time then of the pandemic and people really needing to feel heard and relate to someone else of what they were going through. Loss of jobs, loss of identity, loss of freedoms, things like that that came up during that time of being quarantined and world kind of shutting down. People not being able to see their families for years at a time and so forth.
00:18:44
Speaker
this was really really needed i believe during that period and of course it's a conversation that continues to go on and will continue to to to happen so um some of the things i've well so that was one of the things i've learned i learned that there was definitely a need for sure
00:19:02
Speaker
The other thing I have learned is that I could basically, personally, as I'm interviewing someone in the podcast, again, I can relate to almost any one story, some way or another, even if whatever they've experienced is very different than
Unique Yet Universal Grief Experiences
00:19:22
Speaker
mine. And it's because there's some type of human emotion associated with what they've gone through that I've also experienced myself.
00:19:29
Speaker
That is another one of the learnings is that I feel I've been able to relate in some way, shape or form to every single one of the guests. And as of now, I have interviewed over 100 people. It's just I have not released all of the episodes with every single interview.
00:19:47
Speaker
yet, but in those stories, I've learned so much as well about the resilience of the human spirit and how amazing, amazing humans are that we can go through so much and somehow or another find gratitude in that process, you know, or after having experienced that.
00:20:17
Speaker
I have had so many guests that just leave me in awe. I've gotten goosebumps when I'm talking to guests. It's just a lot of learning and soul-touching moments for me.
00:20:32
Speaker
And so those are some of the things that I've learned. And really the one thing that is definitely a common thread is that grief is so unique to the person experiencing it. So that journey of each individual is just very unique.
00:20:55
Speaker
And even though we might find, again, some little commonalities here or there, everyone is going to experience it differently. So that has been a common thread throughout, has been that of knowing how unique each story is. And that's the reason that I could probably interview, you know,
00:21:14
Speaker
I don't know, 100 people on the death, let's say, of a sibling. And each one will have had a very unique experience of how they navigated their grief journey, even though they all lost a sibling. And the same could be for loss of job or divorce or anything like that, right? So everyone has a very unique way in which they navigate that.
00:21:41
Speaker
And it does come a lot. It has a lot, sorry to do with our upbringing.
00:21:48
Speaker
our own personality, because again, an upbringing, siblings could all have been in the same household, same parents, and yet everybody experiences the death of either their parent or somebody in their family very differently because it's so unique to you and your own personality and your own interpretation of the world and how you see the world in your eyes.
00:22:11
Speaker
So I find that just so intriguing how we can get so many different perspectives out of the same experience. So now I wanted to share and also thank you all. First of all, I upload my podcast on a platform called SoundCloud. And from there is where it goes to all the other platforms.
00:22:37
Speaker
Now on here, I get insights about the podcast and how many listens and so forth. And there's some episodes that get heard a lot more than others. A lot of times probably has to do with just how much even just the guest themselves shares with their circle of friends.
00:23:00
Speaker
That's probably primarily what it is, not because that story necessary is not about that story not being relatable. It's just usually if that guest themselves have shared it with others. And how big their circle of influence is as well. But the thing that probably shocked me the most when I first kind of looked at these insights of the podcast and the statistics
00:23:29
Speaker
was the amount of countries in which this podcast has been listened, has been heard. It's actually now over 60 countries that have heard the podcast. Just to give you an idea, the one that right now is tied to the least right now in the top 60 right now that I have here,
00:23:56
Speaker
are like Dominican Republic and Taiwan. But other than that, there's Kenya, Morocco, Norway, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Thailand, Israel, Nigeria, Chile, Ecuador, Ghana, Guatemala.
00:24:15
Speaker
The amount of countries just like is amazing. And I love that because that really goes to show that we all our stories connect us. Our stories connect us. And for those of you that have been guests and have shared your story here, just know that someone in this and another country that you have probably not even heard of,
00:24:41
Speaker
has heard your story and that they've connected to that. And that for me is like, wow. So, of course, the United States just because this is where I launched the podcast is and because it is in English is the one that has and actually a lot of my guests are from the United States is the one that has the most listeners followed by Canada and then Colombia, which is where I'm from. So that that doesn't surprise me there. And then followed by the UK, Ireland, Mexico.
00:25:12
Speaker
Germany, Belgium, and we can go on France, Australia, Spain. Those are kind of like the top, top countries there, top 10 countries probably that I've just listed. So that is just amazing.
Listener Engagement and Community
00:25:25
Speaker
And that is really also because of you, the listeners, because when you've heard this podcast and it's touched your heart, you shared with someone else and you're having an impact on their life as well.
00:25:38
Speaker
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much for that, for sharing these stories with others. And I'm just extremely grateful of this journey and extremely grateful for what is to come in.
00:25:54
Speaker
what continues to be this podcast and how it continues to evolve. As you're hearing this episode, if you feel your story would be one that you'd like to share, or if you ever have any suggestions of stories you might have not heard, please email me at griefgratitudepodcast.gmail.com
00:26:16
Speaker
and let me know what kind of stories of grief and gratitude you'd like to be here as well, or if you would like to share your own. And also, if you'd like to support the podcast in any shape or form, I do have some merchandise that I've created with the slogan, Gratitude Flips the Switch. We've got cups.
00:26:41
Speaker
sweatshirts, t-shirts, and you can help that way. Or if you go on my Instagram account of grief, gratitude, podcast, Instagram, you will also see there's a way in which you can support the podcasts there through PayPal. So those are ways in which you can
00:27:05
Speaker
help out if you ever feel called to, if you feel that this is something you want to keep listening to as well. Again, thank you. I'm Kendra Rinaldi, your host, and I am extremely grateful for all of your support in the last two years.
00:27:23
Speaker
and celebrating with me this 100th episode of the podcast. Grief, gratitude and the gray in between. May have a blessed day and week and year and month and years ahead and wishing you all the best. Thank you again.
00:27:47
Speaker
Thank you again so much for choosing to listen today. I hope that you can take away a few nuggets from today's episode that can bring you comfort in your times of grief. If so, it would mean so much to me if you would rate and comment on this episode. And if you feel inspired in some way to share it with someone
00:28:12
Speaker
who may need to hear this, please do so. Also, if you or someone you know has a story of grief and gratitude that should be shared so that others can be inspired as well, please reach out to me. And thanks once again for tuning into Grief Gratitude and the Gray in Between podcast. Have a beautiful day.