December 20, 2022

For people to grant me an hour of their listening time each week is a total honor, and I take it seriously. I try to choose great topics and guests, and prepare for them. I am always asking myself...is the show good? Is it hitting a note? Am I being helpful? Am I offering a unique voice?

There are some signs that yes, people like it: the listener base grew 44% this year... and the best news is that all of that growth came through people sharing episode links. The ratings are strong (all 5 stars except for one 4 star). I got a little happy seeing that the show is in the number one, top 5 or top 10 pods for a lot of the listeners. Spotify tells me the listeners are Adventurers: ENVU- valuing exploration, newness, variety, uniqueness.

The top shows this year differed by platform.

The top 5 overall:

Lucia Rose Horan Drummond A Lifelong Practice: Dancing the 5 Rhythms

Susan Pizzazz Bratton Deep O! With Susan Bratton, Intimacy Coach to Millions

Nan Jacobson Wise Lit Up: Arousal, Orgasm and the Female Brain

Lizzy Jeff Rap Priestess Lizzy Jeff on Self Love and Actualization

Ele Rasco (Eleven): Non Binary Journey to Oneself

Also really well received: Ich Sukkhadas on Tools for Freedom: Tantra Psychedelics and Ice Bathing and Aviva Romm, MD on Hormone Ecology: You and the Planet.

The least listened to out of the gate were also interesting. For example, I did an episode on women and capital, and an episode on Dobbs and voting (and anything with aging or midlife in the title!) and only my loyalists listen to all of these. And the serious ones on war or sexual trauma, clergy abuse- these are in the median.

I am left with the understanding that what people want more of is how to live a full, satisfying, authentic and actualized life- a turned on life. They want to talk sex and spirit and expression and freedom. They don't want to hear from me what they can get in mainstream news, or necessarily to look into the shadow places. As I earn the listener's trust, we can move into some shadow material, but it's not the entry point.

In any creative endeavor, there can be the feeling of wanting to be excellent and falling short. The show is top 10% worldwide. But why not top 1%? Why not top in the category? And does that even matter, if it matters to a few people who are really impacted? Trying to decolonize the metric mind is hard!

In January, we will be refreshing the show - I have 30% male listeners, so we are going to be less pink. And I am growing personally- these years at Rosebud, Sundari, and the PhD have changed me- so the content will shift slightly to be more leading edge ideas and concepts. I'd also like to innovate the format, and figure out casting in other ways.

If you would join me on the journey, and grant me some of your drive time or walk time in 2023, please follow or subscribe to the podcast on any platform. Apple remains the most used, with Spotify second, so subscribing there has the most impact.

Thank you for your attention.

If you have constructive feedback on the show, content, positioning, please share it with me privately.

XO

CMM