Wow, Season 1 is in the books! 8 episodes of inspiration, insight and laughter--and LOTS to reflect upon.
Wow, Season 1 is in the books! 8 episodes of inspiration, insight and laughter--and LOTS to reflect upon.
Season 1 Reflection
Britt: [00:00:00] So remarkably we've come to the end of season one of the podcast. We've had some really unforgettable [00:00:15] conversations with folks and we thought we'd spend a little bit of time just reflecting on the entirety of the season. What's stuck with us.
What are some things that were really transformational in those conversations? Mya do you want to kick us off?
Mya: First off I'm I [00:00:30] will say that I am sad that we have already come to the end of season one, but I agree. I have really enjoyed the conversations and one of the things that sticks with me is I look back and think about all the people that we talked to, I [00:00:45] remember the joy of laughter in the sharing.
I think a lot of times I don't always have a positive image of my educational journey. And just having conversations with all of our guests. About their journeys and, the [00:01:00] places where they felt like, yeah, I don't know why I did this, but I did this or I'm going to fail and it's okay.
And being able to just have perspective enough To be able to laugh about it at this point. It inspires me because I [00:01:15] don't always think that I know when I will reach that point, but I feel like now I can see that there is that point and I will eventually get there. So some of the joy and just the laughter and reminding me that I will be able to [00:01:30] arrive at that at some point in the future.
Britt: One of the things that really sticks with me is something that actually our first guest OMI shared with us, which is the idea that we are our ancestors greatest hope and wish. And that's [00:01:45] really stuck with me because I think the continuity and the arc and the way in which. Almost every story wove through a history of people's families and their own experiences.
And in some cases even going back further than that, and [00:02:00] also pointed toward the future and why they do what they do. It's just a really remarkable group of people that we have had a chance to talk to over the last several months. And I just feel very honored to be able to have been a part of those conversations.
Mya: Yeah. And the idea about the [00:02:15] ancestors us being their best hope is something that I. Respond to as well, I was just having a conversation and we were talking about, the gifts that we have from our family or the things that make [00:02:30] us special. And one of the things that I found really interesting about all of our guests is that it is very clear.
That they all really care about people as people, it doesn't matter where they are, [00:02:45] who they are, what they're doing. They care genuinely and deeply about people. And I often feel like. In the professional world that I sometimes feel like I'm on an island, I share the same sentiment. [00:03:00] And it's just really encouraging to know that there are people out there who care about people and are thinking about people and want to do for people.
And even though they have, these tremendous accomplishments, they're still very [00:03:15] grounded and wanting to connect with people and that is exciting and encouraging, particularly in the times that we live in that there are people out there in all different disciplines, and doing all different types of work [00:03:30] that care about people because people are everywhere and people need connection.
And no matter where they are, who they are.
Britt: It's so interesting. How one of the really present common themes for me is around learning and how each one of our [00:03:45] guests has and had this very particular approach to their life challenges. And seeing them as learning opportunities and perhaps that wasn't how they experienced it at the time. But certainly upon reflection, seeing certain pivotal points [00:04:00] is as being opportunities to grow and deepen their resolve and sense of their own purpose and humanity and made them who they are.
And. A lot gets talked about when it when we're speaking about learning and [00:04:15] how we have to always be in a learning frame of mind and see what happens to us as being for us and at the same time hearing the actual stories of people and how they've done that and how they've overcome that. And of course the [00:04:30] organizing principle being many of these challenges happened in the context of formal academic training.
If I'm can be fully transparent that this podcast in season one was very successful. And I think that being able to [00:04:45] hear from people and share those stories and really hope that those who have joined us in sort of real time along the last several months, but also those who will be able to hear these stories with course the intent of this pod being an [00:05:00] evergreen pod where can be listened to at any point in the future, that people will also be able to derive the same kind of inspiration from hearing these stories.
Mya: One of the things that also resonates with me is for all of the guests that we [00:05:15] talked to, oftentimes as we go through these advanced trainings, we are shaped or forced to think of this as the primary thing, the thing that is most important and that defines us, and it was just so interesting to [00:05:30] hear the different ways in which the various guest place that accomplishment in the broader context of what they do. Some people don't even use the PhD in their titles [00:05:45] or descriptions or job things and others do. And, as I consider the ways in which that I talk to people about the value of graduate education or. When people are asking about job prospects or, I'm coaching or [00:06:00] mentoring, it's just an additional perspective of helping people to understand that this doesn't have to define you.
It doesn't have to be all that you're about, and everybody placed it a little bit [00:06:15] differently, w related to it a little bit differently and that diversity and that broad organization I think may help people find the ways in which, and begin to think about how they might orient [00:06:30] themselves to that training, that credential in ways that may, they may not have thought of before.
And if the podcast has helped people do that, which I hope it has then. To me that would be successful because it [00:06:45] would be about individuals making their own meaning about what that experience means to them in the context of their own journeys.
Britt: I've really enjoyed hearing the feedback from some of our listeners about How they've experienced some of these [00:07:00] conversations and the takeaways and the insights have been really great to see how the conversations that we're having with our guests are rippling out and shaping and reshaping people's perspective and not purely about the academy. [00:07:15] Graduate education but more and more importantly, I think their lives and their purpose in life.
So again, I think season one has been such a wonderful revelation and being able to move from a little kernel of a thought about what it might look [00:07:30] like and be, and then thinking are all of our guests for being willing to join us in a conversation on a podcast that no one had ever heard of.
Mya: Yeah, and I think, as we think about where to go from here for our next [00:07:45] season, and as we think about next guests, I think our final guest who has advanced medical training was just an interesting different direction. And I think, as we continue to consider our guests and stories and [00:08:00] perspectives different types of advanced training, I think could be useful to explore.
And because yeah, Everybody's got a story. And I think there are some things that just are different between [00:08:15] undergrad and advanced training, no matter the field. And so I think that would be interesting to think about in terms of future guests.
Britt: Absolutely. And just even how we take the learning from our experience [00:08:30] and our preparation.
And I don't know, I guess how we've shown up as conversationalists in these interviews. I know certainly for myself, I've learned a lot about that process. And what goes into. being able to hold space in that [00:08:45] way so that those conversations can be most generative.
Mya: Yeah. And as each guest has said that they felt like it was a conversation more than interview. So to me that's successful. And if we can [00:09:00] continue to whatever we are doing in the ways that we're showing up and the questions that we have and in some respects, I feel also Putting ourselves aside and really drawing out the guests and their stories and being able to [00:09:15] share those.
Because I think that's what people show up to here and they're, far more interesting, I think, and over the course of the season, I think I became more comfortable with that. And so that for me is something that I am [00:09:30] looking to continue to improve upon in season two as well. So there's my growth.
Britt: And, congratulations to us for the successful completion of it full season with episodes. [00:09:45] No small feat, indeed the commitment and the willingness to show up. So thank you, Mya for making this possible. Yeah.
Mya: Thanks for the partnership on the idea. Like just the conversation imagining, where this all started.
I don't know, [00:10:00] last year, the end of last year as an idea. And I've never done a podcast before you did a lot studying and training to do this and have been a really great, just conversational and thought partner and also the [00:10:15] technical expert behind all of the editing and producing as well.
And we couldn't have been able to do that without you and that commitment and the speed with what you could do it as well from, the interview or the conversation [00:10:30] to putting it up. Thank you Britt for all of that work.
Britt: Knowing just enough to not know enough at all, and to get myself in trouble.
So that may be something to think about improving on for [00:10:45] season two. Or perhaps we can bring in an actual producer to, to make it even better. So as we wrap up season one want to thank everybody for making the time to join us on this journey and to listen about what it means [00:11:00] to reimagine the academy and also live a life of purpose.
So thank you. And we look forward to seeing you again in season two. [00:11:30] [00:11:15]