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I'm sure this pandemic has been stressful for everyone. Hope everyone has found some way to cope. I used to hang out with friends, take a fun class, go to a show, or travel to unload some stress but since I can't do any of that right now, I thought maybe a relaxing podcast might help. Anyone have a good podcast they find soothing but isn't too cheesey?
The Mental Illness Happy Hour - It not strictly about mental illness. Also, the 10% Happier Podcast with Dan Harris gets into stress and the pandemic a LOT.
This may sound a little weird as it is not a pandemic or even psychology-related podcast but I like to listen to Clark Howard. His show is related to personal finance (his motto is that he helps you save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off), but something about his optimism (without being an over=the-top motivational drill sergeant) and upbeat, calm, and encouraging personality is refreshing.
It's a podcast about little elements of the man-made world that people might not think much about or even notice, but that have interesting histories behind them. I'll link a few of my favorite episodes.
"Reverb": why certain kinds of rooms have better acoustics than others (for music, recording, etc.) and the embarrassing circumstance that led to us figuring out how that works. https://99percentinvisible.org/episo...ral-acoustics/
"H-Day": the day in 1967 when Sweden switched from driving on the left to the right, and why different countries have chosen to drive on one side or the other. https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/h-day/
I agree that 99% Invisible is a great choice. Roman Mars' voice is so soothing.
I also enjoy The Moth - Real people telling real stories in front of an audience. Some are funny, some are touching.
Poetry Unbound is a sweet podcast where the Irish host reads a poem, briefly discusses the poem and then reads it again. His voice is lovely and the episodes are typically 10 - 15 minutes.
I don't enjoy This American Life as much as I used to as many of the episodes are quite political now and that is NOT what I want from my podcast time!
I like weird things. So my suggestion might not appeal to everyone. But I love "Welcome to Night Vale." I especially like to listen to it while working on mundane or repetitive tasks, like a tedious phase of data crunching for work. It slides right into the available bandwidth in my brain, perfectly.
It's a "radio show" that is based in the fictitious town of Night Vale. It's like this isolated desert small town where you're not allowed to enter the dog park or look directly at the hooded figures, the Sheriff's Secret Police have our best interests at heart, wheat products are dangerous or something, knowledge of angels is forbidden, and a glow cloud (All Hail!) is on the PTA. The radio station has a cat named Khoshekh who hovers four feet above the ground in the men's room. The weather is always the same, so in every episode when the host says, "And now, the weather" instead of anything like weather, a song by some indie musician will play. They had a mayoral race between the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home, and Hiram McDaniels, a literal five headed dragon, in which neither of them won, and they once had to fight off a hostile takeover by Strex Corp, the company that makes everyone worship a smiling god and live to be productive.
It's got this oddly soothing quality to it for me, that is the way the narrator speaks combined with the background music. I find it very relaxing to listen to.
But again...I like weird things. I don't know if you do, or not.
I listen to Welcome to Night Vale while I do dishes. Also ditto on This American Life and 99% Invisible. I've also recently gotten into Reply All, which is short episodes about technology and culture, and You're Wrong About, where they take a deeper dive into things that we think we know.
As for true crime, I like Casefile. The Aussie narrator's voice is very soothing, and the stories are not gruesome or sensationalistic.
I found an episode of Criminal strangely soothing too.
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