The Serendipity of My New Podcast

I almost have a podcast to share with you, but it’s not remotely close to the podcast I planned to launch this year. In fact, I ended up tossing an entire business out the window when I realized I was never going to launch my travel wellness publication, Clove.

You may have heard me mention Clove Travel & Wellness a few times on the blog, or you may not remember it at all. Some of you might have written one of the 30 articles I had lined up for the publication’s launch, or you might have been one of the 13 guests I interviewed for the podcast.

Clove never saw the light of day because of COVID. As you can imagine, launching a travel wellness publication in the midst of a global pandemic was out of the question.

In March, I was ready to press “go.” I had a logo, a website, and tons of wonderful content from writing contributors and podcast guests. Over the next several weeks, I was in a holding pattern while I packed all of my shit to move across the country from Portland to Milwaukee.

While I stared out of the moving van window in the middle of nowhere North Dakota, I swallowed hard when I realized the bitter truth…Clove was never going to happen. All of the time, energy, and out-of-pocket costs were gone.

I could wait it out, though…right?

Hell yeah I could wait it out…forever.

When will we travel freely again? Will we ever travel freely again?

Not to mention, the strong wellness themes of the publication made me squirm. Would I dare to share carefree content about staying healthy while traveling after all of this? No thanks.

As I unloaded all of my shit into my new Milwaukee apartment, I journeyed through the emotional rollercoaster of COVID like everybody else.

The big move certainly amplified that emotional journey for me. However, my true Everest was mourning the loss of something that was never born, a business I worked on nonstop for six months straight only to see it disintegrate.

Then, what? I dried my eyes and said…

…Fuck it. I’ll do something else. Something that really matters, something that brings positivity into a world that so badly needs more positivity.

And, that’s how my new podcast Love Your Enthusiasm got started. But, that’s not the serendipitous part. It turns out that this podcast was there all along, just waiting for me to get off my ass.

Love Your Enthusiasm is a spin-off from The Life Enthusiast Chronicles, which was a popular guest series I ran on this blog from 2013-2016. In The Life Enthusiast Chronicles, beautiful people from all over the world wrote about the one thing that made them enthusiastic about life.

I always wanted to do something more with The Life Enthusiast Chronicles, but I never knew what. Years flew by—life enthusiasm came and went.

I finished my fourth novel, Virasana, and tried to get it traditionally published. Over 100 emails later, I’ve got nothing, except a collection of impersonal automated rejection letters. I also focused on professional growth and became a content marketer. Along the way, I started Superneat Marketing and sorta kept this blog afloat.

In the back of my head, there was this relentless voice that asked me point-blank: What’s next? And, whatever it is, it better be good…and damn meaningful.

I thought that good and meaningful thing was Clove. It wasn’t.

I came full circle to life enthusiasm. Had this year gone differently, I don’t know if I would have gotten here. It’s hard to say, but here we are.

Love Your Enthusiasm is a weekly podcast where I interview creators, teachers, and explorers to find out how and why they continue to follow their greatest passion. The goal is to help listeners, such as yourselves, feel more inspired to get what you want out of life.

Most of the podcast guests I interviewed for Clove were willing to collaborate with me yet again for Love Your Enthusiasm. You already know some of the guests who were originally a part of The Life Enthusiast Chronicles many moons ago, including:

• Julie Klene of Les Petits Pas de Juls
• Juliann Wetz of Browsing the Atlas
• Jessica Korteman of Travel Solo Anyway and Notes of Nomads

Jessica was the very first Life Enthusiast and she will also be episode 01 of Love Your Enthusiasm. This sorta kinda just beautifully happened.

I didn’t realize that Jessica was the first guest blogger on The Life Enthusiast Chronicles back on May 11, 2013. I noticed this cool happenstance seven years later—a few minutes ago, to be exact—while writing this blog.

Love Your Enthusiasm will be launching soon…but I can’t give you a launch date quite yet. Some podcast directories take longer than others to approve new shows. I’m in a weird limbo right now with timing everything out.

As soon as the podcast is live, I will share it with you all, of course. And, if you miss the podcast launch announcement, that’s okay. Love Your Enthusiasm is very much a part of me, so I will be sharing new podcast episodes regularly here on my personal blog and social channels.

Have no fear…I will still share my usual stream of consciousness blogs that most of you seem to like???

Ever since I started this blog eight years ago, thoughts I have shared publicly have always felt incredibly random and irrelevant. But, so many of you have stuck around—and you are what keeps me writing.

In the meantime, the Love Your Enthusiasm social channels are officially a thing. You are welcome to start following these channels to stay in the loop and show your support for my new podcast.

• Instagram – @loveyourenthusiasm
• Facebook – @loveyourenthusiasm
• LinkedIn – @love-your-enthusiasm
• Twitter – @ly_enthusiasm

I’m thankful to still be here—to return to my creative roots, to have this blog home since I published my first post on May 29, 2012. I’m thankful to all of you for still being here, reading…and one day very soon…listening.