Get to Know the Gworls
Episode 1 out now, plus an essay on “doing it scared”
Happy Monday crybaby,
Thank you so much for signing up for this newsletter. It means the world to Nthabiseng and I to have your support.💗
With that being said, Episode 1 is here! We go in-depth about what the current moment of our 20s feels like, our recent highs and lows, and share our hopes for the immediate future. Happy listening!🎧
Note: Before you listen, I highly recommend reading the essay below.
On “doing it scared”
I mentioned in the last newsletter that Nthabiseng and I have been working on this podcast for months (if you haven’t read that one yet, find it here). In truth, it’s been nearly a year since we first floated the idea of starting a podcast together, and more like 8 months since we had our first hours-long meeting, strategizing about what Cry About It would eventually become.
There were a few reasons for the lengthy timeline. The first being that life, inevitably, gets in the way of pursuing passion projects (*shaking my fist at the relentless nature of capitalism*). But the second reason, and perhaps the thing that slowed us down the most, was that I was scared.
“Scared to do what, exactly,” you may be asking. Scared to ideate. Scared to try. Scared to put energy into a creative project while unsure of whether it’d be a “success” or not.
At first, I didn’t even realize that I was scared. I chalked it up to lack of interest, and told Nthabiseng something along the lines of “I’m a bit too busy right now to start something new.” And while I’ve realized it’s important to understand my limits when it comes to balancing work and side projects, checking in with myself allowed me to see that wasn’t my true reasoning. Instead, deep in the pit of my stomach, I had this looming anxiety about being a beginner at something new.
As someone who spends hours every week listening to podcasts – highly produced, well-staffed podcasts with editors and writers and fact checkers and a whole slew of people dedicated to making the podcast sound good – I felt there was no way anything I could create would possibly compare to the production quality of the podcasts I loved most.
Plus, I thought, how egotistical was I to think I had something “important” to say?
After putting the pieces together and finally realizing why I was stalling our brainstorming process, I brought my fears to Nthabiseng, who effectively slapped me out of it.
She helped me understand a few things:
There are plenty of people who have great podcasts, without having a gigantic team.
One podcast's narrow definition of “success” doesn’t have to be ours.
The very idea that people in their 20s (or younger, for that matter) don’t have anything “important” to say undermines the core idea of our podcast, that there’s value in being transparent while figuring it all out.
And so, with these new lessons imparted, I finally felt ready to fully immerse myself in the process of putting together this podcast, with the very best co-host. And after many more hours-long meetings, and scripting sessions, and recording sessions, and planning sessions, and … (you get the point), I’m here on the other side of that fear.
This epiphany about putting fear in the backseat and “doing it scared” came full circle about a month ago, in mid-January, when we shared the episode you’re about to hear with a focus group of 10 lovely people. Below is a text message one of them sent me before listening.
Thank you, Nthabiseng, for having faith in the vision before I did. Thank you to the lovely members of our focus group for your feedback, and for giving us a vote of confidence after only having heard one episode. Thank you to the countless friends who spoke life into this project since before it even had a name. I’m thankful to myself, too, (cliché, I know, don’t kill me) for pushing through the fear when it became louder than my dream. And if you’ve read this far, thank you again, for believing in this project. We’re excited to make you proud!🫂