Episode 1 January 2, 2023

Kari introduces herself and her new podcast, expressing her desire to start speaking and share her thoughts. She mentions her journey of self-improvement, including meditation and quitting drinking. Although she has been feeling depressed, she wants to give herself hope through the podcast. Kari's goal is to provide a platform for others to be heard and share their stories. She encourages listeners to talk about anything and invites suggestions for the podcast's name. Kari expresses gratitude for the opportunity to use her voice and wishes the best for everyone in 2023. Hi, my name is Kari, and this is my very first podcast, episode number one, on January 2nd, 2023. Welcome. I just want to start off by saying Happy New Year to everybody, and yeah, I know everybody starts the new year off with all these goals, and starting off with, you know, I'm going to do a podcast, for instance. Well, guess what? I'm going to try a podcast. I'm sitting in my living room, I'm watching my TV, and I'm feeling depressed, like I do. I just got over being sick, and Christmas, and working my butt off, my creative energy has felt like it's gone. I'm an artist, I'm not inspired right now, and I'm, you know, kind of in a low self-pity kind of mood. But, it's time to change that around, and by doing that, I've decided I'm going to start speaking, and it's something that I've wanted to do for a while, is to start a podcast, and so this is what I'm going to do. I want to start it off by saying that I started my journey, I guess, with meditation and uplifting, motivational stuff, last February, and learning how to expand my mind, and my brain, and moving myself forward. In November, I guess November 13th of 2021, I decided to quit drinking. So, I've been sober since, and I will probably talk a little bit about that, but that's not really my main focus. I've just decided that I don't want to drink anymore, and I feel pretty good about it. Although, it has kind of sent me into a bit more of a depression this year, that I've had to sit with, and move through, and come out the other side. I'm not sure I'm out the other side yet, but this is my attempt at giving myself that little glimmer of hope, which I do have. I have wonderful friends, I have an amazing family, my kids are just the best. My dog, Claire, she just gets me through, so you might hear her a little bit on here too. But my actual goal for this podcast is not to just have myself talking, although it is a place where I will use my voice. I don't often feel like I am heard, or have a lot of interesting things to be heard. I'm a good listener. I love listening, and I love listening to other people's stories. So, this is a chance for me to be heard, tell you a little bit about what I think, and myself. And in that process, I want to open this up to other people, other women, other men, whoever wants to have their voice heard, who wants to just say something. It doesn't have to be even profound or motivational. It can just be talk, and I want you to feel comfortable. I want you to know you don't have to be this spectacular person to do these kinds of things. It could be just as spectacular as you want to feel that day. But I just want it to be real, and I want to talk about how do you get through your day? What motivates you? What doesn't motivate you? What pissed you off when you woke up today? But how are you going to change it? How are you going to make things move forward? I just want to talk about anything. I mean, you could talk about your ride on the bus to university today. You could talk about whatever you want, and that's what I'm kind of going to do. I really invite my friends. I've learned so much. I will have a lot of episodes that are deep. I will have episodes that are super light and probably a little bit of both in between, and I want that to be the tone for this. I still don't have a name for it, so please be patient with me. Maybe if I get any listeners, you can give me some, I don't know, suggestions on what you think would work for this show. I could call it real talk, but I think probably somebody else has had that name before. Not too original. Which is fine for them because it's original to them. Again, I don't know what I'm talking about at this point, so that's how this show is going to go. That's how this podcast is going to go, and I just want to thank you if you have decided to listen to this. Thank you for listening. Thank you for giving me a chance to use my voice. I really, really want the best for everybody coming up in 2023. I think it's about community, about friendship, about relationships that we make. Is it about the things? I don't think so, so much. I think it's about the relationships we make, and one of those relationships that are the most important is the one with yourself. So if we can start with that, I know that's where I need to start, then yeah, that's one of the goals I have for this year. So thank you for listening, and until the next episode, I really hope you guys have an amazing night, and the next 24 hours go really good for you. Over and out.