Journal

Tommy Serafinski and Lessons from Human and Wildlife Interaction

This week, I sit down with Tommy Serafinski, host of Tommy’s Outdoors, a show that looks at the relationship between humans and wildlife, and how that affects biodiversity, conservation, rewilding, and more.

Each episode, Tommy interviews guests across all spectrums of the space, often with different viewpoints from each other. It’s an approach that Tommy says is super valuable when it comes to learning.

I learn something in every episode.

One of the things that Tommy is adamant in providing is a space for everyone to talk, even when he might vehemently disagree with his guest’s point of view. For Tommy, this ensures an honest and open discussion where he, his guest, and listeners may come away with a different viewpoint..

Commonalities Bring Us Together

Approaching a difficult topic with a tunnel vision point of view that only your take is the right one is not the way to go. Tommy likens it to trying to attack a heavily fortified army installation, where the only thing that’s going to happen is conflict.

It’s important to focus on things we have in common.

Instead, by focusing on commonalities, we can start to build bridges and shared understanding.

The Depletion That Impacts Us All

Tommy talks about the differences between his native Poland and his adopted home Ireland. One of the biggest things he’s noticed is how little natural habitat is left in Ireland, and that the industrialization of the West has removed the learnings and growth we can take from human and wildlife interaction.

Industrialization is killing the opportunity for human and wildlife interaction.

Why We Need a Conversation Platform

Tying in to his goal of offering a platform for everyone to share their beliefs, Tommy’s goal for the show is to make it known as a conversation platform.

Social media is not the medium for discussion.

While social media sees ideas shot down in vitriolic attacks, Tommy feels podcasts and open-minded hosts are the way forward for actual conversation and learning.

Connect with Tommy:

Contact me:danny@podcasterstories.com

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Season 4 of Podcaster Stories is sponsored by Accusonus. Make okay audio sound great with their built-in plugins to repair bad audio, for podcasters and creators alike! Visit podcasterstories.com/audio and use the coupon PodcasterStories10 at checkout to get a sweet 10% off the ERA Bundle Standard yearly subscription!

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On Taking a Mental Health Break

For regular listeners of the show, you’ll have noticed it’s been a bit quiet here since Season 4 launched.

Instead of the usual weekly series, only the first two episodes were published, and then silence. I sincerely apologize for this, it was definitely not the intent. Here’s what happened.

As you’ll know, the show features podcasters opening up about their personal stories. These are stories that may not have been heard before in public, and can be very raw and emotional, and I sincerely thank all of my guests so far for being so open with their stories. This can lead to emotions in me coming to the fore, when the struggles of a guest are ones I’ve been through myself, or loved ones around me have.

Some of you may know this about me from an earlier episode where I spoke with my wife, but I was diagnosed with depression and anxiety around 4 years ago. For the majorityof thetime, it’s something that I can manage, but now and again the shadows block out the light.

This has been particularlytrue with Covid, and its impact on all our lives. Everything has changed, and sometimes it’s hard to see whereall this might end. Especially when you have two young kids that you’re doing everything you can to protect them, in a world where not everyone wants to be part of that protective community.

Anyhoo… as a result of the increased emotions from the stories shared by my guests, and sheer fight or flight exhaustion in trying to keep my family safe, I decided to take a mental health break where I could focus on the lighter side of life.

Summer at the beach, getting out on the lake, experiencing the beautiful natural surroundings of where we live, etc. And it was exactly what I needed to refresh both my creative and personal energy.

So, Podcaster Stories will return very early in the New Year. I have some amazing guests lined up, and each one has an incredibly inspiring story to share.

In the meantime, to keep the podcasting juices flowing, I’ve just launched a new show called Memories of 3DO, which looks at the history of a gaming console classic that was ultimately doomed to fail. This is a fun little project for me, and may lead to others in a series.

The show is snackable content, with each episode less than 5 minutes long. If classic video games are your thing, you can find out more at3dopodcast.com

Thanks so much for being part of the Podcaster Stories community, and thanks for your messages and emails asking if everything was okay, I sincerely appreciate them.

Until the next time, stay safe and take care.

Contact me:danny@podcasterstories.com

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Dr. Alice Kerby on Addiction and Life Beyond the Pink Cloud

After suffering from severe stress while going through her doctorate, Dr. Alice fell into a downward spiral of alcohol abuse. This continued until she realized her problem, and she has been sober for three years since.

It’s this experience that led Dr. Alice to starting the Beyond the Pink Cloud podcast, where she talks to people that have overcome their own battles with substance abuse, as well as inspired others by living their best lives.

Topics up for discussion this week include:

how the podcast grew from her own recovery from alcohol abuse
how the Covid-19 pandemic is leading to higher stress and addiction temptation
how we’re adding to our stress levels while working from home
how the show’s direction has evolved from recovery-focused to multiple fields of expertiseacross various topics
why she’s inspired by people living their dreams
some of the hurdles that are hard to overcome when dealingwith abuse
how the drinking culture of different countries affects addictionlevels
the fear of sharing her story in the first few episodes
how she becamea semi-professional fire dancer

Settle back for an open and honest discussion about addiction, recovery, and what that means to the people afflicted, and those surrounding them.

Connect with Dr. Alice:

Contact me:danny@podcasterstories.com

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Introducing Mental Health and Us

This week is a little different. As some of you might know, I also run a couple of other podcasts – one, as a host, and the other as a co-host. Today, I want to share an episode from the podcast I co-host, Mental Health and Us.

It originallystarted out as a solo hosted show by my wife, Jaclyn, and was called Mental Health and me. It shared self-care and wellness tips to help other mental health sufferers and their loved ones cope.

Jaclyn uses her 20 year battle with both depression and anxiety to share what’s worked for her, and how that could maybe help you. I personally suffer from mental health issues too, and it’s an important topic, and one that I see more of in the podcasting space, both from a podcaster and a listener perspective.

In this episode, Jaclyn shares how a major health scare made her fear the worst, and why it’s important to understand how your physical health is important to your mental health.

The Mental Health and Us podcast will be relaunching early October, and you can catch up with other episodes over atmentalhealthpodcast.ca

Next week we’ll be back to the usual Podcaster Stories programming – thank you for letting me share this special episode with you.

Contact me:danny@podcasterstories.com

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Joenrhuz “JR” Tabanda on Everyday People and Everyday Stories

This week I sit down with Joenrhuz “JR” Tabanda, host and audio producer of the Time Capsule Show, a podcast sharing the everyday stories of everyday people.

Each episode asks six thoughtful questions that guests can use to define their life in the 21st century at this moment.

We wanted to give people hope, especially young people that may feel alone.

JR talks about what their goals were with the show, and how that’s taken shape, and how the pandemic gave them the opportunity to put these goals to fruition.

We Are All Connected

JR and his podcast team and co-hosts share the belief that everyone has a story, and that’s why they appear on the Time Capsule Show.

We just try and put up stories that are timely, powerful, and help us understand the culture of the time we’re going through.

One thing they’re particularly determined to do with the show is to give the guests a platform, and share their point of view, whether it fits with the hosts or not .

On Taking a Different Path

With a Filipino background, it was expected that both JR and his brother would take a career in the medical profession, or a similarly professional one. But that was a very different path from the one he envisioned.

While he may yet take that career path, for now he’s more than satisfied and challenged by the route he’s currently on.

Everybody has an opinion, but it’s up to you what value you place in that opinion.

Heroes Don’t Always Wear Capes

While he’d never describe himself as a tennis player, or even someone that has just a passing interest in the sport from a playing point of view, his all-time hero hails from it.

Rafael Nadal epitomizes everything we should aspire to be, in our personal and professional lives.

People’s expectations of you don’t mean anything, and if you set your mind to anything you can achieve it.

Connect with JR:

Contact me:danny@podcasterstories.com

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