Yes, I made a podcast. You can listen to it via:
Anchor: https://anchor.fm/paola-fajardo9
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1ZilRR5gtKLhEW2o1UMSCJ
Below is the transcript of the pilot episode for you purist blog readers. Thanks in advance for supporting me. I sincerely hope you enjoy listening and join me on this new platform.
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Hi everyone, Paola here, and this is Halfreformed the spoken-word series.
So here we are, the very first episode ,and may I call the test episode the spoken-word format of my blog, halfreformed. To be honest I’m anxious about doing this. I’m generally weirded out by my voice, I feel like it’s not “me” or it’s not how I imagine my voice would sound in my head. And I’m terrified of broadcasting myself in mediums other than writing. Confidence issues here.
For those of you who stumbled upon this space for the first time, Hi! I’m Paola. I’m a millennial, an Asian based in Singapore, and a true-blue introvert wanting to make my voice heard through the power of words. I’ve been blogging since 2003, and I coined the word halfreformed for myself in my 20s. At the time, I was renegading (and still do) from my past belief systems, preferences, and lifestyle. A work in progress, if you will. Here, I talk about my ruminations, pop culture, advice, and stories about my life as a career recruiter.
So why then am I creating a spoken-word format for my blog? One, I would like to reach more people. I know blogging is by now an ancient social media tool. As I’ve mentioned in one of my posts, Not many people read old-school blogs anymore, especially in my generation, and the ones after us. People are generally drawn to visual stuff, videos, pictures, etc. Microblogging aka Twitter and the faster delivery of information has made people less inclined to read long written posts. I do not read as many old-school-style blogs anymore. Also, nowadays people move a lot, we are doing a lot more than we used to, so many of us don’t have time to sit-through and focus on reading, but will have more tolerance to media they can hear in the background while doing whatever in the forms of music streaming, podcasts, etc. And so I feel a spoken-word format can help my blog reach more people and save you time on reading my long posts.
Second, I want to challenge myself and be confident in myself more. I used to tell myself I will never broadcast myself using this style and especially on video. I also realized this spoken-word format is still a safe space for me to express myself, as I don’t need to show my face and my whole personal life in all of its non-glory.. and I can have a script to guide me through (I’m not a spontaneous speaker). And I want to get used to my voice, a form of self-love, if you will.
It’s a lot more work than my original blog, and just nice things at my new job started getting busy so hurray for my work-life balance!! But this is something exciting for me, and I look forward to sharing more with the world and learning this wonderful world of the spoken word. I don’t want to call it a podcast because everybody else and their mothers have podcasts now and I want to be more hipster.
I will not be releasing audio versions of my blogs every single time simply because it does take a lot more work and I have a 9 to 5, house chores, and private life to attend to. Nonetheless, I am looking forward to starting this new journey. At the same time, I encourage whoever you are listening to this to challenge yourself too. Who knows, you may just surprise yourself.
Thank you so much for listening. If you have comments or questions or suggestions, feel free to leave a message here or on my written blog, http://www.halfreformed.com, or by email halfreformed@gmail.com
Until then, keep safe and healthy, and may you be filled with positive energy and blessings. Bye!
Halfreformed 