You may have seen me on Apple podcasts. I’m that guy who talked for years about living with depression. Before that, I chatted with Dave about Differences. Before that, we talked about our beloved NBA teams. Before that, we just talked. There may have been another in there somewhere, but most of them are lost to time and drawered hard drives.
Depressed Not Dead is the most recent and still active show. It’s true it started as a way for me to speak the words about what I was living with, but it only took about two to three weeks to receive my first listener email. Good ole Johnny in New York. Soon, the show became, I’d hoped, a voice for those who lived with similar struggles. A way for them to know they were not alone in their dark thoughts.
I amassed a small following, made some friends, and even had an article or two written about the show. I think that I was doing something good for the world. I had guests on. Guested on other shows. I won’t say I was having fun, but I had a purpose.
As with all things, though, I slowly started losing my focus. I had talked about the low-hanging fruit, as it were, and felt I was repeating myself often. I still had things to talk about, but they felt too personal for me or for those closest to me. Those stories aren’t solely mine to share. So, the show became a weekly recap of what I’d done the prior seven days. I ran…I worked…I saw my girls.
Unceremoniously, I dropped off. Then I came back. Then stopped again. I even canceled the hosting of the show, took down this site, and scrubbed most of my jamoalki online presence.
The day after the hosting stopped, I got an email from a listener concerned that he couldn’t find the show anymore. Whoa. So now I pay for the lowest hosting account. This, of course, leaves the door open to return to the podwaves, and I do think about it. In fact, part of restarting this blog is to see if I can get back into the sharing mindset. We’ll see, I guess.
What I’d really enjoy is convincing Nora that she and I should put out a fortnightly show as a middle-aged, near-empty-nesters, blended family couple. I adore her and know that some small section of the world would, too.
Hey JP,
I just wanted to let you know that I found, and still do find, such value in the Depressed not Dead podcast. I found it during a difficult time in my life and often return to it as a comfort during those times. Currently listening from the beginning again, which led to a similar concern as the other listener when I couldn’t find you online!
Glad to see your blog posts and that you’re safe and well.
Thank you so much for your kind words. There are plans in the back of my head to return to putting out episodes.