The importance of persistence.
Today, I sat at my desk in disbelief. With the wind howling and snow spraying across the windows of my office, I tipped my head just slightly to the side and froze while staring at my laptop.
It seems obvious in hindsight—of course creators have a Spotify "wrapped" of their own. Looking at the stats on the screen, it took a minute to actually absorb it, though.
Back in 2021, a colleague and I joked about starting a podcast. I’d already secretly wanted to for years, but when we talked about it, it was like a "that'd be cool (but we'll never actually do it)" kind of thing. Well, in 2025 we did it—Rachael and I started a podcast.
Technically, I guess we started in 2024, since we recorded a bunch of test episodes and then stockpiled them to release later; but The Unobstructed Podcast became a real thing back in February of this year. Throughout 2025, it received more shares than 90% of other shows on Spotify—AND—averaged a higher rating than 75% of other shows on Spotify.
I blinked...scoffed, even.
And smiled.
I'm still blown away.
I am so grateful for everyone who's checked out the show this year.
Fun fact, I started recording podcast episodes in 2013 but never released them because I was too scared. I did, however, co-host a few episodes of a prominent ski industry podcast at the time. Staring at these Spotify Wrapped stats on my laptop today, I thought of the time I'd interviewed Hannah Kearney, the Olympic gold medalist mogul skier. It was my first time in the recording studio and I was mostly focused on trying not to show how intimidated I was. She complimented the questions I asked, seeming like she was genuinely impressed.
It feels silly to admit, but that gave me so much confidence. Still, it'd take me another 12 years of working up enough courage to launch my own podcast.
But I did.
Our Daily MAP Year Prompt
95/365
What's something you did this year that you're proud of, but scared to admit? What can you do to celebrate yourself?!
onward.
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