Indie Podcast Roundup: Personal Development

Dec 17

THIS INDIE PODCAST ROUNDUP brings A RANGE OF PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AREAS, all of which focus on internal GROWTH. NOT ONLY DO WE GET hyped about looking inward, BUT WE ALSO GET BRAINY about civil discourse at a time when the skill is needed.

Seeking answers from other humans to learn about the human condition brings a multitude of perspectives that we’ve only scratched the surface of here at Human Amplified. Knowledge certainly is power. Keeping an open mind helps us gain knowledge.

To that end, once a quarter, Human Amplified is dedicated to introducing you to other indie podcasts that are similar to the content we’re delivering to you. Perhaps these podcasts have overlap with our show, or perhaps they contain an extension of information that we haven’t covered so far. Either way, we think you’ll find gems of information, whether in one episode or many, in the list of amazing podcasts below…

…especially if you’re burning through episodes during workouts, holiday travel, cooking dinner, or in your routines at home and want more!

Gah, I really love indie podcast roundup time. It’s so much fun meeting people, learning new things, and hearing all the different options and perspectives of substance out there in the internet air waves when substance can be hard to find.

The indie podcasts I’m presenting you with today are really relevant and helpful for the time we’re in now - this transformative, painful yet beautiful growth phase, that we’re experiencing as a whole human race, not just one section of it.

So, I hand-selected these keeping in mind where we’re at in our collective journey of existence and after listening to and learning more about the creator’s story. I know that the time and effort these creators put into their shows is full of passion and love, which builds on Human Amplified’s values of finding the kindred spirits who want to spark new ways of living and empowerment leading to transformation from the inside out. That means every podcast in this list is not a paid promotion, but a carefully considered choice based on what you, dear reader and listener, are seeking.

For this podcast roundup, we start our focus on building ourselves up, tackling issues like alcoholism and cuffing season (I didn’t know what this was before now!) and then round it out with the gals and guys who can help us take care of our brain and body - all nice topics to contemplate as we prepare ourselves and set intentions for a new phase of life, settling into the colder days ahead where rest and the preparation of our inner selves for fresh starts are key. Topics include the following and have a range of lighter to heavier content to consume:

Quick motivation to be yourself and breaking free from negative cycles of over drinking and self sabotage
Avoiding short-term fixes (especially when hooking up, looking for love when you have a history of complicated parental relationships you’re healing from)
Mental health misdiagnosis after trauma - you’re not alone even if this feels like a lonely journey
Civil discourse, the free exchange of ideas, and a model of respect and self improvement through intellect
Self actualization

The list is in no particular order, because who could choose they are so good! I recommend one or two episodes per podcast, but seriously, explore because it was so hard to choose.

Here’s the list:

Just As We Are

Host Katrina Lelli is an outgoing and direct wife, mom in recovery, community cultivator, lover of people, and student of life. She’s also a certified life clarity coach helping women identify and remove what is blocking them from discovering their true purpose and happiness.

Katrina’s podcast has a variety of helpful episode formats, whether you’re looking for quickie motivation, inspiring stories, interviews on various self improvement topics with authors and other experts, or advice from Katrina herself, including self care tips, mindset shifts, and sometimes deeply personal stories from her life.

What I was drawn to first was an episode about Katrina’s alcoholism and recovery, how it impacted being a mother, and how it’s led her to where she is today. This then drew me into an episode about her relationship with her step child’s bio mom. In fact, she’s a season 3 guest on the Human Amplified podcast and we talk about both of these topics in depth. (Coming in January - May of 2021.)

So, definitely browse Katrina’s episode catalog for those topics and come back to Human Amplified when her episode airs here, but I want you to start first with her Episode 072: Quickie Motiviation - Beauty Begins the Moment You Decide to Be Yourself. This episode is a great example of Katrina’s and her show’s values that are woven through all lessons you’ll find while listening to Just As We Are.

For something a little heavier, but also motivating, listen to episode 77: Being Set Free from Alcohol with Michelle Porterfield. In a time in our world when you might want to engage in numbing behaviors to cope with hard emotions and circumstances, this episode is really motivating to choose yourself over numbing. We know that drinking is on the rise during the pandemic so this episode addresses that. Plus, Katrina’s guest in this episode, Michelle, is from upstate SC - a place near and dear to my heart - but a home that I remember as culturally not being good with directly calling out and admitting to problems that go against southern sensibilities.

(I also LOVE hearing Michelle’s accent in this episode. It creates a warmth of nostalgia for me since a lot of my youth was spent in South Carolina. Side note: In a lot of cases, when you relocate to a region you’re not from, your accent changes and appropriates dialects of the region you’re in. This blending creates a whole new accent, which has happened to me, so I don’t sound truly Appalachian or South Carolinian anymore).

As you can see, a cool thing about Just as We Are is that you can choose between longer stories or quick episodes to listen to, depending on what you’ve got going on or what you need in that moment.

Tap the image below to go to Katrina Lelli’s website.

Becoming Her

Elizabeth Ellis launched Becoming Her on November 11, 2020 - the same day we rebranded from On Being Human to Human Amplified. An old friend from South Carolina, who recently reconnected with me after many years, messaged me on Facebook and said, y’all are covering a lot of the same type of material so I thought you’d like this show.

He was right. (Thanks, Dustin!) It helps that I’m a woman, which is the Becoming Her target audience, but I really do think the messages in this podcast could apply to an array of genders, especially if you’re single.

So, I reached out to Elizabeth on Facebook. We are now connected and I can’t wait to chat all things podcasting and build that relationship, whatever that may look like.

Elizabeth is originally from New Orleans, LA, comes from a big family, is shy, introverted, brave, and she’s passionate! She’s not afraid to dream big. She knows she’s a badass, and I vibe with that and know you will too. She brings this right into her podcast.

The most important thing about Becoming Her is that it’s real, raw, and aspires to bring you fun conversations you would have with your besties. Another great thing about it - the inspiration- and information-packed episodes range from nine to 12 minutes, so you can listen fast and then think about what Elizabeth had to say when you get a moment. Of course, I love longer formatted shows too, but Elizabeth makes self improvement bite sized and accessible.

Elizabeth has already covered topics like striving to be better than you were yesterday, dating in 2020 (whew), and building more confidence.

That’s why with this podcast, I recommend starting from the beginning and working your way through until you’re caught up with live releases. This way, you’ll hear Elizabeth’s story, where she opens up about complicated parental relationships (hint: lots of love but also fat jokes and shaming) that have complicated how she perceives herself and also impacts finding a partner; you’ll understand the progression of topics, which you can grow with in your own journey with Elizabeth.

What I love about discovering brand new indie podcasts is that you get to evolve with the show.

However, if you don’t want to go in order and are looking for love while it’s cold outside here in the Northern Hemisphere, check out 002. Cuffing Season…Is it tho? where Elizabeth dissects short-term fixes, namely hooking up because you’re lonely. But, short-term fixes in general can be iffy, right?

(Elizabeth, I watched Holidate on Netflix too!)

Tap the image below to go to the Becoming Her podcast website.

Corey’s Got Questions

Okay, so… I’ve had a lot of guests on the Human Amplified podcast, and I connect with and love every single guest I’ve had. But to date, I have to say the most fun I’ve ever had recording an episode was with Corey Hatfield, host of Corey’s Got Questions.

That’s huge. Literally, he’s the best guest ever.

We’ve covered a lot of heavy topics on our show, and with season 3, I wanted to lighten things up a bit. So, the curiosity, generous explanations, willingness to laugh, playfulness, and just overall great perspective Corey brings to the table is something you don’t want to miss. He brings these qualities and more into his show where guests bring their own topics to Corey and then he approaches each topic from the lens of psychology.

He’s covered a variety of topics, ranging from striving for your goals as a husband and father to the psychology of loving heavy metal music. He really is interested in bringing an application of psychology to our everyday lives.

But, since mental health can really impact our ability to progress with personal development, I want to call out his Misdiagnosis in Mental Health episode as one you should definitely listen to. (Just be sure to keep the headphones on…or in if you have kiddos around for this particular episode.)

This episode strikes a chord with me because while I love to read about and learn about psychology, I haven’t had a lot of success with therapists. If you’ve got a similar story, the Misdiagnosis in Mental Health episode lets you know you’re not alone, and Corey’s guest Amanda Stoddard gives a lot of good advice through her own personal story about how to start working toward a correct diagnosis, especially if you’ve experienced trauma and need trauma-informed help. She even gets into describing red flags with therapists she went to over the years and when real help finally arrived after a nine-year struggle of misdiagnosis.

And Corey, being in psychology, knows the good questions to ask to bring you the information you need.

Corey is a specialist in coaching teachers and administration on the implementation of an evidence-based social and emotional program. He’s a certified K-12 school counselor, has an M.A. in counseling. He’s an expert in strength-based approaches, mindfulness, and choice theory.

Tap the image below to go to the Corey’s Got Questions website.

The Inconclusive Podcast

I found this podcast on Instagram - the artwork is on point, the sound is great, the topics appeal to those with an academic slant, and the three cohosts’ friendship shines through the playful banter in an entertaining way. So, I’ve been following this podcast for at least six months now and know that:

Abigail, Candace, and James are educators at an international school in Taiwan. They believe in the free exchange of ideas, and hot damn is that refreshing. They believe that the free exchange of ideas brings about human progress. I agree.

They cover discussions on economics, politics, unpopular opinions (like watching sports is a waste of time…), psychology, information, doctrine, the environment, education, space, senior citizens, and justice. Specifically, topics have twisted and turned from cannibalism, the term microaggression, marching bands, DNA rights versus the common good, colonization, and even children and the internet.

Not only would listening to any episode of this podcast open your mind a little more and make you think about topics you probably haven’t considered deeply in a while, but listening to valid but sometimes disagreeing perspectives being hashed out in a respectful way can only make you a better human. It can even be a model for how to do it yourself in any aspect of your life where you have to communicate ideas that don’t always line up with the opinions and convictions, even, of those you love, like, or spend time with at work. You don’t have to lose respect for those who disagree with you!

Anyways, I know you can’t just go listen to all the episodes at once, so since I LOVE marching bands, was in marching band from eighth grade all the way through college, could go on and on about all the benefits of marching band, and am now a marching band mom, start with Unpopular Opinions: Marching Band. In it, Candace thinks marching band is a sport.

But, if you want something a little heavier (but still light hearted like these friends), check out Unpopular Opinions: Cultural Appropriation, where James thinks cultural appropriation is helpful to human progress and isn’t bad at all. I actually agree and love this unpopular opinion and that these guys put it out there to explore all the angles. This is actually a really relevant and important episode with valid point after valid point.

Not only is this podcast a great model for constructive and civil discourse, even if you don’t reach a conclusion or agreement at the end, it exercises your mind. It keeps the wheels in your brain from getting rusty, so I feel like just by listening you’re sharpening your intellect.

AND, there’s more! These three cohosts’ motivation for doing their show is something I can get behind all the way - they want to improve themselves through this discourse. Amazing. Fantastic. Go listen.

Tap the image below to go to The Inconclusive Podcast website.

The Sovereign Medicine Podcast

(Update September 2022: I’m leaving this up in memorial to Dan Strelan. However, the podcast is no longer active so I’ve removed some of the links to it).

Remember Erin Grace of Episode 039: Stepping Into Your Own Power through Energy Healing of the Human Amplified podcast?

I hope so, because she is such an interesting and nice person who has a pureness about her that is hard to describe. I met her a couple years ago in a student community after purchasing an online course. How is this related to another indie podcast you ask? Well, I’ve been following Erin’s work since we met (and think you’d be interested to do so as well). So she invited me to be part of her Intuitive Creative Mastery - Awaken Your Inner Genius private Facebook group.

In this group, her friend Daniel Strelan posted about creative flow, which I’m extremely interested in, and he mentioned this in relation to launching his new podcast, Sovereign Medicine. I commented in support, we became acquaintances, and now, after listening to Daniel’s first two episodes, I’m ready for more and am ready to see where he goes in the indie podcasting world.

I’ve since joined Daniel’s private Facebook group, the Creator Circle of Limitless Living, and have learned a lot of interesting things. One of those things is how connected we really are and how small this world can be, as Dan is in a different hemisphere on this Earth in the Blue Mountains of Australia!

Another interesting tidbit is that Dan is a nutritionist who healed himself from gluten intolerance. I can’t wait for you guys to find out how he did it. On his socials, he shares about how you can do the same and touches on topics around symptoms as sign posts in your journey to health, alchemy, and other forms of natural medicine.

He brings this healing work into his podcast. What I like about the Sovereign Medicine podcast is that Dan and his guests dive deep into ancient esoteric healing traditions, cutting-edge science, and focus on transpersonal/shamanic healing rituals. Best of all, no matter what, the show encourages you to trust yourself.

Since this podcast is brand new, start with episode 1, Climbing the Stairs of Self Actualisation, and work your way through each episode in order as they come out. Again, getting in with a podcast from the ground up is an amazing way to embrace a new beginning, set your intentions, and grow with the community that will grow from it on the same growth trajectory. And the growth trajectory of Dan’s vision will bring you healing, confidence, and flow. Total win.

Tap the image below to go to the Sovereign Medicine website.

What do all these great indie shows have in common whether they’re brand new or they’ve been around for a while? They are all highly purpose driven, celebrate being yourself, and appeal to the curious mind. That’s a winning combination if you ask me.

Comment below to let us know what you think of my recommendations! What great indie show have you discovered recently? Tell us about it too.

And, of course, tune into the regular season of the Human Amplified podcast (formerly the On Being Human podcast) that now runs from January to May, yearly.

Love,