Sometimes, I Really Hate Change
Okay, I know that this is completely irrational but work with me here.
Recently one of my favorite podcasts, Bandsplain, returned from hiatus, but something had changed. One of the things that I have always loved about this show is that it uses a feature called Music + Talk on Spotify. This allows hosts to play music that is available on Spotify as part of their show. This is what I use for my podcast. Here’s what it looks like (at least on a phone).
One of the great things about this feature is that you can skip the songs. Why would someone want to do that you ask? I will use myself as an example. I have listened to nearly every episode of Bandsplain because I think the host is awesome and the conversations engaging. On the episodes that cover artists I don’t care for, I skip the songs. Easy peasy. But what if you are listening to a podcast that plays full songs and they play something that you don’t like or don’t want to listen to at that moment? You have to awkwardly fast forward until you find the end of the song. That’s irritating. Thankfully, it seems that at this point, most music podcasts simply include clips of songs.
When I opened Spotify and pulled up the new episode of Bandsplain, I noticed that the songs were gone. They stopped using Music + Talk. My heart sank. Then I started the episode and the host Yasi Salek made an announcement that going forward they would be playing clips of songs instead of the entire songs. My heart sank even further. I know why they probably did this, now the podcast can be on other platforms like Apple Podcasts, etc. and the potential for growth just skyrocketed. The same thing happened to one of my other favorite podcasts, 60 Songs That Explain the 90s. Again, I understand why they made this change but I still hate it. On top of that, it kind of ruined my morning, which is completely ridiculous and irrational but it’s the truth.
For whatever reason, this change felt like a loss. What the fuck is that?
Speaking of changes that have been hard, my supervisor of eight years retired last summer. Her replacement is super nice but has a VERY different management style. Also, based on a few things that she has said and the way that she frames certain things, I get the feeling that we have drastically different philosophies. In and of itself, that is not a problem, but for whatever reason… Then we butted heads in a one-on-one over an issue that I thought got WAY overblown. Now in her defense, I’m a lot. I also didn’t ease her into the mess that is Dave Brown because I’ve been super comfortable at work for a long time. I should have pulled back. I shouldn’t have been so open and forthcoming. Not that I should have lied to the woman, that would be stupid and, frankly, wrong. What I should have done is behave the way I do in new situations: stay quiet and wait until I got a feel for the new normal. So that’s on me. I’m still not sure where things stand or how I feel about all of it, but I do know that work has been a lot more stressful and anxiety-inducing than it has been in years. And that sucks.
The irony of all of this is that in principle I am not against change. Well…I’m not against good change. Bad change can hit the bricks. *sigh*
Here’s one of my favorite songs about change by the great R.E.M.