Now these are all different ways of listening and watching things and sure they have been around for years some of them but until the last year I really wasn’t into any of them, but now I have figured out what works best for me and have started to love all of them in different ways. Each of them meets a different need for me, and that is what I am going to try and explain here.
Audiobooks
Now, until the beginning of this year I had heard people talk about audiobooks, but I had never really given them a try. I think before this I may have listened to one book, but other than that I didn’t think it would be something that I would enjoy. Yes, I like reading books, but as I am also a crafter and use my hands for the various crafts I have let the reading of books sort of drop off because my evenings are normally spent crafting. I did read a lot during commutes to and from work, but now that I am a co-owner of a business and most of the work is done remotely, there aren’t a lot of commutes.
Earlier this year, I decided to try audiobooks as a means of getting through some of the books that I wanted to read. I went to the library to renew my library card and while there looked at some of the cd audiobooks and immediately saw titles that were of interest to me. Seeing that there are a lot of titles that sounded interesting made me want to really give this idea a try, and that is when it started. After renewing my library card, I came home and decided to see what audiobooks were available through the library but online, and it opened up something that I have to admit that I have really enjoyed.
For me, audiobooks are something that I can listen to while crafting or even just when I am getting ready for bed. It has helped me get through some of the books that I have wanted to read, and now I have a wish list on the library website as well as another list on a piece of paper of the books that I want to listen to. Sure, I may encounter some wait lists for some of the books but that doesn’t bother me as I have a lot of other things to listen to now.
Podcasts
Podcasts aren’t as new to me as audiobooks, but they were normally something that my husband and I listened to on a long drive as a means of making the trip feel a little shorter. We started with one series of podcasts, and we are still working through that series as they are now recording their 13th season and there are now around 52 episodes a year for them. Most of this series recording are only around 15 – 20 minutes, so that isn’t bad, but other podcasts can be a lot longer than that.
This year I decided to find out about some of the other people that I had heard that did podcasts, and now I have a rather long list of podcasts that I want to listen to as well. My first really good exposure to podcasts was earlier this year when I needed to do a commute that was going to take me almost 2 hours to complete. I downloaded some of the podcasts that I wanted to listen to onto my phone and off I went. The actual commute sure didn’t feel as long as it really was, and I was able to get through a few of the podcasts that I had downloaded.
I now have 5 different podcasts that I follow, so that means that I have lots of listening to do, but again these are things that I can listen to while crafting or before going to bed in the evenings. I am enjoying the experience and am happy that I now can download them onto my phone and have them with me all the time.
YouTube
YouTube can be a major distraction if you let it, but then if you are able to just watch what you subscribe to, it doesn’t feel so bad. I have tried to develop a discipline where I go into YouTube and check my subscriptions. Sure, it can still mean that I have a lot of videos to watch, but I can manage those putting them into my watch later library and I watch the various videos when I have the time. Sure, the watch later library can get rather large sometimes, but again these are videos that I can normally watch when I am crafting.
I have been watching YouTube videos for the last year, and basically the ones that I have been watching are a group of videos with the title FlossTube. These are videos done by cross-stitchers and individuals that may even have a store, but they are ones that I enjoy watching, and I have tried to keep my subscription list short so that I don’t feel overwhelmed when all the different people post all at one. The individuals post at different times, so I have some that post most days, some weekly, some monthly and then there are some that don’t post very often but at least by subscribing to them, I can see when they post a new video.
The different medias have given me a different experience, and I am loving all three of them. Audiobooks are great when you know you are going to have the time to listen to something that could take between 10 and 25 hours in three weeks, as that is how long some books are. Podcasts can vary in length between 15 minutes and 1.5 hours, but at least these are things that I can manage based on the time that I have available. YouTube is something that I watch either on my computer or tablet, and which video I watch will depend on the time that I have available as well as the mood I am in.
Knowing what works for you can open up a lot of different things and for me just having these different tools available means that I can’t say that I have nothing to watch or listen to because each of them gives me enough to keep me happy. If you haven’t tried these, give at least one of them a shot and see what you think. You may be surprised at how much you enjoy at least one of these methods, especially if you do something with your hands that doesn’t require a lot of thinking. A lot of crafters have found all of these work for them, and I am one of those crafters who now enjoys listening to things while I craft.