Terrible, Thanks For Everything!!

We have a big update about the future of TTFA, and something a lot of you have been asking about since the last episode, where I mentioned *casually* in the credits that we were going to be taking an indefinite hiatus. I wanted to talk more about what that means going forward, and thank all of you for listening and supporting our show. 

xo,
Nora

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Transcript:

Fast forward 10 seconds if you’re bored of hearing the origin story of this show…

But we started making this in 2016. I was an unemployed, somewhat recent widow, secretly pregnant with my new boyfriend’s baby, and about to publish my memoir about my husband dying of brain cancer.

I had an inbox filled with stories and a rejected book title I wanted to use for…something.

That something became this show. 7 years. Over 250 episodes. Over 200 MILLION DOWNLOADS!

Tours where I’ve met thousands of you. Hugged you. Apologized for my BO.

It’s been the most meaningful work of my life, and the job I’ve held the longest, which is really not saying much because my average before this was 18 months.

I have said numerous times that I could make an episode of this show every day for 100 years and never tell the same story twice because as universal as our human experiences are, every story is also entirely unique.

And I could…if I was a robot. And sadly, I’m not a robot, even if I treat myself like one sometimes. And I do, actually, most of the time. I put in minimal care, expect maximum output.

And as the podcast market changed over the past 7 years, so did the expectations and the output. What was meant to be a seasonal show had to become “always on” – at least 40 episodes. Bonus content! More production, and faster. At one point, we made over 70 episodes in a single year, and not with a bigger team or budget.

There are many themes in our TTFA episodes, but one of them is this: that we each own our own story. That we are not the worst thing that ever happened to us, or the biggest thing that happened to us. That we are more than what we’ve done or what we’ve had done to us. That we deserve the empathy and compassion and respect to decide what our experiences mean to us, and what to do with it.

The story of TTFA is one that I’m proud of: this was work that helped me heal, that helped me grow, that challenged me in ways I didn’t know I needed to be challenged.

I could, still, tell a different story every day, could do this forever, or until all the listeners quit listening and my butt melded into the fabric of my cheap desk chair. But I’d rather be in charge of choosing my own adventure, of deciding when and how Terrible Thanks for Asking comes to an end.

And even though I’ve spent the last 2 years trying to come to a different conclusion, I have realized I’m circling the same answer: that nothing lasts forever, and that I’d rather choose my own ending than have it chosen for me.

Which means this: It’s time for me to take a break from Terrible, Thanks for Asking at the end of this season, April 2.

And even though typing that sentence and saying it out loud makes my heart jump right to my throat, I know that even a hard decision can be the right decision, and I need to follow the advice I’ve given so many other people and listen to the fact that my body and my spirit are profoundly burned out. Maybe you picked up on that during the last tour, where I had a 20 minute bit about hoping I’d get hit by a car so I could enjoy a coma?

I don’t want TTFA to burn out with me. I want the story of this show to be that we built something beautiful and meaningful together. That out of the wreckage of so many terrible things, we flicked on a light for one another and walked these dark paths together

Underneath the sadness of this decision, there’s also legitimate excitement. I am excited to give myself time and space to just exist. I am excited to see who I am outside of Terrible, Thanks for Asking.

I am excited to be continuing It’s Going To Be OK, a daily podcast that has truly helped me get through the past year by tuning me into the small okay things about this big, overwhelming world.

I’m writing a weekly newsletter that has reminded me that I’m a writer! I missed writing! I can’t wait to write more. And who knows what I’ll write about! But I know I can’t wait to do it, and I hope that whatever it is, I’ll see you there, because I know we have more in common than just our terribles.

Some of you have been here since the VERY FIRST EPISODE. Since BEFORE THAT FIRST EPISODE, when I was on Tumblr. Some of you I know by face, first and last name, OUTFITS WE HAVE IN MATCHING COLORS! Some of you I haven’t met YET, but I’ve been in your cars and your homes. Or my voice has. That’s not an admission of breaking and entering.

I want you to know that it’s a mind-boggling honor to be a part of your lives, and I will appreciate that deeper than you know, for as long as I live.

The last episode of TTFA as we know it is April 2.

Our Patreon is going to continue with bonus content until August. We’ll refund the remainder of any yearly pledges at that time for anyone who wants one, but until then, it’s business as usual here. You’ll get two episodes a month, Office Hours, and the full archive.

I’m really proud of the episodes we have coming for you for the rest of this season, and no matter what, we’ll always be Terrible.

If you have any questions at all, put them in the comments of this post, so we can answer them for everyone to see!