It's Here: The Empathy for Change Audiobook

My audiobook is finally here, everyone!

Lately, I’ve been thinking a good bit about the legacy I’ll be leaving once I pass on. It’s likely I won’t have my own children, yet I have birthed many incredible projects over the years. This one is no exception, but it feels different. I’ve had some time to reflect on this book writing path I’ve chosen and I’m humbled every day by the new experiences it’s opened up for me.

My father passed away three years ago, and to this day we listen to a voicemail that my sister Jennifer has kept from my father saying that he loved her. He’s remembered in our minds, and that voicemail is one of the few things that brings us to tears every time. You hear the inflections, the meaning, in our voice that you don’t see on paper. As I release the audiobook, I’m emotional thinking that my words — in my own voice — have been forever recorded for posterity, whether I pass it onto my own children or not.

Labors of Love

The book — and now audiobook — has been a labor of love. When I started the process last December I thought I could record it over a weekend in my childhood home, in the middle of the woods. An idyllic place where you’d only get interrupted by the occasional cricket or wind blowing past the window. Life had other plans for me, though. I was also moving my mother out of our family homestead (more about this in my post here), property we have owned for nearly 50 years. I underestimated my physical and mental capacity to record my audiobook amidst this chaos during a pandemic.

As we celebrated the holidays and 2022 started, I moved my recording “studio” to my apartment’s closet…in downtown Washington, DC. I live near both a police and fire station, and while I have become accustomed to the sound of sirens at any time of day, it most definitely wasn’t the best recording space. Every day I have at least 4–5 helicopters flying above my apartment, which during the pandemic has been an annoying occurrence. And I realized that I was right next to the stairs.

I picked up sounds that I hadn’t heard before while I was recording. I could hear conversations two apartments down from me. I could hear rain hitting the ceiling and going down the rain spout. On Saturday nights, when I usually set up to record in large chunks of time, my downstairs neighbor would turn their apartment into a dance party, turning the sound and bass way up, making it impossible to record. I had to adjust my schedule to the realities of the weather and neighborhood of the day. So in a weird way, it was getting me more in touch with the world around me when I was isolated at home. It was my dynamic companion.

“I had to adjust my schedule to the realities of the weather and neighborhood of the day.”

Here was my setup: a small desk I wedged into the small closet, door open, pillows surrounding me on all sides, a down comforter overtop my head, and Fall clothes that would absorb the sound above me. I had a microphone and black circle filter in front of it that made it feel “official.” I had two boxes stacked on top of each other that would have my laptop at eye level that I could use to thumb through silently while I was recording my audiobook. I sent a picture of my makeshift recording studio to one of my podcast friends, and he said: “add a few more pillows and you should be good.”

Listening to the Voice in Your Head

No one likes to hear their voice out loud — at least not most of the people I talked to. You will always find something that you can pick on that isn’t good enough. Your insecurities start ramping up and haunting you regularly.

I finally downloaded and listened to my audio book when on vacation at the Jersey Shore. I listened to the whole audiobook while laying next to the pool or on the beach. I was pleasantly surprised: I felt like my voice sounded much better than I thought it would. I sounded strong, I sounded brave, I sounded exhausted, yet someone who is getting further and further away from my big pivot. I managed to fall in love with my voiceover voice — and the growth that I’ve experienced on this path. I still listened to the entire audiobook at two times the speed, though!

I’m so happy to have you here reading this article and listen to my own voice as I wanted this book told.?With the inflections that I hope to put in it. And I have poured my heart and soul into this work. I have changed in the process, and I’m so humbled by it. I am seeing that I have come so far but I have yet so far to go. And I’m so thrilled to have this milestone complete and you along for the ride. I appreciate you listening to this work, hearing my words instead of reading them. Let the universe take me wherever it may go.