This coming Monday, 17th Jan, Season 2 of Out of the Fishbowl will be arriving.

For those who missed the Season 1 summary, you can catch up on each of the seven episodes over here.

Hard to believe that we are very nearly almost ready for round 2 of this thing and I CANNOT WAIT!

Out of the Fishbowl pool shot

WHAT TO EXPECT IN SEASON 2

The arrival of the second season of Out of the Fishbowl is both a super exciting and somewhat terrifying prospect. 

It is really exciting because the feedback from Season 1 was abasolutely incredible. What continues to be frustrating about content i produce is that while people who are exposed to it seem to genuinely love it, they don’t seem to be recommending it at the rate at which the praise might suggest. So the episode where it all began – the controversial Pineapple on Pizza Question [seriously, there’s no question!] has just crossed 400 listens, which is a lot of listens. But considering that i have close to 5000 friends on Facebook and over 8000 followers on the Twitterer and another 1000 or so on Instagram, it is not as big as it could be.

But having said that, the people who gave feedback made it really specific. It wasn’t the “nice podcast” vibe that people often give to be polite and make you not feel bad. People would name specific aspects or thoughts or analogies that really stood out to them and i heard the phrase “life-transforming” at least once which is both exciting and again frustrating in terms of trying to figure out how we get more ears on the ‘cast.

What i am excited about with regards to Season 2 though is that it feels a whole lot better. i am going deeper in terms of both topic and how i handle it – and no easing into it as Episode 1 literally starts with the question, “What is the worst thing you have ever done?” and then i – gasp – share some of the very worst things i have ever done. Which, having recorded it, and as the landing date draws ever closer, i am starting to second guess and get a little nervous about – WHAT HAVE I DONE? 

Season 2 asks that question and then it challenges what i call “Lying Questions” – you know, the “How are you?” “Fine!” exchange we have when we see an old friend in the mall five years since we last saw them and don’t really care how they are doing and they are not really fine. It moves on to the most positive episode that invites us to move past simply living or existing and asks, “What will it take for you to thrive?”

Before heading into an episode i loved recording and can’t wait to share which takes a look at both the death penalty [The idea of killing people to let people know that killing people is wrong!] and imprisonment [Asking the Punitive vs. Restorative question with some really interesting examples of prisons that operate in a different way]… There will also be a deeper look at the idea of Peace being an active action rather than a passive state [and the importance of ‘Giving peas a chance!’]

The terrifying part of Season 2 is that it is not done yet. Not fully scripted, not fully recorded and definitely not completely edited. i have three episodes waiting online and a 4th has been recorded and a 5th has been scripted, leaving two more [my lofty plans of a 12 episode Season 2 have been downsized into two more seven-episode seasons wirth hopefully a shorter break in between]. With Season 1, the whole thing was ready and waiting before release day and due to life [and a hurricane which swept through the part of the Philippines where my episode editor lives, causing mass destruction – we decided the podcast was definitely not first priority there any more!] we still have a bit of a ways to go. But i am SO ridiculously excited for what i have already and have no doubt that the episodes still to be finished will be of the same high standard. Season 2 of Out of the Fishbowl definitely takes a step up!

Here’s a sneak preview of Monday’s coming episode…

ENGAGE WITH THE EPISODE

One of the main changes with Season 2 is that i am hoping to host a Twitterer Spaces conversation in the week that the episode drops.

So diarise Wed 19th Jan at 7pm and join @BrettFishA and @FishbowlCodcast as we jump online and engage with people around the topic of “The Worst Thing I Ever Did” – the hope is that each episode will spark a conversation in which people will be able to share their own stories [maybe not THOSE ones, but also maybe THOSE ones] as we figure out how we can do life better together. So that the theme of each episode is extended way beyond just my voice.

What this needs to be effective is obviously at least a small group of people who can commit to listening to the episode when it drops and jumping into the Twitterer Space as it happens, but hopefully if the first one goes well, we will build up some momentum and that will be a huge life-giving space. If that feels like you, please let me know so i can keep you informed of the details and maybe even give you a sneak peek into the coming episode so you can start formulating some thoughts. i am very excited to see if/how those spaces play out!

That’s it, really – looking forward to having you listen to the next few episodes that are coming your way. If you are not quite up to date with the 7 episodes of Season 1, you can find them here or anywhere where you listen to podcasts by sticking Out of the Fishbowl into the search. Subscribe and give reviews when you can as that goes a long way to helping other eyes and ears discover the codcast. i also did a blog summary of Season One over here which is maybe an easy way for you to share this with your friends.

i really appreciate any time you share the podcast with someone you know, either by tagging them in a drop or RTing the link or by specifically directing someone you know to an episode you think they will like or really need to hear, so please keep on. To date, Out of the Fishbowl has had 1338 downloads and i am hoping that we can at least double that given the range and scope and depth of the Season 2 episodes that are about to land.

Til then, may you live a life that refuses to stay in the fishbowl but risks jumping over the edge and seeing what other waters might be out there. Thanks so much for listening and being an active part of this journey. i really believe that Season 2 is going to rock you!