This bonus episode begins a month-long journey where host Matt Gilhooly shares daily insights and reflections inspired by the concept of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo).

With a commitment to release one short episode every day in November, Matt aims to connect more deeply with listeners by sharing personal stories and perspectives. He recounts the origins of the Life Shift podcast, which blossomed from a school assignment during the pandemic into a thriving platform with over 150 episodes.

Throughout the month, listeners can expect to learn more about Matt's life experiences, including the challenges of grief and loss. Join him as he embarks on this exciting challenge and invites you to discover more about the person behind the podcast.

Resources: To listen in on more conversations about pivotal moments that changed lives forever, subscribe to "The Life Shift" on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to rate the show 5 stars and leave a review! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

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I'm Mak Yl Hooli, and this is the Life Shift Candid conversations about the pivotal moments that have changed lives forever.

Hello, everyone.

This is a special bonus episode, and hopefully it is the first of 30, 30 bonus episodes that you're going to hear on the Life Shift podcast.

I'm laughing a little bit because I am going to try to do something this month that scares me, which to me kind of feels like maybe I should try it because it scares me.

So what I'm going to do is I'm going to try to do something very similar to what you might hear other people, other creatives in the space do, specifically writers.

They do this National Novel Writing Month during November, and every day in the month of November, they write a certain amount of words.

And I guess the goal is by the end of November, they've developed a habit of writing every day.

They've gotten a little bit farther in their writing for their novel.

And it's just like a really good practice.

Last year, I saw a couple people in my podcasting circle do something very similar, but for podcasts, and that was they would release an episode of their podcast every day.

Now, it wasn't a real episode, I don't think, because that seems like a lot of work, a lot of interviews, be really hard for me, who is someone that has a full time, real job, I say, and then I have this podcast as my passion project, something that I love to spend a lot of time on, but don't have as much time to focus on the podcast.

So what I intend to do is to drop a bonus episode every day, and it would be something short.

Hopefully this is something short.

And I guess my thought is over the next 30 days, maybe you'll get to know a little bit more about me, a little bit more about the host of the Life Shift podcast.

I think you all know my story if you've listened to these episodes.

But maybe I can hit on different things about my life or my perspectives on different things in these little bonus episodes.

So that's what I'm going to do.

I don't know what today will be about, I guess I can say, which probably if you've listened to the show, you kind of know.

But the Life Shift podcast started as a school assignment during a bonus master's degree that I did during the Pandemic.

I was certainly bored and looking for things to do.

And so I got a master's in mass communication.

In this course, we had to kind of do a lot of research.

We had to look up target audiences, and luckily the target audience of those of you listening actually align with what I researched back then.

And the main assignments for the class were to do two interview podcasts episodes.

And so I chose two of my friends that I knew had some Life Shift moments in their life.

And I recorded interviews with specific questions and kind of followed the instructions of the class.

I did very well in the class and I loved it.

And I thought, wow, this is really something that I didn't know I needed.

I believe 153 episodes have been officially released as of today.

And now I've been able to talk to so many people that I probably never met in this world, all because of creating the show and putting it out there.

And it's been worth every tear, every stress moment, every dollar that I've spent.

It's just been such a journey that I never knew that I needed.

And so I'm really excited about it.

I know that's kind of a cop out for this first episode of this little bonus series for November.

But I'm going to be back tomorrow with my full intentions of doing this every single day in the month of November to share something new.

And I made a list and I forget what tomorrow is already.

So I'm going to come into this blind every single day and I'm going to just share whatever that prompt is that I've created so that maybe by the end of November you get to know a little bit more about my day to day life or the things that I think beyond.

You know, the fact that I lost my mother when I was a child and then had a really tough time with grief and then lost my grandmother as an adult and then recently just lost my little puppy.

Well, he wasn't a puppy, but he was 14 and a half and I think you know all those pieces of me.

So maybe over the month of November you're going to learn a little bit more.

So with that I'm going to say goodbye and I'll be back tomorrow.

And hopefully you will also be back tomorrow.

Have a great one.

For more information, please visit www.thelifeshiftpodcast.com.