In the wake of Thanksgiving and a restful break, we are now one step closer to the holidays and the new year. After a stressful semester and year filled with tensions and conflict, it is so important to focus on the people and things in our life that we are grateful for.
As mentioned briefly in last week’s edition, Modern Love is the perfect podcast to get you thinking about who and what you love in your own life. Modern Love is the product of the famous New York Times column that has been around for more than 20 years. The podcast adaptation is the most recent development, and it provides a space for host Anna Martin to explore the complicated love life of regular people. Each episode, Martin does a live reading of love related essays written by people from all around the world. The essays range in topic from heartbreak, young love and friendship to loss, each with their own emotional message. Martin often has celebrity guests on the show and invites them to choose an essay from another author to read aloud and share why it resonated with them. Martin has recently come out with episodes with popular stars, such as Emily Ratajkowski and Andrew Garfield, where they explore the love and loss they have experienced in their own lives.
Garfield’s episode titled “Andrew Garfield Wants to Crack Open Your Heart,” promotes his recent movie We Live in Time through the personal essay of a man named Chris Huntington. This essay explores the linear timeline that most humans tend to live their life on, discussing how as time passes and things change, so do the people around us. Garfield’s new movie also explores this concept as it follows a young couple through their somewhat unconventional relationship. Garfield uses the essay to explore some of the emotions that he has been personally feeling after the passing of his own mother. He emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and savoring the moment you are in. This bittersweet episode will leave you thinking about time and why it is such a precious thing.
Ratajkowski’s episode falls into the category of self-love and appreciation. In the past two years she has gone through a divorce and tried to navigate through life as a single mother. The essay that she chose to read is titled, “Why I fell for an ‘I’m the Man’ Man” by Susan Forray. Ratajkowski talks about navigating through new relationships post-divorce and what it’s like being a financially stable woman in the modern dating world. She uses the essay to address gender stereotypes that are still a large part of modern dating. She also explains that she isn’t actively looking for a new relationship and how for her, self-love is more important than trying to find happiness in another person.
The themes explored in both these episodes, along with the rest of the Modern Love episodes, are perfect for the holidays and allow us to reflect on our own relationships. This is the best season to think about all we have. You can find Modern Love on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Happy listening.
