Life After Vaccination: Recent Episodes
Matt Brombley
Life After Vaccination is a podcast which shares stories, sounds and reflection on life after the Covid-19 vaccination
Three years on from Covid changing life as we know it, how do we move on in a way which is healing?
Links:
Psychology Today Article
The long tail of anxiety. Why worries stick around long after the moment has passed, and what we can do about it.
Links:
Spring to Life (Album) coming Friday 10 March — follow my artist page on your streaming platform of choice to listen
The Ripple Effect
If we don't go looking fordiscomfort, it comes looking for us...
Links:
The Comfort Crisis by Micheal Easter
The Hidden Spring (A Journey to the Source of Consciousness) by Mark Solms
Something in the Water
It’s Just a Vibe
My new song, 'Something in the Water' comes out 28/10/2022, so this week is a love letter to the songwriting process
Links:
South Coast Music Show on Voice FM
Pre-Save: https://ditto.fm/something-in-the-water-matt-brombley
Welcome back after summer break! This week's episode shares some holiday highlights and plans for the months ahead
Some music, some books and some ideas to try on for size.
Links:
The Breakdown (Podcast)
The Blonde & Pink Albums — Trixie Matel
Man Made — Greentea Peng
Mother — Cleo Soul
Atlantis — Lilah
Spell 31 — Ibeyi
Soft Thing — Loony
White Light — Emie Nathan
Harry’s House — Harry Styles
Cheater — Pom Poko
Wet Leg — Wet Leg
War Outside — Kamal
Radiator — Sadurn
People Pleaser — Laura Elliott
Books are all saved to my Instagram Story Highlights.
Thoughts on Mark Solms' book 'The Hidden Spring: A Journey to the Source of Consciousness'.
A little life update from two years after the first UK lockdown, including books to read, a some spoken work poems I've written.
Say Thou Art on TikTok
Time to catch up on some of the help that's come over the past few weeks, and think about reframing failure.
Happy first birthday to this podcast! What a difference one year, and vaccination, makes...
We live in a system that is pouring itching powder on us, whilst also telling us that if we were better people, we'd be able to stop scratching. this week's episode explores this idea of cruel optimism.
Stolen Focus Book
Asking for help can be awkward and uncomfortable, but with a little help, we can ask for more...
Modern life is full of distractions, and, sometimes we need help to focus and find a flow...
Your attention didn’t collapse. It was stolen — article
Whilst big change can't be forced, there's something to be said for taking a moment to think about the year ahead and what course corrections we need to make.
What have you done this year that you ar emost proud of, and have you had the chance to celebrate it properly?
One year since the first vaccine dose was given, what have we learnt that can help keep the future on track?
Catching up on last week's topic of motivation, and letting ourselves be foolish by trying new things...
Ingredients:
500g fruit & nuts; booze; 110g butter; 110g soft dark brown sugar; 2 eggs; 110g plain flour; 1/2tsp salt; 1/4tsp cinnamon: 1/4tsp nutmeg; 1tsp vanilla; 1tsp maple syrup;
The day before.
Soak your fruit in booze, and cover.
On the day.
Grease and line a 6 inch circular cake tin with a double layer of parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 140C.
Cream the butter and the sugar until pale and then slowly add the eggs and vanilla. Sift then gently fold in the flour and spices. Then stir through the fruit, nuts, and syrup.
Pour the batter into your prepared cake tin, and cover with another double square of parchment, with a small hole cut out.
Bake for around three and a half hours, but you can start checking after three.
You’ll know it’s cooked when the cake pulls away from the edges of the tin and a skewer comes out clean from the centre.
Let cool to the touch in the tin, then fully cool on a wire rack. Poke holes in the cake, and lightly drip over more of the booze. Wrap and store.
A busy week means, there's very little finished, so instead, here is some work in progress...
Stream ‘Dreaming’
Today, we take a moment to value the conversations that happen the other 364 days of the year, as well as the top five things that make life awesome.
My Top 5 Podcast
World Mental Health Day
I have a song coming out, on Friday 16th October, called 'Dreaming' and so, this week looks at the connection between dreams and lyrics.
https://ditto.fm/dreaming-matt-brombley
Birthdays (and yes, Christmas) come but once a year, and whislt this year's feels so different from the last, there is a long shadow cast by celebrations missed over the past 18 months.
Recognising when our mental post-it notes are running low, and allowing ourselves to take things one thing at a time, knowing that, even moving in little steps, build the mental pathways needed for further steps.
This week takes a look under the covers of an interview I did with Voice FM.
Voice FM Interview
This week returns the wisdom of Jess Clark, and thinks about how being on holiday can hlep us figure our our negotiables, and our non-negotiables, and, with a little help from cognitive behavioural therapy, avoid over-promising and under delivering as we try to make post-pandemic life work.
Links:
Zoe Covid App Video
Back to where it all began: episode one, and vaccination day one, but six months later.
This week marks one year since my friend Emma died. In the same week, I got a wonderful gift from my mum: a framed set of four photographs of my grandparents, So, this week is a set of reflections on some of the things passed on to me, by those who have passed on. This week's music includes clips from tracks made with Emma.
In episode 23, we try to make sense of a week where the end of restrictions is announced, even if the pandemic is far from over.
When there's so much creative electricity in the air, it can be hard to find words to organise the chaos, and so this week focusses on more experiments with sound and music to try and explore the and the week as it is.
Blood Orange Blondies (with caramelised white chocolate, and blood orange caramel)
Blood Orange Caramel
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200g Golden Caster Sugar
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Juice from four small blood oranges
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200ml Double Cream
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50g Butter
Blondie
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110g Butter (browned and then slightly cooled)
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220g Soft Light Brown Sugar
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Zest of Four Small Blood Oranges
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2 Large Eggs
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1tsp Vanilla Bean Paste
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1/2tsp salt
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1/4tsp baking powder
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180g Plain Flour
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100g Caramelised White Chocolate
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50g Dark Chocolate
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50g Pecans
Add the caster sugar to a pan, along with the juice of the blood oranges, and bring to a boil over a medium heat. You want the bubbles to go from larger to smaller, and the colour to turn a deeper brown and caramelised. Stir in the butter and the double cream and leave to one side too cool.
Beat the liquid browned butter with the sugar and blood orange zest for a few minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat again for another few minutes. Add the salt, baking powder and flour, beating one more time til combined. Tip in the two chocolates and the pecans and fold by hand to combine.
Tip in to a lined and greased 7inch square tin, dollop spoonfuls of the caramel on top and swirling through the mixture gently.
Bake at 175C for around 20 minutes, or until set and golden on top. Allow to cool completely before removing from the tin and serving.
Where to begin? This week's episode explores returning to face-to-face work, and the ways writing things down can help make sense of whats going on in our heads.
In this week’s episode, we get a little phylosophical, and think about what makes for a comfortable pace.
A little lightness this week, with a run down of a few of my current favourites from the worlds of books/audiobooks, TV, food, music and other things.
Links:
You Will Get Through This Night by Dan Howell: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08HZFLP34/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_HMMH1YM74DY8JA1BX5TY
Dr John Cambell on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Campbellteaching
Claire Saffitz, Desert Person on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ClaireSaffitzxDessertPerson
Glow Up on iPlayer https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p099yzf0/glow-up-britains-next-makeup-star-series-3-episode-1
Sour — Olivia Rodrigo (Spotify Link): https://open.spotify.com/album/6s84u2TUpR3wdUv4NgKA2j?si=NP2cwqK2RcShOUc1ppYOkw
This week's episode celebrates the arrival of the Great British summer with talk of summer album soundtracks, and making summer plans on a summer bucket list.
Thursday night lateral flow testing. Friday morning baking “I’ve Missed You Like Mad” Cookies. And, after much waiting, hugging.
Links:
Original Cookie Recipe (Jane’s Patisserie)
Another stage of lockdown easing is announced, with cautious cuddling included, but, when just a few days later concerns about new varients rise, will the protection of vaccination take the weight we need it to?
Two weeks after dose two, what freedoms does (and maybe should) "maxination" bring?
Links:
“What are No-Vaxxers Thinking? (The Atlantic)
Follow along with vaccination appointment number two, breakfast afterwards, and a catch up on side effects later in the week.
This week's episode opens with a follow up from last week's topic, further inspired by an Observer interview with Nigella Lawson. Then, a text message arrives, vaccination appointment two is book, an orange twirl is eaten, and some reflections on what this second shot really means.
Links: Nigella in Observer Food Magazine
Food is not just fuel, but deeply social. This week's episode delights in food that fuels the body, that expresses the love of friendship, and that is shared and delighted in together.
Eat Up (Audiobook)
Original Blood Orange Drizzle Cake Recipe (Saved Story on Instagram)
As life opens up, this week's episode opens up about some of the struggles and strategies that this week brought with it.
Links: https://www.stylist.co.uk/health/mental-health/coping-with-change-curious-mindset-benefits/497304
It's a big week, as life life is slowly resurected, with the rule of six outdoors, and shielding coming to an end. The week's episode documents the stories, and the sounds, of each little step, each day, as life begins to open up once more.
This week's episode reflects on the power of vaccines to help us forget about vaccines; about the power of vaccines to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and even strangers; and how anxiety can increase as our post-lockdown future becomes our post-lockdown present.
This week's episode looks back to one year ago, and ahead to one year from now. From the innocent naivety of the first weeks of lockdown, to imagining the impossible — what life will be like one year from now.
Hank Green's 'How Will Post Pandemic Behaviour Change?' Video
Hank Green's Post-Covid Behaviour Change Alignment Chart
This week's episode explores the topic of loneliness, Including lockdown loneliness, both in moments of celebration and moments of sadness, and how it has impacted LGBTQ+ young people (with a brief diversion in to the topic of conversion therapy). The episode ends with a mindfulness meditation to help find acceptance of ourselves, even in all our mess an uncertainty.
For anyone listening with kids, please note, there is one s-bomb in this week's episode, at 13:29.
This week's episode opens with an unexpected inspiration for mental health advice. But in a song about Ariana Grande's ex's there is also a way to deal with the worries of coming out of lockdown. The episode then moves on to the ways lockdown has been difficult for each of us in different ways, and how by seeing in others things we recognise in ourselves, we can bring about more open conversations that will hopefully help make the months ahead easier.
This week's episode opens with reflections on the nature of anxiety, set to the backdrop of a week where everything has changed, yet, nothing has really changed.
Then, we jump in to the second part of Matt's conversation with Jess Clark, where the discussion moves to themes of resilience and routines in the face of changing circumstances.
Finally, the episode closes with two single breath mindfulness exercises.
In this episode, Matt starts with a reflection on something that should have been at the end of episode one. And then, picking up from last Sunday afternoon, we go through the days after dose one, checking in on symptoms and side effects, including one, unexpected reaction.
In episode one, Matt shares stories, sounds and reflections from vaccination day. Starting from the day before, with reflections on the past year, and then, recordings from the big day.