How to address a personal or difficult situation on-air

You know me. I come across interesting stuff and then I share it with you.

This week I listened to a podcast from Sounds True called Simply Be: A New Approach to Personal Branding. I recommend listening to it in its entirety... but today, I want to share what author Jessica Zweig had to say about authenticity and vulnerability. 

Often I have conversations with air talent about how to address personal situations – divorce, for example, or confessing a mental health crisis or loss in the family.

Take this in: 

The internet [and airwaves] aren’t for you to process your feelings. People don’t necessarily care about your heartbreak or that you’re struggling to pay your rent. They care about what you have learned that can help them go through the same thing. And if you’re in it, it’s hard to see the lesson, the wisdom, the silver lining. 

You’re not doing it [sharing] to feel less alone. You’re doing it to make other people feel less alone. 

If you have something difficult to share, make sure you’ve done the work first. Take your time. I like to think of it as you revealing a scar, not the wound. This is not to say that the story itself won’t be emotional or raw, but that in almost all cases, you don’t want the listeners to feel like they have to console YOU.