Catching Up After a Year Away: A New Season Begins

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Before we kick off the new season, I want to catch you up on where I've been the past year.

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Everyone has a story to tell.

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We connect and relate to one another when we share our stories.

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My name is Amelia, and I'm the host of Voices of Inspiration.

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Join me as I share stories of friends, family, and strangers through my everyday life and travels.

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You will laugh, possibly cry, or walk away feeling connected more than ever to those around you and ready to be the change our world needs.

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Everyone has a story to tell.

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What's yours?

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If you're new here, welcome.

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And if you've been with me for a while, thank you for coming back.

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It has been a minute.

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Actually, it's been a year, and I truly did not mean for that much time to pass.

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But life has a way of redirecting us, slowing us down, and sometimes forcing us to stop altogether.

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I definitely did not plan on this long break.

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It just happened the way life happens, one thing on top of another.

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Until you look up and realize time ran faster than you did.

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I have missed the space more than I realized.

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I've missed the conversations, the stories, and honestly, I've missed talking to you.

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The people who stayed connected, checked in, or kept listening to old episodes, even when nothing new was coming out, that meant a lot to me.

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Breaks happen, life gets busy, things shift, and sometimes you just disappear for a while.

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And I have a really bad habit of doing that.

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But the people who stick around, even when you have nothing to say, even when nothing new is coming out, they're the ones who remind you why you started this in the first place.

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So I want to start today by just talking honestly about where I've been the last 12 months.

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The last year held a lot more than I expected.

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There were a lot of challenges.

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I was working on my book last year in 2025, 2024.

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I don't even know what year it is.

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I was working on 100 things to do in South Carolina before you die when Hurricane Helene hit.

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And everything stopped.

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The book, my routine, everything.

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My focus shifted to the people around me and the relief efforts I was involved in.

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For me, it wasn't optional.

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The need was immediate, and that became my priority.

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Living in the Carolinas, these are the communities around me.

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And it was incredibly important to me.

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I didn't think about timelines or publishing dates or projects.

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I was thinking about people who needed help around me and what my role in that moment needed to be.

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After the storm and things were a little bit more stable, I started writing again.

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And then at the beginning of March, my son had a very serious car accident.

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And I won't share all the details.

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That's his story too, but it was serious.

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And it pulled the ground out from under me for a while.

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When something happens to your child, no matter their age, he's 24.

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Even if he was 54, it wouldn't matter.

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Everything else just pauses.

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You go into a mode where the only thing that matters is just making sure that they're okay.

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And you sort of move through your days with tunnel vision, just doing whatever has to be done.

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When someone you love gets hurt, anyone you love, nothing else feels important.

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You're not thinking about deadlines or even what you were doing the day before.

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I couldn't even tell you what I did earlier that day.

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All you're doing is just whatever you have to do to make sure they are okay.

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And once it's over, you don't really bounce right back.

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It takes a little time to feel normal.

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And he's okay now, and we are okay.

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But that period changed my pace and it pushed me to notice things.

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I usually move past too quickly.

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And this podcast was unfortunately something that I couldn't focus on at the time.

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He came home and he was with us for four months.

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And once he was stable and once he was back to his own life and routine, I went back to working on my manuscript and I was able to turn it in September 1st.

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And if you've ever worked on something long-term, especially something creative, you know the mix of exhaustion and relief when you finally turn it in.

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It's like your brain doesn't know whether to sleep for a week or start the next project.

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So between the storm and his accident and working on the book, there truly wasn't space or energy for anything else.

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And this show has always mattered to me, but I think stepping away made me understand why it matters.

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When everything finally slowed down, I realized how much I miss doing this.

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Not for the numbers or the reach, but because of the conversations that I have and the connection, I never lost interest.

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I just didn't have the capacity.

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There's a huge difference between those two.

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And I always knew I'd come back.

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But the only thing that has delayed me was restarting.

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When you've been away for a while, you wonder if people will still show up.

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Starting again after time away from anything is awkward.

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You second guess everything.

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Your voice, your timing, whether anyone is still waiting on another episode.

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I can't tell you how many times I have recorded this episode.

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But the truth is, coming back isn't about feeling confident.

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It's about choosing to show up even when you're unsure.

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And once you take that first step back in, you remember why you loved it.

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And that's what keeps you moving forward.

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So before I get into what's next for Voices of Inspiration and my work for 2026, I want to share a little bit about the book for anyone who might be new here.

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I've mentioned it previously, but it has been a while.

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100 Things to Do in South Carolina Before You Die comes out April 1st, 2026.

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It's part of a national series with Reedy Press, and my version focuses on experiences across the state of South Carolina.

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That includes food and drink, history and culture, sports and recreation, shopping.

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And it took a lot of time and a lot of effort and a lot of traveling across the state to pull the books together.

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And finishing open the door to some things that I'll be doing next year.

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And it will be visiting in a different way, not chaotic, hopefully, like the past year, but intentional.

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I'll be doing events tied to the book, meeting people across the state, sharing the stories behind the places I wrote about.

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And that's what leads into a few shifts in my work going forward.

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With the release coming in 2026, I'll be moving into speaking engagements, panels, conversations, events connected to travel and storytelling, and the behind-the-scenes process of the book itself.

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I know many people have lots of questions about how do you narrow it down to 100 things.

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I also want to share something exciting.

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This summer I became a certified travel advisor with Fora.

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And this came from years of people asking for help with their trips, from planning and researching to figuring out where to stay, where to dine, and what makes the most sense for their budget or travel style.

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And it's something I've been doing naturally for a really long time.

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So now it's just a little bit more official.

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And I can help you with custom itineraries, hotel bookings, full trip planning.

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So if you have a trip coming up that you need help with, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.

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Another thing that I have been working on is finally launching my website, Ameliaold.com.

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And it's something I've wanted for quite some time, a place where everything finally lives under one roof.

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The podcast, my photography, book updates, travel advising.

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And for those that don't know me really well, I also work in TV films.

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So for that work also to have a home, it's nice to have like this home base that actually reflects everything that I've been building for years.

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I also have a newsletter coming up and it kind of grew from the same idea.

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I wanted somewhere more grounded than social media, a place where updates don't get buried under an algorithm.

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So if you want to see my content, you can actually see my content.

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A simple space where I can share new episodes, travel news, personal stories, occasional travel deals that actually feel worth sharing.

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And I will soon have information on the newsletter where you can sign up.

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I hope it will be available next week, in addition to AmeliaOld.com going live.

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And now, season four of Voices of Inspiration.

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This entire season is focused on my time in China.

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I just recently took a trip there, and every episode comes from the conversations I recorded while I was there, and from the people who invited me into their homes, their work, and their daily lives.

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You'll hear from homestay owners, tea farmers, and community members in the Zhejiang and Shanghai region, people who were open, generous, and willing to share their experiences in a very real way.

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A lot of those conversations that stuck with me weren't really big moments.

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They were casual, everyday chats, sitting at someone's kitchen table, walking with them, talking to them while they worked.

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Those were the moments where people really opened up.

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And I think that is true for most situations.

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If you've followed my work, you know I've always believed that the best way to understand a place is through the people who live there.

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So these conversations in China reminded me of that all over again.

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And they sort of recentered me and helped me reconnect with why I do this or why I want to do this work at all.

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Looking back, I can see why I needed the break, even though I didn't plan it.

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I needed the time to reset, to figure out what mattered, to focus on my book, and of course to be fully present for my son and my other children and husband.

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If the last year taught me anything, it's that slowing down doesn't erase your purpose.

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It defenses it.

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You see things you love with new clarity and you understand why they matter to you.

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And when you return to them, you're not coming back as the same person.

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You're bringing everything you lived through with you.

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And now coming back to this podcast, it feels right and it feels aligned.

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And it feels like stepping back into a room where the light never really turned off.

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It just waited.

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If you want to find past episodes or show information, you can always visit Voicesof Inspiration Podcast.com.

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My main website and newsletter will be live next week, and I'll share those once they're up.

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And you can also connect with me on social media at AmeliaOldOfficial, and I'm on Instagram and TikTok and Facebook.

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Go ahead and follow the show so you don't miss upcoming episodes.

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And if you leave a rating or review, thank you.

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That feedback tells the platforms people are listening, which helps the show reach more people who might connect with it.

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And if you ever have questions or want to suggest a story or a topic or someone for me to interview, you can reach out through the contact page at Voices of Inspiration Podcast.com.

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Next week we begin the first episode from my time in China, starting in Shanghai.

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Thank you for joining us.