Growing Pains and How Life Works




"....I think a lot about that; like how something that I thought was so integral to my being, you know, like enjoying the cold weather and, like, centring a part of my identity around that, because I did, trust me, I did, like how that? Like, it can just become a very insignificant part of my life, all of a sudden or, you know gradually, but I realise it, the realisation comes upon me all of a sudden, it's just like 'oh, so I'm not that person anymore.'" 


Nayyira ElGohary is a second-year economics student who happens to be a writer and, more importantly, a proud cat mom (rightfully so; louza is indeed the perfect kitty to exist and I would know because I follow her Instagram account.)


"One thing that I like to brag about when I introduce myself to new people is how I’m named after a star, even though I had no say in it whatsoever; the brightest star in the constellation of Grus, Alpha Gruis has the local name Al-Nair, so I’m basically the female counterpart of that." 

Besides all of that, Nayyira is also a podcaster! Back in January of this year, Nayyira started her very own Podcast titled Growing Pains which revolves around life and what's it like, for womxn and content-creator as herself, growing up in today's time and age. The episodes are released bi-weekly on all podcast platforms known to humanity!


The Inspiration Behind Growing Pains


Back in 2018, Nayyira was really into zines, she wanted to make one titled Growing Pains that was basically a collection of her poetry and art. A friend of hers was going to work on illustrations for the poems, as well as cover art for the zine. The cover art of the zine was going to mainly revolve around bandaids and plants, which Nayyira happen to love (which brings us to why she chose it as the cover art for Growing Pains, the podcast, which she designed herself using images/artwork licensed under Creative Commons and that can be used commercially!)

A couple of drafts later, they decided to abandon the project, but Nayyira was still hung up on the idea. Starting from 2019, she decided to draft a bunch of poems and essays under a collection of the same title, Growing Pains, and since she was already an avid podcast listener, she wanted to put out the collection in an audio form, however, she said that "the podcast could be considered an adjacent project of sorts," which is completely true! Listening to the podcast doesn't feel at all like listening to poetry or essays, it feels more like a laid back conversation with Nayyira the human and how she deals with life, being as confused as we all are!

"There are also poems from the collection included in some of the episodes, like Ashore from episode 4 ‘Happiness Was Never The Goal’, and the latest episode where I talk about identity actually has a piece I’ve written for sfts." 
As for what inspires her to keep going, there's no specific reason, she just purely enjoys making the podcast as she finds doing the work she loves is a good enough reason to keep her going.


Growing Pains' Main Purpose


When we asked Nayyira whether it is difficult to gain an audience, she told us that, even though it is, the quantity was never her goal. It is more important for her that people connect to what she's talking about or for the sole purpose of having someone there for them, a person to listen to at while doing random daily chores or unwinding.

"Because I have the same experience listening to podcasts, they’re like a little friend that’ll always be there whenever I don’t want to be alone, making breakfast, doing the laundry, eating when I don’t want to be eating alone. Offering that same comfort to other people brings me immense joy." 

She says that having a bigger listener base wouldn't be bad, either, but she doesn't have any issues with the current gradual growth, though if you do enjoy her podcast, she asks you to share it around as word of mouth is really powerful and helps.


Her Audience


Nayyira talked about how her family members are all subscribers to her podcast and are being fully supportive of it, even though most of them probably don't listen to every single episode, apart from her little sister who listens to every episode as soon as it's out!

However, when it comes to gaining an audience in Egypt, she told us that it isn't that easy as audio content is still not that popularised here. That being said, a lot of efforts are indeed made targeting this issue, and Nayyira is taking part in it as much as she can!

".... just this year I’ve attended the first-ever Podcast Festival in Cairo, and I made a (lame excuse of a) podcast pitch. However, I’m not targeting an Egyptian audience, as a matter of fact, most of my audience isn’t Egyptian according to analytics collected." 


Time Management?


Balancing her personal life and the podcast is barely possible for Nayyira, she even says that everything is a mess and that she's scared that it might be obvious from the podcast, how bad she is at managing the platform. (And as a listener, I would like to assure her that she's doing amazing and that I am proud.) Since she doesn't have someone to market the podcast and manage its socials, it's difficult for her to do all of that on her own, especially since this isn't her area of expertise and she needs to work on learning these stuff which, unfortunately, she doesn't have the mental capacity for while also writing and producing the podcast itself.

"One of my current short term goals is to have someone else be managing those. But as for making the podcast itself, it’s just already a big part of my life, there isn’t a lot extra to manage. That’s probably because I talk about things I’m going through, it’s therapeutic in a way, it’s an emotional and creative outlet." 


The Process


In her ninth episode, Mama Raised A Quitter, Nayyira talked about how she normally has a script but didn't have one for this episode, so we asked her whether she preferred this more or having scripts, to which she answered to with the latter. She loves to be done with the thinking and outlining part of the episode before the recording session, having the recording session just for, well, recording and pulling out ideas from her pre-planned list!

"I doubt anyone who makes a podcast just presses record and goes for it. It definitely depends on what kind of content you’re putting out, but even the laid-back, just-talking podcasts will have some sort of list planned out. Not having any prior outline is just going to make producing a coherent piece of content way harder." 

And, like growing up and life, Nayyira said that coming up with points to discuss each episode is complete chaos; she has no method for it, she just jots down her ideas until they all fall in place and make sense.

As for her personal favourite episode, she told us she has none yet, but she did enjoy recording the Valentine's Special about love which she recorded with Haneen as she enjoys talking to Haneen and talking about the topic of love, saying that she will definitely have more episodes discussing it.


What Growing Pains Means To Nayyira



"Growing pains, the actual medical condition, is a phase that sometimes occurs in school-age children. It eventually goes away. But I don’t think I can grow past my pains, it’s funny for me to even think about that. As joyous as life can be, growing up is just uncomfortable, with a lot of painful parts. There’s a lot of confusion and uncertainty and I don’t think that goes away. And I’m okay with that. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing."

With that said, Nayyira considers everything we do in our lives as humans helps us grow one way or another, and in the case of Growing Pains, it has been therapeutic for her so far. She considers preparing for episodes a journey of arranging and rearranging her thoughts where she has to dig deep down her brain or heart, which can be uncomfortable, as she confronts specific beliefs and notions which she normally wouldn't.


Growing Pains and Nayyira's Future


Although the main goal for Growing Pains is to continue while getting better, Nayyira told us to expect "some fun stuff" on the gram, soon! She won't announce them, just yet, because she's worried of either jinxing it or not being able to deliver what she declared and get disappointed.

As for herself, she's always working on, planning and abandoning stuff. Working on a bunch of different projects simultaneously may mean that she does terribly at all, all while having creative commitment issues, which is totally fine by her.

"My serious work plans right now are long-term and I don’t feel comfortable sharing every step, mostly because I don’t want to be pressured into anything, I want to have complete creative freedom and right now for me that means not sharing everything I’m working on. However, you might see a poetry zine coming soon, but who knows, keep an eye out on my Instagram." 


Her Advice to You


The advice Nayyira wants to give other young people starting podcasts is as follows:
"I honestly don’t think I have anything in particular. Just do your research, kids. There are countless resources out there. Do the work, reflect on it, redo it. Put it out there. And godspeed. " 


Conclusion


At the end of this interview or -dare I say- talk with Nayyira ElGohary, I learnt a lot, but one thing stuck with me the most, one thing which I feel is the most integral lesson to all young creatives; it's okay not to produce perfect work as there isn't a right way to do things, just as there's no right way to do life. We aren't born with a manual ready for us to learn about life, trial and error is everything, we need to be comfortable with our mistakes and accept the fact that we are bound to make a ton of them.

You can find a lot of applications of Nayyira's mindset in her podcast, along with stories of her trial and error with life. Click here to listen to it!