How podcaster Jay Ooi uses noodle soup, video games and reality TV to unwind

Jay Ooi lives a creatively demanding life, working in marketing by day and podcasting at night. 

While he's in the middle of a podcasting project, he's known to "just close one laptop and open another".

Living on Gadigal Land in Sydney, Jay is the writer and producer behind Shoes Off, a podcast about Asian Australian identity. His second podcast with Thinesh Thillainadarajah, You Have Been Told a Lie. Blood, Borders and Biloela, won an Australian podcast award and followed the story of the Nadesalingam family who were seeking asylum in Australia.

When it comes to balance, the 34-year-old is mindful that it's not something he's mastered.

Still, he's found small, daily rituals to get him through busy times. 

Unwind with… is a weekly column that explores the simple ways interesting people take care of themselves.

My morning routine looks like …

I wake up. Take the dog out for a wee and walk.

A morning ritual if I'm working from home is making myself either a chai, matcha or hōjicha. [Taking the time to make tea] it's just this little moment for myself.

Then it's either a half hour walk to work, or a very short walk to my home desk.

I try start work by 7am. I do find starting earlier gives me more flexibility.

I don't have to travel during peak hour — not that it matters, I'm walking — but it's quieter. There's less traffic and less people around.

My favourite ways to unwind …

[On days when I'm feeling quite tense] if I go to the gym — where I do circus aerial stuff — I'll come home feeling much calmer. 

My partner's pretty good at pulling me away [when noticing I'm stressed] and saying you should play some video games for an hour. It's very obvious if I'm in a mood, quite stressed or just in a funk.

I might play a video game. Sometimes I'll put on a dumb TV show in the background and do some cooking. I'll just be in the kitchen by myself, and I'll tell my partner to ignore me.

I never used to watch reality TV, and in the past five years I love it. [It's] something I didn't really have to pay close attention to.

Wellbeing advice I'd give to my younger self …

I never did any form of exercise really until I was like 24. I didn't think it was for me. I didn't think I'd enjoy it. I would tell myself to give that a go because you will feel better. Exercise always helps when I'm feeling down. Start sooner.

I like my alone time, but prioritising and trying to find time for your friends and putting the effort to maintain those relationships is something I wish I did better when I was younger. I'm not very close to my high school and university friends anymore which I think is a shame.

I would tell younger me to find out what I love and what brings me joy and energy, because I think I used to just coop myself up.

My favourite meal to cook …

I boil what we call 'bone broth' in Australia, which I grew up just calling soup. Just some pork bones with water, daikon, ginger, and some spices like star anise and cinnamon.

Chuck it all in. Let it cook for like the whole day. Whenever I want to eat dinner, I add some Chinese veg, chicken and noodles.

I could eat that every day — and I almost do. It's just very calming, but also brings me warmth and joy.

Podcasts I'm listening to that I'd recommend …

Esther Perel's Where Should We Begin is basically a therapy podcast with a different couple or individual on every episode. It's just like a live therapy session. It helps me think through things in my own relationship, or see things in other relationships [in my life].

The latest series of The Economics of Everyday Things covers the US higher education system. All these top tier ivy league schools have become more sought-after over time, but mainly because they've restricted college admissions. It basically becomes a brand name. 

Private Affairs Podcast is a narrative fiction podcast created by Christine 'Kix' [Mwaturura]. It's a sort of fiction about a Zimbabwean expat who falls in love with a charming Aussie doctor. It ties into a lot about race, gender and the cultural difference. It's just an eye into this world that I don't know much — if anything — about. It throws you in.