Episode 2 - We Are Lonely: Looking Inward

What does your relationship with yourself have to do with being lonely? When you think about loneliness it’s easy to focus on how many friends you have, how connected you are with the outside world. But loneliness isn’t that simple - you can feel lonely in the company of others and you can feel content alone. In this episode our participants and their mentors take a moment to look inwards and work out who they are, and who they want to be. This question of self discovery, of understanding our place in the world, is part of why we can feel particularly disconnected in our twenties. We’re trying to find the answers to those questions - Who am I? Where do I fit? Where do I want to be? Who are my people? And at the same time we’re sorting out the practicalities of living in the world outside of our family. It can be exhausting, and it can be isolating.  Host: Jemma Sbeg Participants: Charity, Holly, Aleks and Tim Mentors: Dr Deidre Anderson, Barry Conrad, Sean Szeps and Tessa Blencowe Experts: Professor Ian Hickie and Dr Lisa Mundy

Om Podcasten

Follow four twenty somethings on their search for connection. It might not surprise you to hear that people in Australia have never been more lonely. Half of us will feel lonely this week. The UK has a Minister for Loneliness and the US Surgeon General has declared loneliness a health epidemic, but it might surprise you that young adults are lonelier than the average person in Australia. If we learn to manage and minimise loneliness, it’s no more than a healthy human emotion. If it becomes chronic, it can have the same impact on us as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Over this six-part reality documentary podcast series, four young people meet with mentors and experts who will help them build strategies to reconnect. Through their stories, we understand the reality of loneliness in Australia experienced by a generation that theoretically has never been more connected. Each of us will connect with different parts of their stories and resonate with different strategies and advice from our mentors and experts. We are lonely, so let’s reconnect.