We Are Lonely We Are Lonely

We’ve had a chance to get to know our participants pretty well by now, but they still haven’t met each other. So we do the thing that is most practical when it comes to loneliness - bringing people together. 
 
Charity, Tim, Aleks and Holly all head to Melbourne to meet and share their experiences with each other.
 
Host: Jemma Sbeg
Participants: Charity, Aleks, Tim and Holly
Mentors: Dr Deidre Anderson, Barry Conrad, Sean Szeps and Tessa Blencowe
Experts: Professor Ian Hickie and Dr Lisa Mundy
 

It’s pretty common to blame our blooming loneliness on technology. In this episode we tease out that theory and look at the ways technology is both helping and hindering our connection with other people.
Tim also meets with a psychologist who is part of a gaming research program to talk through the impacts gaming has on our brains and how to control our relationship with technology.
Host: Jemma Sbeg
Participants: Tim, Holly, Aleks and Charity
Mentors: Dr Deidre Anderson, Barry Conrad, Sean Szeps and Tessa Blencowe
Experts: Professor Ian Hickie and Dr Lisa Mundy
Guest - Shane Southwood
 

Reaching into where you feel joy, where you feel accepted and happy is a powerful way to build connection. Holly does something she would never have faced just months ago and heads to a yoga retreat alone. Tim reignites his passion for drag and Charity steps into the world of study.
Sometimes connection doesn’t have to be with people just like us, it can be with people who like the same things as us.
Host: Jemma Sbeg
Participants: Charity, Tim and Holly
Mentors: Dr Deidre Anderson, Barry Conrad, Sean Szeps and Tessa Blencowe
Experts: Professor Ian Hickie and Dr Lisa Mundy
 

How does our relationship with the world and the people around us make us lonely? And how do we fix it? Aleks, Charity, Holly and Tim are getting ready to step into the world, and find their people. 
During our 20’s our relationships are changing a fair bit. Only a few years ago we were at school, we each had our school identity - sporty, academic, musical, popular. Then we left school and the world felt a bit bigger and the options for how we presented to the world expanded. Naturally, alongside those changes, a lot of our friendships might be adapting as well. There can be a lot of rethinking of who we want to be with and what we want from our relationships. 
We cover a heap in this episode, from the impacts of racism to communication skills and how to have the courage to step out.
 
Host: Jemma Sbeg
Participants: Aleks, Charity, Tim and Holly
Mentors: Dr Deidre Anderson, Barry Conrad, Sean Szeps and Tessa Blencowe
Experts: Professor Ian Hickie and Dr Lisa Mundy
Guest - Aunty Bea Ballangarry
 

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

Why are we lonely? Holly found herself in a habit of being alone after experiencing years of illness; Tim moved into a studio apartment in Melbourne just as the second lockdown hit; Charity is working through generations of disconnection forced on her family through Stolen Generations; and Aleks finds the pressure of managing a multi-faceted career and study life can overtake his downtime and peace. We join our participants as they each meet their mentor and start to understand why they’re feeling lonely.
 
It seems as quickly as we’re filling this planet we’re each becoming more isolated. One in three people in Australia are experiencing high levels of loneliness; the UK has a Minister of Loneliness; and the US Surgeon General has declared loneliness a health epidemic. This matters, because while loneliness is a normal human emotion, if we allow that feeling to become chronic, it has serious health consequences. It can be worse for us than obesity or casual smoking.
 
Host: Jemma Sbeg
Participants: Holly, Tim, Charity and Aleks
Mentors: Dr Deidre Anderson, Barry Conrad, Sean Szeps and Tessa Blencowe
Experts: Professor Ian Hickie and Dr Lisa Mundy