The Psychology of Your 20’s has taken the world by storm—but did you know this podcast began in Canberra?
Posted on
It’s a podcast exploring the confusing conversations we don’t (but should) have in our 20’s—and it’s taken the world by storm. But did you know The Psychology of Your 20’s began right here in Canberra?
Recording her very first episode in the back of her car in O’Connor (right across the road from The Duxton), 23-year-old Australian National University psychology grad Jemma Sbeg never thought her little podcast idea would get so big.
But as The Psychology of Your 20’s approaches its second birthday and slowly climbs towards hitting millions of listeners in the double digits, she says she has to give credit—and lots of it—to her university friends for the idea.
“I was having all of these conversations with them where I was saying ‘There’s all of this psychology that I think is largely inaccessible and wrapped up in theory and academic literature that can really explain our 20’s’. I would have these chats with my friends around dating, academic pressure, and worrying about the future…because we just want an answer, right?” she says.
“I had the idea, and then I went through a breakup and thought ‘I may as well do this.’…I was just a uni student who like had an idea and I just got the bug for it and was really passionate about it.”
Putting “blood, sweat, and tears” into bringing the podcast to life, The Psychology of Your 20’s touches on topics ranging from anxiety to friendship breakups, loneliness, body image, full-time work, and even soul mates.
And while individually all the topics are interesting, for Jemma the ultimate aim of The Psychology of Your 20’s is to help provide 20-somethings with an explanation of the weird and wacky feelings they might be going through.
Continuing to choose her topics based on conversations with friends—which range from social media trends to hangxiety and overcoming childhood trauma—Jemma’s philosophy is she doesn’t want to talk about something unless she’s personally been dealing with herself.
“That’s what makes it authentic,” she says. “A lot about our 20’s is confusing right? There’s no guidebook for it and that can contribute to a lot of the anxiety and stress that I think is very characteristic of people in this decade.”
“Psychology makes us feel less alone…I think a big part of why certain life experiences in our 20’s can be so confronting is because we think that we’re going through it as solitary creatures, that no one’s ever had that experience before, and it can be really isolating. Understanding some of those universal concepts really brings a sense of peace.”
And it seems to be working. Ranked in the top 10 of Spotify’s podcast charts in the US, UK, and Australia, listeners are continuing to hit ‘play’ on Jemma’s psychological explanations. But it’s not only listeners that are using the topics to heal.
Utilising the creation of The Psychology of Your 20’s to help herself after her heart was broken (twice), Jemma also uses the topics to provide herself—and her friends—with emotional clarity.
“Our society, this generation, is a lot more vulnerable with how they’re feeling and a lot more vulnerable with their experiences. We talk about mental health a lot, but on a deeper level, we also need to talk about some of the less serious things. If we only begin the discussion when things become bad, we only talk about mental illness,” she says.
“There’s so much content and information that is excluded that can be really useful before we get to that point.”
With plans to start tackling more vulnerable topics in the future, The Psychology of Your 20’s has become a full-time job for Jemma—literally. Recently leaving her job in Sydney to focus on the podcast (and a few other projects that she can’t disclose yet), Jemma says that looking back, it’s the hard, painful experiences she’s most thankful for.
“[The podcast] has really followed me in my life…what the show has done has made me so grateful for some of those painful experiences. I’m thinking of two people in particular. If it hadn’t been for them, I wouldn’t have started this podcast, I wouldn’t have had the motivation to continue it.”
“It’s really reframed my idea around everything happening for a reason and approaching things with gratitude instead of resentment.”
But as the podcast continues to climb the charts, will she be coming back to the place it all began?
“I think the best thing about Canberra was it was an amazing place where I spent my late teens and my early 20’s and it really allowed me to come into myself. It was just a beautiful community where there were always people around, it was safe, it felt secure, and it prepared me for the next chapter and the next challenge.”
“I’m in Sydney now and we’ll see where I’m in the future but I’m very grateful for my time there.”
