Somewhere along the way, making new friends got… weird.

In our 20s it just happened.

School. Uni. Work. Nights out.

You were thrown together and something stuck.

But in your 30s?

It can feel awkward. Forced.

Like everyone else already has their people.

In this episode, I’m joined by Rose and Zoe, founders of CityDaze!

We talk about why adult friendships feel harder now, how algorithms quietly narrow our worlds 📱 and why so many of us are craving real connection but feel out of practice actually talking to strangers.

In this conversation, we cover:

✨ Why making friends in your 30s feels different

✨ How tech shapes who we meet (and who we don’t)

✨ Why walking makes conversations deeper and less intense

✨ The awkwardness of meeting new people

✨ A small challenge you can try this week

If your world has started to feel smaller…

If you’ve been feeling a bit disconnected…

If you want to get better at being open again…

This one’s for you 🤍

Pull up a chair.

Or better yet - go for a walk.

Follow the show on your favourite platforms:

Instagram - @theweirdyearspodcast

Tiktok - @theweirdyears

Today's Guests - @Zoemallet & @stillchill.ig

#MakingFriendsInYour30s #AdultFriendships #BuildingCommunity

Do you ever feel overstimulated, constantly distracted… but at the same time, you know something inside you needs space?

This episode is about what happens when you remove the noise completely. When there’s no phone, no talking, no distractions, and no way to avoid yourself.

I’m joined by Rio, who travelled to Poland to spend four days in complete darkness and silence. Pitch black. Total stillness. Just her, her thoughts, and whatever came up.

Honestly… parts of this conversation made me want to throw my phone in the bin. Other parts made my skin crawl.

We get into:

• What a darkness retreat actually involves (and how you even function inside one)

• Why our phones are the easiest way to numb emotion

• What comes up when you stop performing and start feeling

• Shame, people pleasing, and patterns that come from childhood

• Why slowing down can feel terrifying before it feels freeing

• How to create space in everyday life without disappearing from it

Follow the show on your favourite platforms:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/theweirdyearspodcast/?hl=en

Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@theweirdyears

This episode is a reminder that doing less isn’t failing.

Sometimes clarity comes from stopping, not pushing.

#Overstimulation #SlowingDown

Do you feel like your life isn't going to plan…but at the same time, you know you're growing?

This solo episode is about that uncomfortable, confusing phase so many of us hit in our 30s, where things are shifting internally but the external milestones haven't quite caught up yet.

That feeling? It's limbo.

In this episode, I break down why limbo exists, honestly... why it feels so shit, and why it doesn't mean you're failing or falling behind.

We get into:

• Why life can feel stuck even when you're evolving

• The difference between identity exploration and rushing to label yourself• Why confusion isn't inefficiency

• The grief of letting go of lives you thought you'd have

• Five practical ways to stay in the in-between without spiralling

Follow the show on your favourite platforms:

Instagram - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/theweirdyearspodcast/?hl=en⁠

Tiktok - ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@theweirdyears⁠

This episode is a reminder to stop rushing yourself into clarity and start trusting the becoming process.

Limbo isn't a dead zone.It's a formation space.

#limbo #Feelingstuck #selfdevelopment

The DJ, the Control Freak & the Incoming Baby... in like 2 weeks, wtf.

This week, I’m joined by my husband Chris for a very honest pre-baby conversation, recorded in that strange limbo where everything is about to change.… but hasn’t yet.

We lay it al out on what it really feels like to stand on the edge of being first time parents and the lurking "uuuraaaghhhh" of what is about to happen.

We get into:

🍼 What having a baby has brought up for us before even arriving

🍼 The different ways we thought about the decision to start a family

🍼 Fear, identity changes, and the pressure to stay “the same”

🍼 Who we hope we can be as parents

This episode is for anyone who's thinking about kids, unsure if they want them, or just fascinated by the moment before a life changing moment.

🖤 Follow Chris: ⁠@chrisavantgarde⁠

🎙️ Follow us: ⁠@theweirdyearspodcast⁠

🚀 New episodes every Tuesday — hit subscribe to navigate the weirdness together.

What happens when you remove the most popular social lubricant and fully meet yourself in your thirties?

In this episode, I’m joined by Emily Syphas, founder of Sober & Social and one of the UK’s leading voices on sober curiosity, hangover-free living and rethinking alcohol in your 30s.

Emily shares her personal journey from heavy drinking in hospitality, to years of full sobriety, to finding a hangover-free relationship with alcohol.

Together, we explore what actually changes when you question the social rules we’ve inherited around drinking, and what clarity replaces the blur.

We get into:

🧠 Sobriety as a journey, not a destination

🧠 Whether hangover-free living is a 30s cheat code

🧠 How alcohol, anxiety and confidence interact

🧠 The clarity that comes to dating and friendships without alcohol

This episode isn’t about quitting drinking. It’s about outgrowing versions of yourself that relied on numbing, distraction or validation and stepping into what comes next.

🎙️ Follow us: @theweirdyearspodcast

🚀 New episodes every Tuesday — hit subscribe to navigate the weirdness together.

What if trying to be our best, healthiest, most beautiful selves is actually… stressing us out?

In this episode, I’m joined by Emilie Lavinia, Fitness and Wellbeing Editor at The Independent, to make sense of the ever-expanding world of health, wellbeing and beauty in our thirties.

This is not yet another podcast episode with a list of everything you need to be doing — it's Emilie's stripped-back, honest perspective shaped by years inside the beauty industry.

We get into:

✨ How to spot products with actual research behind them

✨ Why women are ageing under a microscope while men get to call their facelifts “biohacking”

✨ The difference between doing wellness and feeling well

✨ Why going back to basics might be the best wellness glow-up you have

If you’ve ever felt like beauty and wellness is a treadmill where you can't keep up, this episode is your reset.

📲 Follow Emilie Lavinia: @emilielaviniauk

🎙️ Follow us: @theweirdyearspodcast

🚀 New episodes every Tuesday — hit subscribe to navigate the weirdness together.

What if the arguments you’re avoiding/repeating/stuck in… are the exact ones that could make your life better?

In this week’s Weirdly Personal, I’m getting into the fights we should be having in our thirties — and the ones we can finally stop wasting energy on.

After spending way too much time arguing with men on the internet (productive? questionable), I realised just how much of our energy goes into the wrong conflicts -  and how powerful the right arguments can be.

Arguments aren’t about winning; they’re about understanding, clarity and connection.

In this episode, I break down:

✨ The five arguments you never need to have again

✨ The fights that actually improve your life - values, alignment, accountability and equality

✨ How to spot the real issue underneath a conflict

✨ How to argue in a way that brings you closer, not further apart

If you’ve ever replayed a conversation 47 times, avoided a necessary conflict, or found yourself knee-deep in a pointless debate, this one will shift how you think about arguing in your thirties.

Listen, reflect, and maybe send this to someone you’ve been avoiding a conversation with.

🙏 Follow us at @theweirdyearspodcast

What if you built your career through your own sucessful business… only to realise you’d quietly outgrown it?

That’s exactly what Chloë Downes found herself facing and right at the peak of her success.

Chloë is the recently exited founder of the multi-million-pound talent agency SHFT, a Forbes 30 Under 30 alum, and one of the few women of colour in her industry. From the outside she was thriving, but inside she knew this wasn’t her dream.

We talk about:

✨ How success doesn’t always feel like success

✨ What it’s really like to walk away from a career when you’re on top

✨ The pressure of being a visible female founder

✨ How the combination of ADHD and autism shapes her approach to the world

This episode is for anyone who’s ever hit a level of success and then realised… this doesn’t fit me anymore.

✨ Follow Chloë: @frkle & @chloe.dwns

📲 Follow us: @theweirdyearspodcast

🚀 New episodes every Tuesday — hit subscribe to navigate the weirdness together.

What if your self-worth has quietly been outsourced?

In this Weirdly Personal episode, I’m unpacking the validation loop - that exhausting cycle of chasing approval, likes, or praise even when we know it’s making us miserable.

I get into how our need for validation isn’t a personality flaw, but a learned pattern shaped by our childhood and reinforced by a culture that rewards traditional progress at one of the stickiest times of our lives.

From the dopamine hit of social media to the performance of dating and work success, I explore why our thirties can feel like a constant test of “am I doing enough?”

We’ll cover:

🔁 How the need for external validation is a learned

🔁 Why it feels so heavy in our thirties

🔁 The cost of living for likes, promotions, or praise

🔁 Research-backed ways to shift from external to internal validation

This one’s for anyone who’s ever found themselves looking to everyone else for answers or playing for the applause instead of their own joy.

🎧 New episode every Tuesday

🙏 Follow us at @theweirdyearspodcast

📲 Share it with someone who’s struggling to escape the validation loop.

We know that losing people we love is inevitable - but why does grief still feel so awkward?

Freddie lost both of his parents by the age of 23, an experience he didn’t face head-on. The first time, he buried it in childhood distractions; the second, he numbed it through socialising and alcohol.

Now in his thirties, he’s learned that grief doesn’t end — it evolves. And at some point, it has to be faced.Through running, reflection, and opening up about loss online, Freddie has found peace in the power of conversation.

In this episode, we talk about:

🌀 The non-linear journey of grief

🌀 Navigating your twenties and thirties without parents

🌀 The questions Freddie wishes he’d asked while they were still here

🌀 How to prepare for the practical side of loss

This episode is for anyone who’s lost someone, fears losing someone, or wants to better understand how to show up for those who have.

✨ Follow Freddie: @f_oscar_r

📲 Follow us: @theweirdyearspodcast

🚀 New episodes every Tuesday — hit subscribe to navigate the weirdness together.