The Psychology of your 20s - 380. A big life update...

Episode Date: January 31, 2026

Finally sharing all the details of the last few months ... and what a recent announcement means for the podcast going forward! Happy listening!    Watch on Netflix   Follow Jemma on Instagram: @jemmasbeg Follow the podcast on Instagram: @thatpsychologypodcast Subscribe on Substack: @thepsychologyofyour20s For business: [e-mail]    The Psychology of your 20s is not a substitute for professional mental health help. If you are struggling, distressed or require personalised advice, please reach out to your doctor or a licensed psychologist.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. 2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. And on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world.

Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's TWO. percent on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me.

I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host Keer Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that it's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit or armor. It signals to the world that you not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to. Listen and learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg, a lesbian. Michael Mancini.

My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello, everybody. I'm Gemma Spike, and welcome back to the psychology of your 20s, the podcast where we talk through the biggest change.

moments and transitions of our 20s and what they mean for our psychology. Hello everybody. Welcome back to the show. Welcome back to the podcast. It is so great to have you here back for a little special edition bonus episode talking about some crazy news. I'm sure all of you, I hope you guys know this by now, but the psychology of your 20s is officially on Netflix. All of this happened so fast. I didn't get to tell you guys the story. I tell you guys everything. I didn't get to share the juicy details and I want to share the juicy details. And I didn't really get to address how this is going to change things for the podcast. Spoiler alert, it's not really going to change much. But this is just such a monumental moment for the psychology of your 20s.

and each of you have been there for, whether you've been here for a month, whether you've been here for almost five years. I don't know. It just feels weird for something so huge to happen and to not give you guys a behind the scenes look at, I don't know, what it means to get a Netflix show, like what that process looks like. And just how I've been feeling as well. It's obviously a huge personal change as well as a professional change and a change for us. So, yeah, this Sunday, this bonus episode, I thought, I'd just sit down, back where it all began, in bed, in my house, and dish and tell you guys what's been happening and how this came to be. So, yes, if you didn't know if this is the first

time you're hearing this, the psychology of your 20s is officially a Netflix podcast. Let me get one thing out of the way. That does not mean we're going anywhere. The only thing it changes is basically that our episodes are no longer on YouTube. Our video episodes are no longer on YouTube. But if you only ever listen to audio, this is basically just a bonus for you. Now you can watch it on like the most popular streaming platform in the world, but you can also listen to it on Spotify, listen to it on Apple, wherever you are listening right now. And nothing really changes.

Another thing to address, I have had a lot of messages from people in Australia or in Thailand or in Italy being like, I can't see it. That's because as of right now, it is only in. in the US and Canada. And I don't really know what their plans are to extend it. To be honest, I'm kind of out of the loop. But as soon as that changes, I will let you guys know.

We are still posting like clips and stuff. So if you want to see what the new studio looks like, it's pretty cool. You can find that on Instagram and we're still posting like some shorts to YouTube. But basically, nothing much is changing. This is just some, just an extra way of like, yeah, of the podcast being distributed and being able to connect with you guys. I absolutely love our set. I think it is beautiful. There's so many like little personal details in it as well that feel really special to me. You guys don't care about that. I want to tell you the story of how this freaking happened because I don't, I've never

heard anyone talk about what, what, what it means to be on Netflix and like how people approach you with that. How do you find out that that's going to be something that happened? So let me take you back actually not very far to like October last year when I was still living in Sydney. This was very out of the blue. I'm just going to make that super clear. I feel like that's very obvious from how I've been speaking about it. I had no clue this was happening. To be honest, I have been a little bit hesitant about doing video podcasts.

I always said, you know, the podcast is audio only. I was very uncomfortable in front of the camera. this was like my preferred format, just my voice. You know, maybe it's because when I was like a kid, somebody said I had a face for radio and I really internalized that. But you guys know I kind of started a YouTube and I started posting the episodes there. And I was really getting into the swing of it. I felt very motivated by it.

I was, it just is nice to learn a new set of skills, right? And I feel like I've been doing this for a while now. I wanted to try something else and kind of take it in a new direction. So I was kind of posting on YouTube, like one episode a week. No, let's be real. No views. It really felt like when I first started the podcast and I would like, nobody was really listening. It felt very reminiscent of that.

And then one day I get this call from my agent, my podcast agent, who like takes care of all the business side of things. Actually, I got a message and she was like, hey, are you awake? And I missed the message and I was like, yeah, what's up? and she's like, I have to call you. I've got some news for you. And I was about to move to London in like the next two months. She lived in London. I was like, oh, this has to be something to do with maybe she's staying in London for longer because she was planning on moving. Like, I don't know what's going on, but like, it's a personal thing. And so I call her that night and I'm like, hey, like, what's going on? You know, are you okay? Like what's happening in life? You know, thinking that's what it was.

And she was like, you need to sit down. I just got off the call off the phone. Like, at the Yesterday I got off the phone with somebody. And they're, I literally can't even, this is so crazy to me. But Netflix is interested in signing your podcast for a video deal. And my reaction to that was, that is not funny. Please don't joke with me like that.

And she was like, no, that is absolutely what is happening. No promises, but they're interested. And this is moving really fast. bear in mind, this was in October. It's January as I'm recording this. And I was like, okay, well, let them know I'm keen. Like, I'm not going to say no. Let them know I'm totally down to do that. And I told four people. I told, obviously Tom, my boyfriend, I told my dad, but I said, don't tell anybody else. I knew he was going to tell my mom, but I was like, don't tell anyone else. And I called my best friend and was like, and she was with another friend about, so I ended up telling them

and being like, this might not happen, don't tell anybody, I don't, I'm so superstitious about not talking about things until they actually happen. I didn't want to jinx it. I didn't want people to know. I didn't want it to be like this was out there and that meant that it could get taken away. And then that night, I literally sat down and I was like, what, how do I respond to this? I better just do more more work. This is very pathological for me, but I was like, oh my God, I, well, if this is going to happen, I better prove that I'm, that I deserve it. I better, better work tonight, but I was going to clock off for the evening, but I better get back on my laptop and tipy tapy away. And I actually, this is crazy. I actually made the, if you follow me on Instagram,

the psychology of skinny top post, which crazy, that is like my most successful post of all time. It has 8 million views wild. But that's literally, that is how you, like if you want to go back and look at timeline, maybe I should go and look at it. That is the date that I found out, the date that I posted that. And then I heard nothing. I didn't hear anything for like, I would say a month. And I was like, oh, this isn't happening.

I'm so glad I didn't tell everybody. I'm so glad I didn't make a big deal out of it. It's not happening. You know, why would they want me? Like the podcast. I don't know. I was just like, I'm not a celebrity. I'm not really that big of a deal. Like, I just make my podcast. I live in Sydney. I don't live in the US. Like I'm kind of out of like the, the, the milieu. I'm out of like the space that people who get these deals operate in. I don't live in it. Like, you know, it just didn't occur to me. Right. And I was resigned to the fact. I was a bit disappointed, but I was resigned to the fact that like this isn't happening. And we can move on with our lives and we can start devoting time to other things that you care about. And then suddenly we're packing up for London.

Our entire house is packed down. We're in Melbourne with my family, dropping off my dog, saying goodbye to everybody that we love. And I'm not making this up. Four hours before I get on the plane to fly from... Where am I? Melbourne. I was going to say, Sydney. To fly from Melbourne to London. I get this message and I get this email from my...

lawyer being like, hey, are you ready to sign? Are you ready to sign this Netflix deal? And I was like, oh my God, yes, it's happening. Okay, like, let's do it. So I signed it. And then I told my, I told my sisters, I think my parents had told them, but I told my sisters who were there, and I got on the plane. Actually, I will say, we did get upgraded to business. And that just felt like a nice reward. I was like, oh, this is special because that doesn't happen to me ever, really, like only if work is paying for it or like if someone else is paying for it. So I was a nice start to like our London thing. Anyways, we touched down in London. Crazy story. I think I've said this. When we were on that flight, we found out like that our accommodation, like where we were

meant to be staying in London had fallen through. So I've literally signed this deal being like, I'm going to be on Netflix, gotten on a plane, left my entire life behind. Whilst I'm on the plane, I'm landing in a city where I don't have anywhere to live. And the Netflix thing kind of went to the back of my mind. Right. I was kind of like, eh. You know, I have some time because I genuinely thought that this wasn't going to happen until like the middle of the year, this year being 2026.

I was like, this isn't going to happen for a while. I have time to just like relax into London, enjoy myself. We find an apartment. I find a temporary studio where I'm like, yep, this is great. I can just keep recording here. This is fine. We go on holiday with my family. And then on the 1st of January, New Year's Day, I get this email.

And this email is like, so we're launching on the 26th of Jan. We need all your episodes for January. And I'm in Stockholm. And me and Tom are about to go to Paris for two weeks to be like, It's like our big trip, like our welcome to Europe trip. We've got our accommodation booked. We've got everything sort of. We've literally booked wine tours.

We've booked the Moulin Rouge. Like we're doing all that stuff. And they're like, so we need you to be back in the studio. And so literally we canceled our whole trip to Paris. And I know, like I'm not complaining. Can you imagine if I was like, oh my God, I have to cancel my trip to Paris because my Netflix deal got in the way. Don't worry.

That was an easy decision. And yeah, we got on a flight back to the UK and just I just worked my butt off and just had to just, I just had to basically grind out like so many episodes. So I will say if you've noticed like, maybe I'm self-conscious about this, but if you've noticed maybe a slight decline in like episode quality, I don't know, I feel like that's what that's what it is. Like I've just been working so hard. And that has made moving to London difficult because I haven't really had time to socialize or to make new friends. It's all been about this release and when this is coming out. And yeah. So I'm probably skipping a few things.

But it came out five days ago officially on Netflix. I saw my face. Have I watched an episode yet? No. It's the same reason I don't listen back to podcast. podcast episodes, which is ironic because I started the podcast thinking that I was by this age, I would have listened back to my first episode, but I still, I don't think I have. Maybe a little bit, but, you know, okay, sidebar.

I have not watched an episode yet. I've just been working, to be honest, and this is the one thing I will say. There is no complaints here. I'm incredibly grateful for this. and it really doesn't just feel like my win. It feels like a win for everybody who works on the podcast behind the scenes. There's like three people, but, you know, all of them work so hard. It feels like a win for us, like the listeners.

I don't know. It just, it feels like this is happening to a character that is made up of everybody, I don't know, who has helped me. And so I'm very excited by it. I feel very grateful. But it has been a little bit sad, I guess, having such a big thing, happen when you don't have any friends in the city that you're living in. I have two friends here and they've been really busy and they've been really kind of, you know, they've got their own lives and

you know, the day that it came out, I wasn't really able to see them. So I, like the day that it came out, I actually just worked and I actually just sat at home and I had like a vegetable platter for dinner, which is, I'm not complaining. It's delicious. But it's been this weird thing where sometimes the biggest moments in your career and the biggest moments in your life are incredibly anticlimactic and not very exciting and you would expect them to be these marvelous amazing moments and especially since like the only context I had for what it means to be on Netflix is like very huge stars who throw these parties and do all these things and I was like well you don't realize like they don't throw that for you like you kind of have to do it yourself

especially since I'm not in the US. Like I've just been kind of DIYing this whole thing. Like you, it's actually insane that they let me be on Netflix because I don't, I really don't know what I'm doing. And it is genuinely just like me and my researchers and like my, my producer who is in the US. So I don't know, guys, they gave me the keys to the city.

I don't, and I don't really know how to run it. So, um, I guess, yeah, my overarching feelings are just, just, this is amazing. Thank you so much. I'm very excited. And it feels surreal. And it feels surreal in a way that nobody could ever really prepare you for. Where you have so much gratitude and you are so blown away. But you don't know how to feel so you're just like, should I be feeling differently? Like, should there be something more of this that I'm, that I'm missing? Like, am I doing this right? And I think over time, like, I'll hopefully adjust. But again, I want to say thank you.

And this is an incredible moment. You guys did this for me. So wow. I'm thinking of all the ways that this year I can hopefully give back to you guys and make sure that this is still the tight-knit psychology of your 20s community that we know and love of wonderful, marvelous, intelligent people who are here to grow and here to learn. And I want to keep that.

I want to keep that intact because that is really what makes everything work around here and why I love the podcast as well. So for this year, I'm super excited for you guys to be able to watch it if you were in the US or Canada and hopefully other places soon as well. I'm also excited that we're going to be doing so many more live events and meetups and friendship making events to hopefully meet more of you and to be able to spread the joy and say thank you in as many. as possible. And I don't know. I don't really know what to expect from this year and from, and from this change. I feel like I'm still processing it.

And as I'm talking about it, I'm like, huh, I probably should have some, I probably should know, I probably should have some bigger plans. But you guys will be the first to know when I do. And not to sound like a broken record, but again,

you guys made this happen. It's still going to be the podcast you know and love. Thank you for this. support that you have all shown it so far. And if you have any more questions about Netflix and what that looks like, I will spill all. I will tell you all the juicy details of those email chains and those meetings. They've been pretty fantastic to work with so far. Actually, really fantastic. And it's as much as there have been like little hiccups just in terms of, you know, it would have been fine if I was in Australia, right? But because I've moved, it's been very stressful.

Yeah, other than that, it's just been a wonderful experience. So that is the little bonus update from me. If you have made it this far, leave a comment down below what previous episode of ours do you most want to see on Netflix, but also what city are you in? So I can add it to our tour schedule, to our meet and greet meet up schedule. I really want to meet as many of you guys as possible. and get out on the town. Get out on the town. Say, I don't really know what I'm saying.

Netflix has changed me. Now I'm all corny and cliche. But yeah, leave a little comment down below. Make sure you are following us on Instagram at That Psychology Podcast. Following us on Substack. We've just launched a new thing where we do a study of the week if you want even more psychology content. That is where you can find it. And until next time, you guys know the drill.

Be safe. Be kind. yourself, watch the psychology of your 20s on Netflix, if you feel called to do so, and we will talk very, very soon. 2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. I'm on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happy

more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's TWO% on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. In 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English.

Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, what's good, y'all? You're listening to Learn the Hard Way with your favorite therapist and host, Kear Games. This space is about black men's experiences, having honest conversations that's really not safe to have anywhere, but you're having them with a licensed professional who knows what he's doing. How many men carry a suit are armored.

It signals to the world that you're not to be played with. And just because you have the capability that does not mean that you need to, listen to learn the hard way on the AHA radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern.

Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Mancini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human