The podcast about why life feels like this.
Each week, we rethink the stories we've been sold and the ones we tell ourselves with the context that makes everything finally click.
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The podcast about why life feels like this. Spend time with Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson as we cope with a new era of ‘living well’. Each week, we rethink the stories we've been sold and the ones we tell ourselves with the context that makes everything finally click.
Coping With Ambition
Episode 5
Monday, May 11, 2026 • Duration 48:35
Ambition used to mean climbing that corporate ladder. Then it meant girlbossing. Then it meant quitting your job to find yourself. Now? It’s… complicated.
This week, we’re tracing the messy, contradictory legacy of female ambition. And with ambition discourse everywhere – Emma Grede interviews, Diary of a CEO soundbites, cinematic Vogue rebrands – we’re asking what "success" looks like if you’re no longer willing to sacrifice your entire life for it.
Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson share their own shifting ambitions within this context: the craving for purpose, the fear of being consumed by work, and the cultural noise that tells us to both lean in and log off forever.
And because the wellness zeitgeist never sleeps, we’re also talking: the Japanese headspa experience that (unfortunately) will change your life, and the journal worth flying to Paris for (disclaimer: cost of flights not included in purchase).
What does it mean to cope with a beauty standard that pretends not to be a beauty standard at all?
This week, we’re talking about looking “natural” – which, in 2026 apparently means botox in your 20s, three‑hour self-care routines, and a level of upkeep that would make even a Victorian lady‑in‑waiting tap out.
Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson explore how “aesthetic inflation”, a concept first articulated by writer Jessica DeFino, has shifted the baseline so dramatically that simply existing feels like falling behind. We unpack the psychological toll of chasing an ever-changing beauty ideal marketed as effortless, and ask whether celeb transparency around cosmetic work is actually all that liberating…
And because the wellness zeitgeist never sleeps we’re also talking: oral dissolvable strip supplements (a no from us) and the new Korean lash lift that is (frankly) blindingly good.
Have you ever hit post and instantly fantasised about faking your own death and starting a new life on a remote island with no wifi? No, same.
This week, we’re diving into vulnerability hangovers – why we’re all out here narrating our inner worlds to the internet, and what Future Us (20 years older, hopefully wiser) will think of the digital breadcrumbs we’ve left behind.
Join Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson as we track our culture of self-disclosure from the personal‑essay boom, Substack confessionals, TikTok trauma‑dumping, all the way to Lena Dunham’s Famesick – the decade‑long case study in what happens when radical transparency becomes your brand. Because if confession has become a commodity, is there a secret we won’t eventually turn into content?
And because the wellness zeitgeist never sleeps, we’re also talking: the fever dream that is run club at Coachella and the Notion templates rabbithole where good intentions go to die.
Read: Daring Greatly for Brene Brown’s definition of vulnerability hangovers
Alice’s (vulnerable!) interview on Little Things podcast
Have you ever wondered who you’d be in an alternate universe – the version of you who took the other job, stayed in that city, didn’t cut bangs, or actually followed through with your new year goals?
This week, we’re talking about the fantasy of becoming a “new you”, and how the 00s makeover montage promised a level of transformation that real life (and the wellness industry) absolutely cannot deliver on. Because somewhere between the slow-motion hair flip and the big reveal, we were sold the idea that upgrading the self is not only possible, but required.
Join Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson as we unpack the pressure to evolve publicly, the discomfort of outgrowing old versions of ourselves, and the quiet hope that comes with imagining who we might still become.
Introducing: the podcast about why life feels like this.
Think of this very first episode as our pre‑show warm‑up – your chance to meet us, hear the self‑care obsessions currently taking up wayyy too much of our brain space, and get a feel for the kinds of conversations we’ll be having together. We’re talking habit‑stacking, biohacking, sleep‑maxxing, the big existential spirals (what is the meaning of life?), the wellness‑culture plot twists keeping us up at night, and everything in between – all filtered through two people trying to make sense of it right alongside you.
From here, spend time with your hosts, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson, every Tuesday as we cope with a new era of “living well”. And once a month, you’ll get a deeper dive into the ideas, grifters, and fads that have fundamentally changed the way we think.
Shout out to Mugu for levelling up our podcast set at the new Coping Studio in Surry Hills, Sydney !
What does it actually mean to “live longer” in a culture that can’t tolerate aging?
This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson dive into the strange and seductive world of longevity culture, breaking down how a once‑niche scientific field has transformed into a billion‑dollar industry. We’re chatting about it all, from pilgrimages to Blue Zones, biological age testing, and cryonic chambers, and the $65 USD olive oils promising to rewind the effects of aging at a cellular level. The industry promises more years, but often at the cost of the humanity it claims to preserve.
And because the wellness zeitgeist never sleeps, we’re also talking: pimple patches (where have they been all my life etc.) and wearable tracking devices (stay tuned for a future debate on this).
We’ve never analysed our friendships more – doorbell friends, friendship audits, rankings, and the architecture of “meaningful connections”. But in a world defined by overwork, isolation, and convenience culture, is all this discourse actually bringing us closer… or just giving us new ways to spiral?
This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson are unpacking the rise of friendship anxiety and the limits of the tools meant to soothe it, ultimately discovering that the real issue is structural: a world that engineered community out, then sold it back to us as a subscription.
And because the wellness zeitgeist never sleeps, we’re also talking: the DIY labs closing the loop on longevity testing, and Kylie Jenner’s new hydration drink that makes you “glow from within” (sigh).
We all know the endless research on the negative effects of our phones. And yet, we keep picking them up.
This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson dig into the so-called solutions – dumb phones, no‑phone policies, two‑device lifestyles – and ask whether any of them are actually helping us break compulsive habits, or just giving us new ways to aestheticise restraint.
Plus, because the wellness zeitgeist never sleeps: we’re calling for justice for beta blockers on the set of the Summer House Reunion, and yes, witchcraft is in (more on that soon).
☆ Save the date: the Glitter Gel Pen Book Club will be joining us at the Coping Studio on 25 June for the launch of our Silent Reading Sessions (and coming back monthly!). ☆
We’re in a cost‑of‑living crisis (but you knew that already). While being frugal isn’t a choice for most of us, it’s seen influencers take a hard pivot to de-influencing, underconsumption core, frugal chic, and month-long spending freezes. Somehow not buying things has become a trend of its own and, inevitably, an industry.
This week, Alice Griffin and Jannah Anderson share their favourite case studies of frugality – from Bradley on a Budget to Hollywood’s infamous poverty cosplays to the influencers thrifting their way through fashion week voxpops.
And because the wellness zeitgeist never sleeps: we’ve got a man on the inside of an IRL wellness challenge, plus the rise of parasite cleanses (DON’T try at home).
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