All The Feelings • Adulting

‘Heavy’ listener follow-up, trouble going under, and [GESTURES BROADLY], the state of the world highlight today’s anxiety menu!

Show Notes

First, let’s get this out of the way: Panic attacks are no fun, and dangerous behind the wheel. So, if anything we say to ANYone is particularly triggering in the moment, while we hope you don’t have to turn the show off, we encourage you to do just that and make sure you’re in a safe place to ride it out. Our general rule of thumb: It’s only fun to laugh about it when you’re not actively going through it. We get it, trust us, we get it.

All that said, have you seen the world today? Yeah, it can be easy to feel the overwhelm of division and conflict. That’s today’s listener submission, and if ever there was one that we relate to, it’s this one.

Glass House? We’d like you to meet First Stone!

This gives us the opportunity to introduce judgementalism, which it still a bit of a loose concept we’re adapting to our own purposes. Think of it this way: if social anxiety is the fear of being judged by others, judgmentalism would be the fear of our inability to live without judging others. And in times such as these, when we’re overwhelmed by the grief of division, it’s sure easy to close the door and pretend those whose positions don’t align with ours don’t actually exist. But, if we don’t find a way to engage, how do we find our way to understanding?

Get down, and stay down: Anesthephobia and You

Tommy just had a procedure and got to thinking about anesthesia. So, he dug into a bit of the history of anesthesia and learned some interesting things. Beyond some charming old timey language, it turns out people are far more fearful of going under than the data suggests they should be. But what fun is an anxiety if it’s rational? No fun. No fun at all.

As ever, thanks for hanging out with us this week on the show. We’re getting closer to the end of our member season — just three more main season episodes left! If you haven’t had a chance to visit [whatsthatsmell.net][site] and pledge your support, just know that we love you for listening, and also that this is in part how we pay for our shoes, so to speak, so every bit of support from listeners like you is a massive help in keeping things humming along. Thank you.

This week's tune is Ain’t Looking Back by Richard Farrell. It's already in the playlist in Apple Music and Spotify.


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What is All The Feelings • Adulting?

All the Feelings, Season 10: Adulting—A Life-Long Course in Feeling Unprepared

You know that moment when you look around and realize, Oh no… I’m the adult in this room? Maybe it’s when you pretend to understand tax brackets. Or when your back starts to hurt because you "slept." Or when you stand in the grocery store, staring at asparagus, wondering if you should be investing in heavy greens futures.

Welcome to All the Feelings Season 10, where your able hosts, Tommy Metz III and Pete Wright, are going to tackle the unspoken truth of adulthood: nobody actually knows what they’re doing most of the time. This season, we’re diving into the emotional chaos of adulting—all the things that, by now, we should have mastered but somehow still make us feel like confused 12-year-olds wearing oversized suits.

We’ll explore the existential panic of estate planning (Wills: Now Featuring Your Inevitable Mortality!), the sheer absurdity of socializing as a grown-up (Why Is Making Friends Harder Than Filing Taxes?), and the shame spiral of arguing (Yes, You Can Still Lose a Fight in Your 40s!). We’ll unpack civic duty, grief, apologizing, and the delicate balance of managing time without feeling like you’re constantly failing an invisible test.

And of course, we’ll get real about the things that make adulthood straight-up weird: why is sleep suddenly a competitive sport? Why does gift-giving induce a full-blown identity crisis? And why does every conversation about homeownership involve so much sighing?

This season, Pete and Tommy are back to do what they do best: explore the emotional absurdity of being human. Because if adulthood is just a long series of pop quizzes, we might as well laugh about it together.