A quick glance at Emma Chamberlain’s perfectly curated Instagram would never allude to loneliness. Emma’s fun and trend-setting YouTube videos have always been centered around her exuberant persona. That is, until now. Emma is transitioning away from her Youtube videos and focusing more creative energy into her podcast. Crowned one of Generation Z’s most influential social media influencers, Emma Chamberlain gets increasingly vulnerable about developing healthy adult relationships and coping with debilitating depression in “Anything Goes Podcast.” As she has morphed from a young and inexperienced YouTuber to a successful young woman with a small empire of companies at her fingertips, Emma Chamberlain has mastered the art of loneliness—and even craves it.
In the episode “alone but not lonely,” Emma talks about her evolution with being alone, comparing it to running. At first you hate it. You are in pain and want to quit. Then, one day, you reach a runner’s high and fall in love with the activity. Being alone with yourself is the same process. It is not easy, but Emma reiterates “you have to do the dirty work” of self-reflection to get to the good parts.
“The dirty work” gives time to self-reflect and grow. You are independent of others and can develop true confidence without the need for outer validation. Emma says, “I feel free to be who I am in front of other people because if they reject me, I don’t care. Because I’m comfortable being by myself… and I can wait for the person who will appreciate me.”
Emma is alone but not lonely. She continues to cultivate this way of living in her episode “quality over quantity.” Over the years, Emma has talked about her crippling depression and anxiety, partly stemming from the negative people she surrounded herself with. She learned a hard lesson—sometimes it is better to be alone than to be surrounded by people who don’t really accept the real you. She explains how being around a large quantity of people does not guarantee happiness. If there are currently no people in your life who make you feel good about yourself, it is better to be alone for a little while and work on completely loving yourself. Give yourself the space to find that quality person because you might miss the quality when you’re drowning in the quantity.
The bottom line? Emma believes “in order to make room to find a quality friend, you need to have time and energy to find that person. And if you have all these half-ass sh*tty friends you’re not gonna have the energy and the free time to go and find that quality friend.”
In a world obsessed with constant stimulation, loneliness and boredom are seen as bad things in need of immediate solutions. Chamberlain challenges this belief and welcomes the mundane activities of daily life as something beautiful. In her daily vlogs, Emma documents running errands, cooking dinner and reading in bed. Her videos and “Anything Goes” episodes offer relief from youthful cravings of a fast and flashy life in a big city and, instead, make a grounded and wholesome existence seem more appealing.
Unlike Emma Chamberlain, Louis Vuitton is not flying me out to Paris fashion week to wear their newest line, nor do I own a multi-million dollar home in LA. But, I still find Emma Chamberlain incredibly relatable. It sounds far-fetched, but she has an ability to connect with so many with her vulnerability and genuine spirit. She talks about the same fears of never finding a purpose, coping with boredom and all the scary parts of becoming an adult. Emma Chamberlain lives a life of luxury, but it is comforting to know even those we put on pedestals suffer from the same mental health journeys. It is another reminder that we are not alone in our struggles, no matter how isolating it can feel. So, channeling the spirit of the introspective vlogger, make yourself another coffee and hit play on “Anything Goes.”