Why We Choose Unhealthy Partners | ALAIN DE BOTTON THROWBACK
Great Company with Jamie Laing
Jampot
4.5 • 947 Ratings
🗓️ 31 December 2025
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Happy New Year’s Eve!
As we get ready for a new year, I wanted to revisit one of my all-time favourite episodes of Great Company with the incredible Alain de Botton.
I’ve been lucky enough to sit down with Alain not once, but twice on the show and every time I speak to him, I come away feeling calmer, a little wiser and thinking about life in a new way.
I keep coming back to this episode because every time I do, I take something new from it. Alain’s insights into human connection, love and emotional growth are fascinating. They’ve shaped how I think about my relationships, my friendships and what it really means to grow into the best version of ourselves.
We cover:
- How to navigate heartbreak
- Why our childhood is so informative on the rest of our lives
- Why funny people often have sad parents
- How attachment styles and past experiences can shape the way we love
- What actually is the meaning of life
This conversation is a gentle reminder that becoming a “new you” often starts with understanding the old one.
Alain De Botton is Great Company.
If you enjoyed the show, you can also follow us:
Instagram- @greatcompanypodcast
TikTok - @greatcompanypodcast
And if you've got thoughts, questions and comments, you can email us at: greatcompany@jampotproductions.co.uk
THE CREDITS
Executive Producers: Ewan Newbigging-Lister & Jemima Rathbone
Producer: Helen Burke
Assistant Producer: Issy Weeks-Hankins
Video: Jake Ji & Josh Bennett
Social Media: Laura Coughlan
Great Company is an original podcast from JamPot
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello everyone. My name is Jamie Lang and this is Great Company. |
| 0:09.0 | Well, hello there, guys. How are you doing? I hope you're having a lovely Christmas and Twixmas. |
| 0:13.2 | It's sort of that lovely bit between Christmas and New Year. Anyway, look, today we've got something |
| 0:18.0 | really special for you because we've had some incredible guests on Great Company. And I want to revisit one of my favorite episodes with the extraordinary |
| 0:25.0 | Alan de Bottin. Now, Alan has one of the greatest minds of anyone I've ever met. He's a philosopher. |
| 0:31.1 | He's an author and the founder of School of Life. And in this conversation, Alan taught me |
| 0:34.5 | so much about relationships, about how our childhood shapes us, |
| 0:41.6 | and how we can work towards becoming the best version of ourselves, something I really want to do in 2026. So, if you're listening for the first time or you're coming back for another listen, |
| 0:46.6 | sit back, relax, and enjoy this episode, A great company with Alan de Botton. |
| 0:57.0 | Hi, I'm Alan de Botton and I'm great company. What is the meaning of life? |
| 1:00.0 | What is the meaning of life? |
| 1:02.0 | Look, I think it's always going to be your meaning. |
| 1:04.0 | And I think that's the paradox in that phrase, that we think of the meaning of life as something that's out there rather than primarily in here, |
| 1:11.4 | and that we need to discover our own meanings of life. And really what we mean is, what are my |
| 1:16.3 | deepest sources of satisfaction? Some of the most pleasant people to be around are those who, |
| 1:21.4 | perhaps through lots of trials, have understood what is meaningful for them. We recognize |
| 1:26.9 | them. Often they have a little twinkle in their |
| 1:28.4 | eye. They're kind of, you think this person is free. They're inwardly free because they know |
| 1:33.6 | roughly what they're up to. It's funny, I'm in a real process with myself, and I'm going to |
| 1:42.2 | use this as more of a therapy session towards myself, if that's the right. |
| 1:47.0 | I find it, let's be honest, okay, I'm going to be honest. |
| 1:50.5 | I think a lot of us, and maybe lots of people listening, we find it very hard to sit |
... |
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