What does exploration really look like?

In this episode of Wandering Weirdly, we (Annie and Thomas) unpack how exploration can look radically different from person to person. Consider this an invitation to rethink exploration, not as constant movement or bravery without fear, but as a relationship with curiosity, courage, and presence, shaped uniquely by each of us.

We reflect on the many ways humans explore the world, from travel and creativity to curiosity, learning, and our inner landscapes. For Thomas, exploration often means stillness, sensing, and lingering long enough to truly absorb a place or an idea. For Annie, it’s movement, walking, and letting experiences accumulate into an embodied sense of place. Together, we explore how both approaches are valid and deeply personal.

The conversation moves beyond the romanticized idea of exploration and into its more honest reality: discomfort, frustration, uncertainty, and the courage it takes to begin something new. Annie reframes the idea of being “fearless,” naming courage as the willingness to feel fear and move forward anyway. Thomas shares how creative exploration often involves stepping into not knowing, working through frustration, and allowing space to pause, rest, and return.

We also explore the importance of balance. Exploration doesn’t have to mean constant novelty. Familiarity, comfort, and touchstones can make exploration more sustainable, whether you’re traveling, creating, or learning something new.

The episode closes with a conversation about integration: how journaling, reflection, and intentional pauses help turn experiences into insight, and why exploration can be deeply nourishing when it helps us feel more present, alive, and connected.

What’s coming up on Wandering Weirdly:
Up next, we’ll explore why quitting isn’t failure, and how letting go of projects, paths, and expectations can be an essential part of growth, creativity, and making room for what’s next.

Connect with your hosts:
-Find Annie at explorerannie.com
-Find Thomas at thomasbeutel.art

Discover more podcasts about authentic and unconventional living at bolddeparturenetwork.com.

Thanks for wandering with us! See you next time.

In this episode of Wandering Weirdly, the roles reverse as Thomas Beutel turns the questions toward Annie Slade, inviting her to share some of the pivotal experiences that shaped her unconventional path.

Annie reflects on the moment she realized the life she was building no longer aligned with who she was becoming, including the decision to walk away from a corporate career and MBA program with no backup plan and a whole lot of uncertainty. She shares what it felt like to see a clear version of her future and recognize, with total clarity, that it wasn’t the life she wanted.

The conversation also explores curiosity in unexpected places, from guilty-pleasure reality TV to solo travel with no itinerary, and the lessons learned when exploration leads somewhere that doesn’t feel right. Annie shares a powerful travel story that reshaped how she listens to her intuition and how she now approaches both inner and outer exploration.

This episode is an honest look at choosing freedom over certainty, trusting your instincts, and allowing your path to change in real time.

In this episode, we explore:

• Walking away from a “successful” path that didn’t feel right
• The fear and freedom of leaving without a plan
• Recognizing when a future doesn’t align with your values
• Letting curiosity and intuition guide exploration
• Learning from experiences that don’t go as expected
• Co-creating adventures rather than forcing a single path

What this episode might spark for you:

• Reflection on where you might be staying on a path that no longer fits
• Permission to change direction, even without all the answers
• Trust in your intuition when something feels like a hard no

What’s coming up on Wandering Weirdly:
Join us next time as Annie and Thomas explore the many wandering ways we explore in life, from travel and art to creativity, curiosity, and our inner landscapes. They reflect on how different forms of exploration show up for each of us and why there’s no single “right” way to go about it.

Connect with your hosts:

• Annie: explorerannie.com
• Thomas: thomasbeutel.art

Discover more podcasts about authentic and unconventional living at bolddeparturenetwork.com.

Thanks for wandering with us!

In this episode of Wandering Weirdly, Annie Slade turns the spotlight on co-host Thomas Beutel, inviting listeners to get to know him more deeply through stories of creativity, curiosity, and lifelong wandering.

Thomas shares what it was like growing up in an immigrant family, always feeling slightly outside the cultural mainstream, and how that early experience shaped his interests, identity, and way of moving through the world. From catching frogs and collecting butterflies to building model trains and programming blinking lights, this conversation explores how curiosity shows up over a lifetime.

The story moves through Thomas’s creative process, including a long-term passion project inspired by the Exploratorium’s “Enchanted Tree,” his relationship with starting (and returning to) many projects, and how creativity, spirituality, and self-understanding are deeply intertwined for him.

This episode is a reminder that there’s no single “right” way to be curious, creative, or multi-passionate, and that wandering in fits and starts can be a feature, not a flaw.

In this episode, we explore:

• Growing up feeling outside the mainstream and how that shapes identity
• How early curiosity can turn into lifelong creative threads
• Embracing cyclical interests and unfinished projects without self-judgment
• The connection between creativity, making, and inner exploration
• Why listening is a skill worth practicing
• Following obsessions for the joy of learning, not just the outcome

What this episode might spark for you:

• Permission to return to a project you set aside
• A new way of thinking about curiosity and creativity
• Relief around not finishing everything all at once

What’s coming up on Wandering Weirdly:
In the next episode, Annie takes the hot seat as the roles reverse, with Thomas asking the questions.

Connect with your hosts:

• Annie:t explorerannie.com
• Thomas: thomasbeutel.art

Discover more podcasts about authentic and unconventional living at
bolddeparturenetwork.com

Thanks for wandering with us!