It's okay to have blurred vision and hazy next steps (and I will not tell you to journal or dream)

4 ways to approach the next 365 days like a wanderer, 5 alternatives to what we're usually told to do this week, and 12 bits of timely wisdom from all our past wanderers!

My kitchen sink this morning and cute little creations from my kids on the windowsill.

Hellooooo! Did you do anything special this morning for the New Year? I’m spending today alone and it’s glorious. I’m doing normal things and being a normal person. Workout, laundry, dishes, shower, reading, thinking about life, feeding my kitties, bike ride, walking, fetching a few groceries, and writing of course.

So if you feel like today needs to be Something with a capital S- fear not, you are in good company…and read on!

I’m very excited to share today’s Welcome Wanderer letter!

Scroll down to find:

• 4 ways to embrace the next 365 days with the heart of a wanderer.

• Instead of journaling or getting lost in a pile of self-help books, or big dreams, try these 5 alternatives!!

• What I want to lean into this year…

• A look back on all the Wanderers of the Week and one bit of sage advice from them to tuck into your back pocket!

Ready? Grab a cup of tea and let’s dig in…

Welcome to another Wednesday. It’s the 1st of January, a big day on the calendar, and yet a month ago it was the first of December and I bet not one of us celebrated, took the day off work, or felt extra pressure to change our ugly bits, finally manifest our dream life, or make a vision board.

It’s not that I don’t care about the New Year. I do. I think there’s a contagious energy around this time of year. We all wake up with a collective feeling of what if this year could be different, what if I could I actually (fill in the blank), and I love that for us.

But before I get swept up into making dramatic changes and declaring to the Universe what I want, I remind myself every day is a first.

Today can be a new, fresh, a tender sprout filled with possibility and creative energy and so can tomorrow, and the next day after that.

Life does not give a damn about the day on the calendar. It carries on and as wanderers, we want nothing more than to be caught up in its winding, exhilarating path.

How do we prepare for 2025, when we understand much of these next 365 days will bleed out beyond our journal pages, goal-setting worksheets, or sexy manifestations?

Here are 4 ideas to consider:

1. We whack down the path as we go.

   We release any one vision of how our life needs to go, we pitch our tent in uncertainty, and we weave our way along the streams and up the hills, walking in circles and sometimes returning back to where we started, all while nibbling on trail mix and enjoying the views.

2. We relish in simplicity.

   Be it the tender care of a friend, an unexpected brush with delight, or the presence of cute little bird on our porch railing. We yearn for more dirt under our nails, pink fluffy clouds at sunset, sweaty skin, joyful companionship, hot baths, or a book that takes our breath away. When we’re really honest, this is what makes life beautiful.

3. We publish our own calendar.

   We celebrate, reflect, and evolve in spurts throughout the year, as we feel led, rather than waiting for the perfect day. Society’s subtle timelines clinch tightly around our hearts, and kill our hunger for adventure, so we declare every day is an invitation to explore, play, and plan for surprise… to see what happens when we take the next step and let questions and curiosity be our trusted, wild guides.

4. We aren’t pushy with personal growth.

   We are humble creatures in need of comfort, shelter, food, water, and love, nothing fancy needed here. We allow ourselves to poke through the soil, unfurl slowly, and bloom naturally and seasonally.

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So, today, you don’t have to journal, dream big and then bigger, write down 5 manifestations, scan through a stack of self-help books, or finally decide to heal from this, that, or the other thing.

In fact, I’d encourage you to do the exact opposite.

• Exchange pages of journaling for a meandering walk outside.

• Exchange the dreaming exercise you had planned for a long, hot bath or steamy shower.

• Exchange your aggressive manifestation scripts for an openness to the seductive mystery of life.

• Exchange straight shot, self-help speak for the circuitous stories of gritty, hilarious, flawed, and loveable characters in fiction books.

• Exchange the rugged determination you have to heal and fix yourself for the romantic art of being with yourself, as you are, today.

Let’s wander into 2025 together with blurred vision, hazy next steps, and muddy clarity, knowing full well no one knows what they’re doing and there’s no rush to figure out your life.

Traveling with you!

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This year I want to lean into my questions. All of them. The silly ones- what’s for dinner, how could I go to the Netherlands this year, what am I going to do today, I wonder if I could _________ , to the serious ones- what will happen to my marriage, what do I need right now, what do I fear about this decision?

Not only do I want to practice asking questions to myself, but also to those around me.

Then I simply want to listen without judgement or dishing out answers.

Be curious about…your questions.

You can jot them down or just let them simmer in the back of your mind, but definitely start to take notice of your questions and let them lead you into the unknown.

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If you’re going to listen to anyone right now, especially in the flurry and hype of a New Year, I’d encourage you to turn your attention to the wise and quiet voices of these traveling companions.

Here are the 12 Wanderers of the Week from the previous letters along with some timely words from their heart to yours:

Ina Garten: “I do what I love to do. I don’t have any goals. I don’t set up a path for myself. Today I’m going to decide what I’m going to do tomorrow. And tomorrow I’m going to do it as well as I possibly do it. And tomorrow I’ll figure out what I’m going to do the next day. I think if you have too many long-term goals, you cut things out. You’re not open to things that happen along the way.”

Liz Gilbert: “I don’t think there’s anyway you can live a relaxed or really truly meaningful life if you’re constantly thinking about your fucking legacy. That’s it. How much did I make, how much did I leave, how much did I impact. Meanwhile, the world is happening and you’re in it and you’re missing it.”

Oliver Burkeman: “…on some level alot of our efforts to change and achieve security and get to that point in the future where everything is sorted out are all efforts to kind of scramble out of this situation that we’re actually in…”

Kendra Adachi: “You’re a flesh-and-blood person with a beautiful, slightly unruly life who just wants to get your stuff done, have fun, not yell at your people too much, and occasionally feel bone-deep contentment. You want to make hard things a little easier and enjoy life a little more often than you endure it.”

Gideon Heugh: “If you really want to know the name of God, look for it outside— you’ll find it lagging behind with the rest of us broken ones, confused as hell, putting an arm around a shoulder and saying, ‘Yes. I know. Me as well.’”

Rolf Potts: “Travel is not a swaggering declaration of self, undertaken to impress other people; it is a quiet inquiry, requiring awareness, resilience, and openness to change. Travel is… a nuanced art…”

Rob Bell: “Curiosity is underrated. In many ways, it’s the engine of life. You get these questions, and they don’t go away. And so you follow them, you set out to answer them. And you get answers. And those answers, of course, lead to new questions. And on and on it goes.”

Mirabai Starr: “Find your own subversive spirit and reclaim even the most challenging parts of your life as holy ground. Then everyday miracles will spring forth from beneath your bare feet to astonish you.”

Krista Tippett: “If all I have to work with is uncertainty, then I really turn to this work of crafting a better question. A question that can keep me company, a question that can point me to what I need to be seeing, or moving towards, or moving away from.”

David Whyte: “Sometimes it takes darkness and the sweet
confinement of your aloneness
to learn

anything or anyone
that does not bring you alive

is too small for you.”

Olga Mecking: “Niksen might even be described as anti-mindfulness, as it doesn’t require you to be aware of your body, your breath, the present moment, or your thoughts. Instead you can use it for the opposite: you can use it to escape your head and just get lost for awhile.”

Brie Stoner: “This hunger is driven by a dawning realization that a life of achievement, or arrival-oriented ambitions that leave us exhausted, depleted, depressed, or burned out is not the “good” life. Those “one day” maps do not reveal the hidden treasure of the bountiful and pleasurable plenty, here and now.”

Which one of these bits of advice jumps off the page for you?

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Thank you so, so much for being a part of this little community of wanderers! I hope your past couple of weeks have been pleasant and manageable. I’ll see you on Sunday for another podcast potion, plus a list of my favorites from 2024!

Lots of love, and take gentle care. xoxo