Wandering Weirdly

Annie Slade & Thomas Beutel

Wandering Weirdly is a podcast for curious adventurers, joyful rebels, and multi-passionate creatives who see life as one big, weird adventure. Join longtime explorers and friends Annie and Thomas as they explore the intersection of curiosity, creativity, self-discovery, and the ever-tangled threads between our inner and outer worlds. Whether the conversation focuses on travel, personal transformation, creative pathways, or the meaning of a single word, Wandering Weirdly is your invitation to stay open to the possibilities and find wonder in the uncharted, winding road.

Episodes

  1. Season 1, Episode 3: Why We Wander Weirdly (and What That Even Means)

    JAN 21

    Season 1, Episode 3: Why We Wander Weirdly (and What That Even Means)

    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 rightThe fear and freedom of leaving without a planRecognizing when a future doesn’t align with your valuesLetting curiosity and intuition guide explorationLearning from experiences that don’t go as expectedCo-creating adventures rather than forcing a single pathWhat this episode might spark for you: Reflection on where you might be staying on a path that no longer fitsPermission to change direction, even without all the answersTrust in your intuition when something feels like a hard noWhat’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.artDiscover more podcasts about authentic and unconventional living at bolddeparturenetwork.com. Thanks for wandering with us!

    29 min
  2. Season 1, Episode 2: Permission to Wander Weirdly

    JAN 21

    Season 1, Episode 2: Permission to Wander Weirdly

    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 identityHow early curiosity can turn into lifelong creative threadsEmbracing cyclical interests and unfinished projects without self-judgmentThe connection between creativity, making, and inner explorationWhy listening is a skill worth practicingFollowing obsessions for the joy of learning, not just the outcomeWhat this episode might spark for you: Permission to return to a project you set asideA new way of thinking about curiosity and creativityRelief around not finishing everything all at onceWhat’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.comThomas: thomasbeutel.artDiscover more podcasts about authentic and unconventional living at bolddeparturenetwork.com Thanks for wandering with us!

    31 min
  3. Season 1, Episode 1: Finding our Way to Wandering Weirdly

    JAN 20

    Season 1, Episode 1: Finding our Way to Wandering Weirdly

    In this very first episode of Wandering Weirdly, co-hosts Annie Slade and Thomas Beutel sit down to explore the why behind this podcast, and the winding paths that led us here. This conversation is an open invitation for curious, multi-passionate humans who’ve always felt a little out of step with the mainstream, those who feel just weird enough to not fit anywhere. Together, we talk about what it means to live outside the box, how our inner and outer worlds constantly shape one another, and why giving ourselves permission to be “weird” might be the key to deeper understanding, creativity, and connection. We share personal stories of discovering concepts like vulnerability, sensitivity, multipotentiality, and community, including how finding spaces where we don’t have to explain ourselves can feel downright liberating. This episode sets the tone for the show: reflective, exploratory, and deeply human with plenty of room for curiosity, rabbit holes, and shared excitement.In this episode, we explore: What “wandering weirdly” really meansWhy inner exploration and outer exploration are inseparableGrowing up curious, sensitive, and multi-passionate in a world that loves to put us in boxesDiscovering community later in life and how it has impacted our journeysThe joy of shared curiosity (even when interests don’t overlap)Giving yourself permission to explore, experiment, and follow your next fascinationWhat’s coming up on Wandering Weirdly: Future episodes may include: Shared experiments and new experiences that we try separately, then reflect on togetherWord-based explorations and free-flowing conversationsInterviews with people who’ve had experiences or epiphanies that changed how they live and show up in the worldIf you’ve ever felt like your curiosity was “too much,” your interests were “all over the place,” or your way of experiencing the world didn’t quite match everyone else’s, you’re in the right place. Connect & Explore More: Connect with your hosts on their individual websites: Annie: explorerannie.com  Thomas: https://thomasbeutel.art/Don’t forget to check out bolddeparturenetwork.com for more podcasts about authentic and unconventional living. Thanks for wandering with us! We’ll see you next time.

    16 min

About

Wandering Weirdly is a podcast for curious adventurers, joyful rebels, and multi-passionate creatives who see life as one big, weird adventure. Join longtime explorers and friends Annie and Thomas as they explore the intersection of curiosity, creativity, self-discovery, and the ever-tangled threads between our inner and outer worlds. Whether the conversation focuses on travel, personal transformation, creative pathways, or the meaning of a single word, Wandering Weirdly is your invitation to stay open to the possibilities and find wonder in the uncharted, winding road.