If you are new here to my podcast Wildwood Wandering, welcome! This is an irregularly posted podcast where I take a walk in the woods and share nature observations and reflections from my life as a naturalist and cyclical being.
We are 15 days into this “made-up” year of 2026. Nothing astronomically marked our passage into a new year. A piece of paper (a calendar) simply ushered us from December 31, 2025 into January 1, 2026. And still, there’s a part of me that wants to get everything in order, to clear the decks, and begin anew. I love dreaming, visioning, and setting intentions. ✨
Yet, I’ve been wondering lately if goal setting (or even New Year’s resolutions) are still a thing in 2026? No judgment for those who have their goals mapped out and are already kicking those resolutions into shape, but I have found that living cyclically doesn’t leave much room for the linear idea of setting a goal and marching step by step toward it until completion. This linear framework just don’t work for the slow, gentle life my mind, body, and spirit want to live.
When I look back on my life, I can’t recall a single time I moved straight ahead, head-down, towards a big goal. There have always been ups and downs, lefts and rights, moments of backtracking, even times of being completely turned upside down. These are what I’m calling side quests. They change the path and, in doing so, shape and inform where I’m actually meant to go.
After feeling disappointed with my wish jar from last year, and with all the side quests I took throughout 2025, I’m choosing to reframe my intentions to be more expansive and spacious enough to hold more side quests.
Listen in as I explore these concepts (and more) throughout the episode:
* the fluctuations in temperature throughout the winter season
* my cycle check-in from day 10
* introducing my pup, Cinnamon
* emotional check-in around what’s happening with 🧊
* feelings of spiritual renewal since the solstice
* finding warlock’s butter fungus
* how noticing things in nature during the winter feels special
* learning from Cinnamon about not taking a direct path
* pondering about goal setting
* letting intentions grow roots before taking action
* allowing side quests to inform where I’m going
* reflecting on my wish jar from last year
* how there is no end point in nature or even our universe
* perennial and annual plants that both have a cycle
* finding oyster mushrooms, hearing a northern cardinal, and coming across a dead raccoon
* sharing one of my intentions for the next two years, that I will be offering on here beginning in April! 💨🔥💦🌲✨
Thank you for wandering with me, for listening, and for moving through this exploration of intention without a fixed path. This space welcomes side quests, slowing down, and paths that only reveal themselves along the way.
I would love to hear: What intentions are you carrying into this season and how willing are you to let side quests reshape them?
may all your side quests bring wisdom,
