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Ginny Yurich, founder of 1000 Hours Outside, starts 2026 in the most Ginny way possible: a rare, slightly-uncomfortable solo episode chosen on purpose, because New Year’s Day landed on episode 666, and she decided to “fall on the sword” herself.

From there, she pulls you into the real origin story of 1000 Hours Outside: a young mom in over her head, three little kids, no sleep, and the first truly good day she’d had in years, September 2011 at a Michigan park, when four to six hours outside (a Charlotte Mason idea she initially thought was ridiculous) changed everything.

This episode is a rally cry for families who want more peace, more play, more courage, and less screen-shaped childhood, plus practical ways to start tracking, building a life with “not enough time for screens,” and letting nature become the place where kids grow up incrementally… and parents learn to trust them.

Along the way, Ginny shares her top 10 most meaningful books of 2025 (out of 210 books read during the year!), the quotes that steadied her this year, and why reading, walking, and outside time are “time-protection” habits in a world designed to co-opt attention. She also reads the marketing language from Replika AI out loud, because it genuinely alarms her, and makes a clear, compassionate case for choosing the real thing: real friends, real discomfort, real growth, real life. The episode closes with hope for listeners carrying heavy burdens into the new year, and ends with “Beautiful World,” a song and musical collaboration featuring Ginny’s daughters because the whole point is this: childhood isn’t meant to be performed on a screen. It’s meant to be lived.

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