In this episode of The Walk, I'm sharing with you my recent experiences at the Castlefest fantasy festival. Some visitors I met showed surprise when they discovered that I'm a real priest and not cosplaying as one.

What brings so many people to events like these, and why does there seem to be a revival of neo-pagan rituals visitors engage in? And what do I think about this as a catholic priest?

Check out my new video course about Storytelling if you want to learn how to become a better storyteller and share your message through stories online, in public speaking or when sharing your faith.

With a one-time donation of €99, you get access to 2 months of lessons and you help me produce more of these courses. Follow this link to sign up: https://fatherroderick.com/storytelling

Now that I am back home, I am looking back on what I learned during this first month that I've been living and working abroad as a 'digital nomad'. It has been a very positive and productive experience, and there is one thing I learned that I value above all other aspects of this trip...

Join my new community that replaces this Patreon community and get access to many new perks and features: https://fatherroderick.com/join (after signing up, you can stop your Patreon support; you will be able to access this podcast through a new personal feed on the new website).

Become a sponsor of my learning project and get early access to my London course about storytelling: https://fatherroderick.com/storytelling

I explore the early traces of Christianity and the remains of the medieval abbey in Leicester as I share with you how my plan to create a video course about storytelling evolved into a new teaching project that brings together many of my goals and talents in the years to come.

My ideas around the courses I'm producing during my 'digital nomad' weeks are quickly evolving. I'm recording this episode of The Walk at the end of my second week in the UK. I share with you some of my experiences, as well as my early thoughts about how you could join me in my efforts to explore, to learn and to grow during these trips abroad.

Go to fatherroderick.com/storytelling to learn how you can get early access to my full course about storytelling!

I share with you my adventures during the first week as a digital nomad in the city of London! More information about my upcoming Storytelling Course and about how to sign up will be coming soon!

I have always enjoyed traveling, both for work and for leisure. On the other hand, I'm also a bit of a Hobbit who likes to be at home and who is apprehensive of leaving my routines and familiar surroundings behind.

But I realize that if that need for comfort and predictability prevents me from pursuing new adventures, I run the risk of making my life smaller and smaller.

So a while ago, I made a decision. Four times per year, I would push myself to go on an adventure. To travel abroad, not to for a vacation, but to work remotely while creating room for new experiences and new encounters.

In this episode, I share with you where the road takes me in the month of July, and what my hopes and plans are for this new adventure.

In this episode, I share with you why my visit to Dutch Comic Con was so different from previous years. The migration from Patreon to my new membership community and Premium Podcast feed is now in full swing; all patrons should have received an invitation to migrate. Let me know if you have any issues, I'm here to help!

Whether it is about Star Wars: The Acolyte, about politics or about faith: online debate seems to be stuck in a negativity loop that is hard to avoid nowadays.

Before you know it, you get sucked into the vortex of online negativity and you feel worse as a result.

In this episode, I explore the root causes for this online behavior and I share with you how I try to counterbalance it by 'reprogramming' my own behavior using a simple morning routine.

For months I have been working behind the scenes on creating a new home for my community on my own website.

I have finally started the process of bringing people over from Patreon to the new system, and I am ironing out the last wrinkles.

It is the kind of work that I always forget to 'count' at the end of the day, because it doesn't immediately result in tangible output. But thanks to the 'Got Done' List I add to my journal at the end of the day, I'm starting to become more aware of the fact that I do way more work every day than I give myself credit for.

The vision for the new community site is for it to be a 'home' for my followers, a place where they find a supportive and friendly community.

If you are supporting me through Patreon right now, you will soon receive an invitation to move your membership over to the new community.

I am writing a new book about my method to create online content that reaches new people and forms community around my podcasts and videos. I have been developing this method for the past 20 years, from my early days as a Star Wars blogger to my recent adventures as an Anime commentator on TikTok. I talk about the focused way in which I am writing this book: by following a specific outline and by writing 1000 words each day of the month of June.