Venture Out! 🌟✨
We're back, we missed you, and we have stories.
After a little time apart — some solo adventures, some found time, some plates spinning, some "life be lifing" — Serina and Mary are back in the pod and ready to catch up with the Then When community. This episode has a different kind of energy to it: quieter, more reflective, a little bit like that deep exhale after a really full stretch of time. And honestly? It's exactly what we needed.
This week, Serina shares what it felt like to wander eight miles alone through the cobblestone streets of Lisbon, Portugal, phone dying, language barrier and all and discovers something unexpected: pure, untethered freedom.
And Mary, facing a stretch of unscheduled "found time," does what any reasonable person would do takes her kayak out solo and floats in the clouds. 🚣
Together they get into the delicious question of what we call ordinary versus extraordinary and whether that line is as clear as we think. They also get into gratitude, noticing, painting on top of paintings, writing over the same three lines until your brain quiets down, and the way the ordinary things, when we actually look at them, have a way of slowing time. 🎨
Welcome back, dudes. You deserve today.
In this episode: 🎙️
- ✈️ Serina's solo day in Lisbon: eight miles on foot, a dying phone, the oldest bookstore in the world, and a lot of cobblestones
- 🚣 Mary's "found time" moment: solo kayaking under cloudy skies and finally — finally — getting that kayak out of the garage
- 🌿 Ordinary vs. extraordinary: where's the line, and does your beige wall get a vote?
- 📓 Mary's overthinking hack: writing over the same three lines until your brain dumps everything out
- 🎨 Serina's next Then When: painting on top of paintings on top of paintings
- 🌲 Mary standing in front of her pine trees and realizing her "middle of nowhere" has become her somewhere
- 🐾 Serina's dogs, who are also tangential thinkers. They sniff what they want to sniff.
- 🎬 Amélie and the traveling gnome — Serina's all-time favorite film makes its Then When debut
- 💬 Question to the community: What seemingly ordinary things enhance your daily life?
Links & Resources 🔗
- ☕ Copenhagen Coffee Lab (Lisbon, Portugal): copenhagencoffeelab.com
- 🎬 Amélie (2001) — Available on most streaming platforms
- 🌐 Then When website: www.thenwhenpodcast.com
- 💬 Join the Discord — drop your answer to this week's question: what ordinary thing enhances your daily life? Share your photos under #noticings: discord.com/invite/UYjfTPSdcQ
- 📱 Find us on TikTok & socials @thenwhenpodcast
- 🎙️ Listen on all major podcast platforms — and share this one with someone who needs permission to go it alone 💛
Until When! 🤍
#ThenWhen #ThenWhenPodcast #IfNotNowThenWhen #SomeDayIsToday #GoItAlone #FindYourExtraordinary #Noticing #Gratitude #SoloAdventure #Lisbon #Portugal #FoundTime #TryItOn #MindfulLiving #Perseverate #OrdinaryMagic ✨🚣🎨💛
