About Thoughtful Wanders
Why hello there!
Welcome to Thoughtful Wanders, a digital space centered on sharing my journey processing and (un)learning about the world, society, and self with lots of creativity, critical thinking, and play.
My name is Lydia and I'm the human behind Thoughtful Wanders. I'm an artist, digital creator, writer, traveler, third culture kid, and... well, you can learn more about me and my journey here —>"Who Am I?".
I created Thoughtful Wanders to make external a lot of the processing, thoughts, ideas, and connections of the world, society, and self that take place internally. Having existed and moved through different spaces throughout my life, be it physically across continents and cultures, experientially between marginalization and privilege, or emotionally, through the joys and griefs of being human. Combined with my tendency as a "highly sensitive person" with an over-active brain means that I'm always absorbing and feeling "too much". On one hand, it results in being overwhelmed easily, on the other hand, it's fulfilling to have a robust inner world where I am constantly making connections of the world beyond and within to make sense of it all.
The work I create is based on seeing the world through my brain as a curious and creative person where I try to make the implicit explicit and process my learnings out loud. The space aims to connect the personal to the political to the societal and existential, in both unserious (play & color!) and serious (self-awareness & good research) ways.
The essences of thoughtful wanders are:
- travel, wanders & exploration
- creativity, curiosity & play
- critical thought, progressive politics & social awareness
- observation, personal growth & the metaphysical
- a safe (un)learning environment; it's okay to not know; beginner's mindset
- community & connection
Thoughtful Wanders = The intersection of all of the above
How do we navigate and choose to live our lives, on this burning planet, as humans who are also deeply capable of creativity and joy? How do we hold all of the chaos and contradictions of life, and still move toward a future of co-creation and collective healing? How do we continue to critically learn and engage with the world around us, instead of tuning out, while also being compassionate and gentle with ourselves and each other in the process? How do we re-awaken our inner child and continue to exercise curiosity and play in our everyday? How do we hold multiple truths and continue living in alignment with our values?
Thoughtful Wanders is a space to contemplate and reflect on these questions while creating art and building community in the meantime ~
Join me & the Thoughtful Wanders Community ~
Over time, I hope to grow the Thoughtful Wanders community to be a group of folks who are also interested in processing the world together, weaving in the sociopolitical, historical, cultural along with the creative, artistic, and the reflective and personal aspects of our lives.
It's especially a space made for folks who are always navigating the in-betweens (e.g. third culture kids, diaspora, immigrants, travelers, 'global citizens') or anyone who is interested and fascinated with tying the components of the "macro" and bigger picture to the "micro" and their everyday lives.
On thoughtfulwanders.com, you will find:
- Regular public blogposts (travel, art & creativity, life, learning etc)
- Bi-weekly newsletter for free subscribers & spontaneous comic/art emails
- Some content only for Free Subscribers (Members), not Public
- (For paid subscribers) Exclusive essays, personal thoughts & updates, commentary (i.e. extended commentary on comics & illustrations, opinions & more personal experiences + updates from travels and life, behind the scenes, experiments) + more perks coming (monthly vlogs, access to secret shop, discord)
Connect with Thoughtful Wanders on Social!
Thoughtful Wanders has a couple branches on social media.
You can find the main Thoughtful Wanders @thoughtfulwanders
If you're interested in following art & creativity content, follow the Art Studio @thoughtfulwanders_studio
Lastly, ifyou're interested in cinematic shots & photography, follow @thoughtfulwanders_moments
Subscribe via email to get regular updates ~
More links to get to know Thoughtful Wanders —
- Who Am I
- Both a Travel and Not a Travel Blog
- How Learning Critical Theory Changed My Life
- My Formative Travel Experiences
- The Essences of Thoughtful Wanders
- 2022 About Page