Wildly Unplug Book Teaser!

📖 Wildly Unplug Is Almost Here – A Sneak Peek into the Book That Started It All

Welcome back, Explorers, to Wildly Unplug – the podcast where we breathe deep, slow down, and reconnect with what really matters: nature, creativity, and our sense of wonder. I’m your guide, Lauren, and today’s episode – and blog – is extra special.

I’m beyond excited to officially announce something I’ve poured my heart into...

🌿 Wildly Unplug: A Creative Guide to Reconnect with Nature launches on April 22nd, 2025 – Earth Day 🌍

And I thought… what better way to celebrate than to give you a behind-the-scenes look at how this book came to life and a teaser of what you’ll find inside.

📖 A Peek Inside the Pages

In the episode, I read aloud the dedication, prologue, and introduction, and I’ll share just a few of those vibes here.

➡️ The book starts with a powerful call to unplug – from hustle culture, from perfectionism, and from unrealistic expectations.

➡️ You’re invited to remember the freedom of childhood summers, when the woods were our kingdom, and the streetlights were our clocks.

➡️ I guide you through the purpose of the book – not to give you a “one-size-fits-all” formula, but to offer approachable, meaningful steps to rediscover the healing power of the outdoors.

🌲 What You’ll Learn

The book is broken down into 10 "paths" – each one designed to gently nudge you deeper into connection with the wild. You'll explore:

• Unplugging from digital noise
• Noticing seasonal shifts
• Creating art from natural inspiration
• Reclaiming movement as joy
• Using your senses to ground yourself
• Journaling for awareness and clarity

Each chapter includes three levels of actions – Planting the Seed, Taking Root, and Branching Out – so you can pick what fits your lifestyle. You’ll also find checklists, worksheets, and reflections to keep things fun and flexible.

No gatekeeping. No guilt. Just nature, creativity, and you.

🎉 Launch Details

Wildly Unplug will be available as a paperback and ebook on Amazon starting April 22nd, 2025. Once the official link is live, I’ll drop it right here in the show notes and share across all platforms.

If you’ve ever felt that itch to slow down… if you've wanted to reconnect with your creativity or rekindle your love for nature… this book is for you.

🌟 How You Can Help

💬 Leave a review
🦋 Share with a friend who needs to reconnect
📚 Join the book launch celebration
🌿 Step outside and let the wild world in

If you’re feeling the nudge to start your own creative nature journey – maybe even your own podcast – or just want to be reminded of your wild side, come join me.

And hey – if you’d like to be a guest on Wildly Unplug, I’d love to hear your story. No fancy setup needed – just a quiet room, a Zoom connection, and your authentic voice.

Until next time,
🌱 Get outside and see what develops.

Let’s hear your story! Click here to submit your tale.

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Transcript

 Welcome to wildly Unplug, sharing stories of nature conservation and creativity. Discover what develops when you unplug and step outdoors.

 📍 Welcome back to Wildly Unplugged, the podcast where we breathe deep, slow down, and reconnect with what really matters. Nature, creativity, and our sense of wonder. I am your guide Lauren, and today's episode is really special because I am sharing something from my heart that I have been working on for a long time.

My very first book, wildly Unplugged, a Creative Guide to Reconnect with Nature, is officially launching on April 22nd, 2025, earth Day. Very fittingly. And I thought, what a better way to celebrate than to give you a little teaser. This book was born out of my own journey, one that took me from burnout to beauty, from overwhelm to observation.

It's filled with stories, journal prompts, creative exercises, quotes from the Wildly Unplugged podcast. And simple steps you can start using right away to help you feel more grounded and more connected with the world around you. Whether you're an artist, a nature lover, or someone who's been feeling disconnected or all of the above, this book is for you.

So in this episode, I'll be reading the opening pages of Wildly Unplugged to give you a feel for the vibe, the voice, and the intention behind it. And I hope it sparks something in you, maybe a desire to slow down, to look more closely, or to even pick up a journal or a paintbrush, and to start observing the wild around and within you.

So now let's dive in.

Wildly unplug, a creative guide to reconnect with nature by Lauren Connolly. Dedication to my parents for showing me the magic of nature in our backyard and the piece of quiet walks in the woods to my husband. For opening my world to sailing, camping, and scuba diving, and for always making me feel safe in wild places.

And to my son, my greatest adventure buddy. Your curiosity, compassion, and deep love for the natural world inspires me every day. Keep exploring your already changing the world.

Everybody's on the phone, so connected and all alone. Jimmy Buffett. Everybody's on the phone from the Take The Weather With You album.

Before we begin, let's rebel against the system. Aren't you sick of it? The self-help gurus who preach one formula for success, hustle harder, work more, chase the money. They step into the spotlight, polish, and perfect selling the illusion that they have cracked the code to life and we buy it Hook, line and sinker, believing that.

Everything will fall into place if we just wake up at 4:00 AM. Run five miles before sunrise. Eat a perfectly balanced meal that was prepped the Sunday before. Pack the kids' lunch  get a head start on work before we even arrive at the office. Excel throughout our workday.

Be a great friend, relative and spouse, all while somehow fitting in eight hours of sleep just like them. Guess what? That is not sustainable. Change is inevitable. Life's ups and downs are guaranteed. And when the unexpected happens, our so-called idols transform before our eyes, , surprise. Their system of hustling didn't work.

Their foundation cracked and their tower crumbled. And now we're expected to subscribe to their new way of living. No, really, guys, this is the answer. Here's the catch. Their shiny new philosophy, discards, the very ideas they once swore were the cure for our problems. This cycle repeats all over, leaving us confused and exhausted.

If their method once worked for us, we feel pressure to keep up, to pivot and adapt, follow their, and follow their latest revelation. And just like that, we're back at square one. What a mess. But what if there's a different way I. Wildly unplug offers suggestions and ideas for you to adapt to what fits into your lifestyle.

It meets you where you are while gently guiding you to do more and to push yourself. While these tactics and skills have worked for me, I don't pretend to have all the answers. Heck, sometimes I have to stop and remind myself to unplug and slow down too. However, to learn, you must do something. If you wait for the moment to feel right, the opportunity is lost.

Look, let's be honest, no one has all the answers. Besides where would the fund be in that? We learn by trying, failing, getting up and trying all over again. Life is ever evolving and ever changing. What used to work for you might not work in your current situation. Maybe you've become more enlightened or searching for something new.

Life moves so fast and we often create cozy, plugged in comfort zones for ourselves. Usually we don't even realize we're there. Only you know what's best for you, what you can handle, and what you're capable of. However, it's often more than you think, but you have to dig down deep and do the work like life.

Adventure and exploration are ever changing, and you are too. This is not a one and done self-help connect with Nature Book. It's a guide to help navigate you to your first steps towards unplugging from the hustle and getting back to the great outdoors. In doing this, you'll discover more about yourself and others around you and what you'll ultimately find is what makes you happy. . The world is your oyster. So let's unplug and get wild

prologue. Imagine you're in your childhood home again, it's summertime. No one in your home is awake yet, so you make yourself your favorite breakfast. Since you're on break, you treat yourself and eat this delicious meal in front of the tv, Bob Barker or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Flash on the screen and you hear, turn off that TV and get outside. Don't waste a beautiful day. If you're parents were dramatic, they would unplug the television instantly, making the images disappear from the screen. Busted. You look outside. The sun is shining. The sky is a brilliant shade of blue, and trees are gently swaying in the breeze.

The robins fill the rusty orange bellies with worms. Your parents are correct. It's a beautiful day outside. The couch has enveloped you and you are reluctant to leave your comfort zone. Once you finally peel yourself away, you squint as you step outside. Blinded by the sun's rays.

Taking a deep breath of the crisp morning air, you survey the scene and find your friends have also been ejected  from their homes. , before you know it. If you're all playing without a care in the world, only retreating indoors to go to the bathroom or grab a drink.

Heck, depending on what decade you grew up in, you might not have even done that. It might have been the bushes and a hose for relief. Woods were explored stories told, games played for what feels like forever, but also an instant. It's hard to explain that time would stand still, but also speed like a bullet train all at once.

The sky bursts into a million bright, majestic colors before the streetlights come on, and it's time to go home.  You lay in bed exhausted, but the good kind of exhausted the kind where laying in bed is like a warm hug. You drift to sleep with a satisfied smile on your face. Thinking of the fantastic day, you just had planning many more adventures to come this summer as you drift into a deep, refreshing sleep.

What did that look like for you? Did a flood of memories come back for me? I picture the woods behind my home where we walked endlessly throughout the forest looking for all kinds of plants and animals. Sometimes we would gather fallen branches and prop them up against a big tree. Or better yet, if you had a couple of trees that can make corners for forts and later get.

Mud from the creek, the creek finding frogs and crayfish, and using fossilized limestone as steps to get to the other side. We thought we were archeologists exploring the ruins of a leftover train track bridge exploring so far that we were chased off of properties. One time, a furious owner shot a gun up into the air.

When we ventured into their farm,  we ran half a mile to the shelter of a construction rock pile, laughing and crying while trying to catch our breath. The eighties and nineties were wild times. To the owner's credit, we never did venture that far again, sounds terrifying, but the point is that time outside pushed our limits, 

discovered what we were capable of. Learn how to fend for ourselves, rely on ourselves, and more importantly than that, we were free. Now, think about a summer day as an adult. Do you find yourself stuck in an endless cycle of trying to climb the corporate ladder, stuck behind a computer all day and night because we're just so accessible thanks to modern technology.

Do you ever secretly wish that your parents would march into your office and unplug your computer and kick you outside? Well, if you've never thought of it before, sounds pretty tempting now, doesn't it?

Introduction. Why wildly unplug. When you love what you do, it'll turn out good. Betty Simon, creator of From Orphan to Inspiration, wildly unplug, episode 24. Welcome to Wildly Unplug, a movement where we take back the wild and free versions of ourselves from our youth, and learn to reconnect with nature in small actionable steps.

 Connecting with nature, brings us mental clarity, emotional balance, creativity, and better health. You will discover that in turn, you have reconnected with yourself along this journey. Have you ever noticed how you feel after spending time outside, like when you've walked in the woods or sat in your backyard listening to the birds? There's a sense of ease of your mind letting go of all the noise. That's one of nature's most significant gifts. Mental clarity. It's like a reset button. Suddenly everything stressing you out doesn't feel so big anymore.

It's hard to stare at a mountain range or look at the ocean's vastness and worry about TPS reports or hustling to get that promotion. Nature has a way of reminding us what's important and helping us focus on the here and now. And then there's the emotional balance. Life throws so much at us. Work relationship and the endless scroll on our phones.

It's easy to feel out of sync, but when you're in nature, something shifts. Watching a sunset or feeling the breeze on your face and calm the storms inside, it's like nature whispers, Hey, it's okay. You've got this. It's grounding and centering in a way like nothing else. And let's not forget the physical benefits.

We all know we need to move more, and it's hard to feel motivated when exercise feels like a chore. Nature makes it fun, whether it's hiking or gardening or walking a trail, being outside gets your body moving without feeling forced. Fresh air and sunlight also improve energy levels and overall health.

It's not just exercise, it's medicine. Another great benefit is creativity. Have you ever been stuck on a problem or felt like your ideas just weren't flowing? Step outside. There's something about the patterns in the trees and the colors of the sky at sunset, or the way that the light hits the water and sparks inspiration.

Nature is the original artist. And being around it reminds us to think differently and to let our ideas breathe.

But here's the thing, we don't always make it outside, do we? There's always so much pulling us away. Work deadlines, endless notification, the pool of Netflix, or even that habit of scrolling through social media. It's like we've built this. Bubble around ourselves and stepping outside feels like a disruption to our routines instead of something natural.

That is why we need to wildly unplug.

Sometimes though it's not just the distractions that hold us back, we feel scared or overwhelmed, unsure of where to even begin. Maybe we don't think we have the time or we're  unsure of what to do once we get out there. That is precisely why wildly unplug exists to break it down into simple tangible steps.

It isn't about grand adventures or expensive gear. It's about making nature accessible, inviting in a natural part of your life no matter where you're starting from. Wildly unplugging is about breaking free from the constant stream of distractions. It's about choosing to be present, to notice the world beyond our screens and to-do lists.

When we don't unplug,  we miss out on the magic of nature, the way it can heal, inspire, and ground us.   We stay stuck in cycles of busyness and miss the chance to reconnect with something bigger than ourselves.

So what does this journey look like? Wildly Unplugged will guide you through 10 paths designed to take you from preparation to a profound connection with nature. It starts with simple actions, setting intentions, building small habits, and getting prepared so you feel confident and ready to step outside.

From there, you'll learn how to unplug from distractions, embrace mindfulness, and notice the subtle wonders around you. You'll rediscover the joy of movement, the magic of changing seasons, and the beauty of creating a lasting connection with the wild. Each path in this book is crafted to be practical and approachable, helping you build a deeper relationship with nature that will enrich your life in ways you can't yet imagine.

So, yeah, connecting with nature isn't just nice. It's necessary. It's a way to take care of our minds, our hearts, our bodies, and our creativity all at once.  The best part, it's always there waiting for us. All we have to do is step outdoors.

At the end of each chapter, there are actions to give you ideas how to accomplish each theme of the book. Actions are broken down into three levels, so you can choose what fits your lifestyle and skill level. Level one. Planting the seed 

is for busy days or if you're just beginning to explore nature. These simple actions are low pressure and quick to try. Level two. Taking root is for those who have a little bit more time and experience, who are looking to deepen their connection. Level three, branching out is for when you have ample time and a solid comfort level in the outdoors, allowing for more immersive and exploratory practices.

You'll also see tips and reflection questions. Some sections have additional worksheets and checklists. These ideas are meant to grow with you as you build your relationship with nature. Please note this is not a pass or fail test or checklist that you have to cross off. There are simply ideas to spark your imagination, and they get you excited to adapt them into your lifestyle.

Don't get discouraged. They're there to make your outdoor experience enjoyable.

At the very end of the book, make sure to check out all the bonuses, QR codes, the playlist, podcasts, and worksheets.

That was just a tiny glimpse of what's inside wildly unplugged, but there is so much more waiting for you inside the pages. The full book release is on April 22nd, 2025 Earth Day, and it will be available as a paperback and an ebook on Amazon. Once that link is available and released, I will be connecting it here in the show notes, so be sure to check it out there  

in the meantime, if this episode resonated with you, take a moment to step outside today. Trace a leaf in your journal, listen to the wind, or notice how the light touches the trees. That's what wildly unplug is really about finding your way back to what is real.

If you wanna be a part of the launch, please leave a review and help spread the word. I would be so grateful. Let's share this ripple of reconnection with as many people as we can. Until next time, get outside and see what develops.

 Wildly Unplugged Podcast is a production of Wild Development Studio. The views, opinions, and statements expressed by individuals during wild development studio's, productions do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of wild development Studio or its affiliates. Participation in any activities, expeditions, or adventurous discussed or promoted during our content may involve inherent risks.

It is strongly advised that individuals conduct. Thorough research, seek professional guidance and take all necessary precautions before engaging in such activities or venturing into wilderness areas. While development studio, its representatives or employees shall not be held responsible for any injury, loss, damage, accident, or unforeseen incident that may occur as a result of participating in activities inspired by or discussed in our content.

By choosing to engage with our content or act upon any information provided individuals do so at their own risk and discretion.