"Not All Who Wander Are Lost."

In this episode of WORDS MATTER, Deanna Ley, The Catalytic Coach, invites you to release the pressure of needing a perfectly mapped-out path and instead embrace the sacred unfolding of your own journey. With the iconic quote, “Not all who wander are lost.” by J.R.R. Tolkien, she explores how wandering isn’t failure—it’s forward motion with faith.

Deanna opens up about her own wandering spirit, how life’s Messy Middle shaped her mission, and why trusting curiosity, momentum, and presence will always take you where you're meant to be. This episode is a reminder that the winding path doesn’t mean you’re off track—it means you’re Becoming.

What Listeners Will Learn:
• Why wandering is movement—not confusion
• How perfectionism and control can fuel catastrophizing
• The difference between worrying and wondering and wandering
• Three perspective shifts to embrace the season you’re in
• How to trust your internal compass—even when the road is unclear
• Why your wild, winding path might be the very proof you’re on track

Memorable Quotes:
• “Not all who wander are lost.” — J.R.R. Tolkien
• “The wandering didn’t pull me off course. It pulled me deeper into who I was and who I was always meant to be.”
• “Worrying keeps you stuck. Wandering keeps you moving.”
• “Progress isn’t a line on a graph... every twist, every loop, every lesson tucked inside of wandering? It builds strength.”
• “You were given an inside voice for a reason.”
• “Wandering isn't a weakness you need to fix. It's a powerful part of how you find your own way Home. Your own way back to YOU.”

This episode invites you to stop fearing the winding path and start trusting it. Because your wandering isn’t wasted—it’s the way forward.

Your WORDS MATTER, because YOU MATTER.

❤️❤️❤️

Transcript

Well, hello friends. I'm so glad you're back with me for another episode of WORDS MATTER. Today, we're breathing some fresh air into this beautiful podcasting space. Because after a few deep, really heavy episodes lately, I think it's time for something that feels a little bit freer, a little bit lighter, and a whole lot more life-giving.

Today's quote is one you've probably heard before, but I want you to hear it differently, so it can really sink in.

It's by J.R.R. Tolkien:
"Not all who wander are lost."

Let it settle in for a second, friends. "Not all who wander are lost." It's permission. Permission to move through life with more curiosity, more freedom, and more trust. Permission to believe that maybe – just maybe – wandering isn't something to be feared or fixed. Maybe wandering is part of the plan.

And if anyone understands that, it's me. Because the truth is, I have a wandering spirit. I always have. I'm actually wired for it. My StrengthFinders – for anyone who's taken that assessment – my results, they prove it. With Adaptability, Ideation, Strategic, Maximizer, all in my top four – all pointing straight to a heart that was never designed to stay stuck or on a single straight road. I was built to move. To pivot. To explore new paths when old ones stopped making sense. To imagine new possibilities when the well-worn trail ends. But for a long time, I fought it.

Because life... Well, life was lifey for quite a while. One thing after another. Loss after loss. Storm after storm. And somewhere along the way, I convinced myself that if I didn't have every next step mapped out perfectly, disaster would find its way to me. That if I wasn't always in control – if my road wasn't straight enough, clean enough, fast enough – I must have failed.

I became a Catastrophizer, friends, without even realizing it. Always scanning for what could go wrong. Always bracing for impact. Always living with that low-grade hum of fear that if I wasn't perfectly on track, I must be hopelessly lost. It wasn't that I didn't love my life. It wasn't that I wasn't proud of the life I was building. It's that I didn't trust the Messy Middle of it all. I didn't trust the winding road.

There was always more to chase. More to prove. More that felt unfinished – as you learned about me last week. And if the path ahead wasn't perfectly clear? Well, I assumed the worst. But sitting here today, I see it all so differently. I don't feel lost anymore because I know who I am and I know why I'm here.

My purpose is to build community – to create spaces where people can connect, belong, and rise together. And my mission? Well, it's simple, powerful, and clear – to help people connect with each other and with themselves, and to show them how to turn their "impossible" into I'M POSSIBLE. And that mission? Well, it for sure wasn't built on a clean, paved road. It was shaped through wandering – through conversations on trails, through detours I didn't plan for, through Messy Middle moments I wanted to rush past, but needed to walk through. The wandering didn't pull me off course. It pulled me deeper into who I was and who I was always meant to be.

"Not all who wander are lost." Sometimes wandering is exactly how you find pieces of yourself you didn't even know you were searching for. Because when you give yourself permission to wander, you also give yourself permission to discover. To be surprised. To grow. To change. To trust the story you're living – the one that's still unfolding – and the one that's worth sticking around for.

So if you're in a wandering season right now – if your path feels uncertain, messy, undefined – I want you to hear this deep into your bones, friend. You're not lost. Because wandering isn't about standing still. It isn't about being stuck or paralyzed by fear. Wandering – if you think about it – is movement. It's breath. It's life in motion. It's stepping forward even when you don't know exactly where the road leads. It's forward-leaning faith that says, "I trust the journey, even if I don't see the full map yet." Wandering is curiosity in action. It's an openness to explore, to grow, to stretch beyond what you know today. Momentum.

Not in a frantic desperate way, but in a steady soul-led way that keeps you moving towards your Possible. And that's important – because there's a big difference between wandering and worrying. Worrying keeps you stuck. It ties you in knots. It loops you in circles. It makes you afraid to take a step because what if it's the wrong one? Wondering without action can lead to the exact same thing – keeps you circling around endless questions, paralyzed by What Ifs and Maybes and Could Bes.

Wandering, though? Wandering is real. Intentional wandering keeps you moving. It keeps you living. It keeps you discovering what's possible. Wandering says, "I may not know exactly where I'm going, but I trust that the act of moving forward will reveal what I need to see." And when you live in that way – not worrying and wondering stuck – you stretch yourself, you start finding something beautiful, you find joy in the journey itself. Joy in the fresh air on your face. Joy in the bends in the road you didn't see coming. Joy in the small victories, the new perspectives, the unexpected friendships. The growth you never could have planned for.

You realize life isn't just about reaching a destination. It's about being fully awake and fully alive while you're getting there. When you embrace wandering as movement – as momentum – as a beautiful part of your story, you stop waiting for joy to meet you at the finish line. You start carrying it with you every step of the way. You stop seeing uncertainty as the enemy. You start seeing it as the adventure. You stop believing you have to have it all mapped out to be moving in the right direction. And you start believing that being in motion – fueled by faith, led by curiosity, and grounded in trust – is enough.

Friends, your wandering is not wasted. Your wandering is not wrong. Your wandering is a sacred, beautiful part of your Becoming. Because you're on a wild, beautiful path that is still being written.

So maybe this wandering isn't a detour. Maybe – just maybe – what feels like a mess right now is actually your map. Maybe this uncertainty isn't evidence that you're failing, but proof that you're brave enough to keep going even when the way isn't clear. Maybe wandering is where the real magic happens – the kind you can't find on a straight line.

Because friends, some of the most beautiful dreams, some of the deepest transformations – they're not born from certainty. They're born from wandering.

And today I want to offer you three shifts you can make right now. Three ways to embrace your wandering and let it shape you instead of scare you. Are you ready?

First, loosen your grip on that master plan you have for your life. You don't have to have a five-year vision fully mapped out to be making meaningful progress. You just need to move in the direction of your aliveness – to follow the thing that sparks your curiosity, the thing that calls you – even if it doesn't make perfect sense yet. Ask yourself, "Where do I feel life rising up in me right now? Where am I being nudged forward?" Start there. Take one small, brave step toward what feels true to you today, and trust that path will appear in front of you as you walk it.

Second, stop measuring progress by how straight or fast your road looks. Progress isn't a line on a graph. It's not about neat timelines and tidy milestones. Progress is messy. It's tangled. It looks like circles and stumbles and pivots and restarts. And every twist, every loop, every lesson tucked inside of wandering? It builds strength inside of you that a straight road never could. So if your journey feels wild and winding right now… GOOD! That's where real depth grows.

Third, trust your internal compass more than the external noise. There will always be voices shouting at you, telling you to PICK A LANE! STAY IN A BOX! SPEED UP! SLOW DOWN! BE MORE! BE LESS! But your heart – that beautiful heart and soul of yours – they know. You were given an inside voice for a reason. You were given instincts and dreams and nudges for a reason, too. Tune into them. Listen to them. Follow them. Because your heart and soul remember the way even when that beautiful brain of yours doubts it.

Wandering isn't a weakness you need to fix. It's a powerful part of how you find your own way Home. Your own way back to YOU.

So if you're wandering today – if you're stepping into the unknown with more questions than answers – let me be the voice that reminds you: You're not lost. You're not broken. You're not behind. You are Becoming – wildly, beautifully, bravely the person you were always meant to be.

"Not all who wander are lost."

Some of us are just bold enough to believe that the best things in life aren't found on the straightest path. Some of us are brave enough to trust the wide open, messy, magnificent road unfolding beneath our feet. Some of us are okay with being "lost." Because it's in being lost that we can find ourselves.

Friends, the words we see and read, the words we hear and the words we say to ourselves and about ourselves – about what we're doing and how we're doing it – they all matter.

Your WORDS MATTER, because YOU MATTER.

Have a great day.