The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

Childhood was never meant to be a race. Bestselling author and Slow Movement pioneer Carl Honoré returns to The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast for a conversation about what happens when we stop rushing our kids and ourselves through life. Carl and Ginny talk about why boredom matters, how overscheduling can turn childhood into a race for perfection, why some of the best conversations with our kids happen when nobody is watching the clock, and the power of the small things like family meals, puzzles, books, nature, sleep, and simply having nowhere else to be. They also explore slow schooling, homeschooling, o...

Church hurt can leave you grieving far more than a bad experience because you can lose your community in the process. In this deeply personal conversation, Ginny Yurich sits down with counseling pastor and author Tim St. John to talk about his book After Church Hurt and what actually happens when the place meant to care for you becomes the source of the wound. Ginny shares her own family’s experience of raising serious concerns inside their church, being pushed out, and still dealing with the effects years later. Tim explains the three waves of church hurt, why naming wh...

When life suddenly stops feeling safe, the people around us may be our greatest protection. Dr. Raj Panjabi is a physician, the former White House national security official, the co-founder of Last Mile Health, and one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People. He joins Ginny Yurich to share what he has learned about navigating uncertainty from an extraordinary life that began when he fled civil war in Liberia as a nine-year-old refugee. Drawing from his new book, Safer, Raj explains why waiting for certainty can be dangerous, how “normalcy bias” caused him to miss the frightening signs of his own yo...

Raising a child with special needs changes nearly every aspect of family life, but it can also reveal extraordinary opportunities for love, growth, and connection.

Dr. Joe and Cindy Ferrini, authors of The Special Needs Parent: A Guide to the Life You Never Expected, join Ginny to share lessons from nearly 45 years of raising their son Joey, who has cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and developmental disabilities.

Through heartfelt stories and practical wisdom, they explore the realities of lifelong caregiving, protecting marriage, supporting siblings, building community, and navigating the isolation many special needs families experience. They also...

The history of ticks in the United States is far stranger and more disturbing than many of us realize. Award-winning science writer Kris Newby, author of Bitten The Secret History of Lyme Disease and Biological Weapons and senior producer of the Oscar-shortlisted documentary Under Our Skin, joins Ginny Yurich to uncover the documented Cold War programs that experimented with weaponizing ticks, fleas, and mosquitoes. Kris shares her own family's devastating experience with Lyme disease, the years she spent investigating scientist Willy Burgdorfer, the open-air tick releases she uncovered, and why she believes we still don't know the whole story...

Bestselling author Susan Cain joins Ginny Yurich for a fascinating conversation about the hidden strengths of introverts, the pressures of an extroverted culture, and the profound beauty of life's impermanence.

Drawing from her groundbreaking bestsellerQuiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, Susan explores why society prizes charisma and outgoing personalities while often overlooking the creativity, leadership, and deep thinking that flourish in solitude. She shares practical guidance for raising introverted and shy children, understanding their unique temperaments, and helping them navigate unfamiliar situations with confidence and compassion.

The conversation also...

Here is a message worth here hearing over and over again: you were already worthy before you accomplished a single thing. Artist, author, speech therapist, and homeschooling mom Tabitha Paige returns to the 1000 Hours Outside Podcast for a conversation that goes much deeper than her children's books. Tabitha shares how her son Declan, who was born with a rare genetic syndrome and significant disabilities, changed the way she understands love, worth, and what makes a life valuable. Those messages are woven into her deeply personal new book, I’ve Loved You From the Start. Tabitha also tells the remarkable st...

Jordan Raynor is back on The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast with Ginny Yurich for a conversation about how to pursue big things without letting achievement become the measure of your worth. In his new book, Redeeming Your Goals, Jordan shares seven biblical principles and dozens of practical ways to chase meaningful goals with more courage, margin, perseverance, and dependence on God. This episode is filled with practical ideas. For example, Jordan shares the surprisingly effective tool he uses to stay off his phone around his kids. Goal setting has also caught on with his children and Jordan talks about the...

What if theology isn’t just for scholars and pastors, but something that can transform the way we live, parent, and connect with God?

Beloved author and Bible teacher Lisa Harper returns to the podcast to discuss her new book, Theology For the Rest of Us, which makes 50 theological concepts accessible, engaging, and deeply relevant to everyday life.

In this warm, humorous, and thought-provoking conversation, Lisa and Ginny explore the relationship between faith, actions, and emotions, why biblical context matters, and how the Sabbath was intended as a gift rather than a burden. Lisa also sh...

What happens when we give kids more time to play, explore, and discover their passions?

Christian singer-songwriter Seph Schlueter, whose hit song Counting My Blessings has touched millions, joins Ginny for an inspiring conversation about childhood, creativity, faith, and finding gratitude in everyday moments.

Seph shares how growing up homeschooled in a family of six gave him the freedom to spend countless hours outdoors, pursue music, and develop his creativity. He reflects on why today's overscheduled, screen-filled childhoods leave too little room for imagination, boredom, and meaningful connection.

He also shares the remarkable...

What does it mean to truly know that you are loved?

New York Times bestselling author Stasi Eldredge joins Ginny Yurich to discuss her new book, The Ladder of Love: A Pathway to Emotional Healing and Spiritual Intimacy with Jesus. Drawing from her own story of childhood wounds, struggles with shame, depression, and healing, Stasi shares how our understanding of love can be restored—and how a deeper relationship with God can transform the way we see ourselves and others.

Together, Ginny and Stasi explore the different ways we experience God—as potter, shepherd, father, moth...

Dr. John Ratey joins the show to discuss why exercise may be the single most powerful thing you can do for your brain. Dr. Ratey is a Harvard psychiatrist and bestselling author of the book Spark. In this episode John and Ginny explore all the incredible things happens in the brain when we move. They talk about exercise and ADHD, anxiety, depression, addiction, learning, resilience, cognitive decline, pregnancy, aging, and how movement turns on the parts of the brain responsible for thinking and attention. Dr. Ratey also explains why exercising outside and with other people is especially powerful, why...

Love and Logic changed the trajectory of my family, and getting to sit down with Dr. Charles Fay for this conversation was an emotional, full-circle for me. I discovered the Love and Logic principles when I was just starting out in teaching. The principles allowed me to practice an entirely different way to interact with kids that eventually translated into my parenting. I was able to learn how to do it all without yelling, nagging, rescuing, or controlling. Love and Logic entails more empathy, strong boundaries, natural consequences, and a deep trust that our kids are capable of figuring...

Hope can feel almost dangerous when you’ve been disappointed enough times. Ebie Hepworth, author of Midnight Hallelujah: Why Hope Is Still Worth the Risk, joins Ginny Yurich for an honest conversation about grief and unanswered prayers. Ebie talks about her journey with infertility and adoption, and how she is currently walking alongside her son through Duchenne muscular dystrophy. She discusses what it looks like to keep choosing hope when the story still hasn’t changed. Ebie shares why grief has to be tended instead of buried, how waiting is different from awaiting, why community matters when life hurts, and...

Sometimes the best thing we can do for our kids is not rush in to help. Magalie Del Angel joins Ginny Yurich to share what she’s seeing firsthand at TimberNook Kauai, where kids climb trees, get covered in mud, work through disagreements, make friends, take risks, and discover just how capable they really are. Magalie shares the unforgettable story of a little girl who kept calling for help from a tree until she figured out how to get down by herself and a boy who spent days on the edges of play before finding his way into the gr...

What is glyphosate—and how might one of the world’s most widely used herbicides be affecting our health and the environment?

Ginny sits down with MIT senior research scientist Dr. Stephanie Seneff, author of Toxic Legacy: How the Weedkiller Glyphosate Is Destroying Our Health and the Environment, for a wide-ranging conversation about her research into glyphosate and its potential effects. Dr. Seneff explains why she became interested in the chemical, its relationship to the gut microbiome, and her theories connecting glyphosate exposure with a range of chronic health concerns.

They also explore glyphosate’s potent...

Kids are struggling in numbers we’ve never seen before, and Dr. Robert Melillo believes we’re missing a crucial piece of the story. In one of the most fascinating conversations I’ve had, we talk about what’s happening inside the developing brain, why movement and sensory experiences matter so much, the surprising importance of primitive reflexes, what crawling and other early milestones have to do with later development, and why screens may interfere with processes the brain desperately needs. Dr. Melillo has spent more than 30 years studying children with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, learning challenges, and developmental delays, and his...

Somewhere along the way, getting into the “right” college became proof that childhood had gone well. Ana Homayoun, author of Getting In Is Not Enough, joins Ginny Yurich to challenge that faulty finish line and look at what actually prepares kids for a good life. They talk about adaptability, focus, friendship, executive functioning, perfectionism, energy, free time, and why kids need room to build their own blueprint instead of spending childhood checking all the right boxes. This conversation is a reminder that our kids need more than an impressive college résumé. They need the skills and confidence to find t...

MIT professor and bestselling author Sherry Turkle has spent more than four decades studying our relationship with technology. Now she says we’ve entered a fundamentally new era: one where artificial intelligence isn’t just helping us think—it’s asking us to form relationships with it. In this conversation, Sherry joins Ginny to discuss her new book, Artificial Intimacy, and why AI companions, chatbots, and even AI-powered toys pose unique risks for children.

They explore how outsourcing reading, writing, conversation, and emotional connection can “de-skill” young people, why solitude and boredom are essential for developing empathy, and what hap...

In this uplifting conversation, Ginny Yurich sits down with bestselling author and artist Ruth Chou Simons to explore the ideas behind her new book, This Moment Matters: 100 Ways to Cultivate a Grace-Laced Life. Drawing from nearly two decades of motherhood, creativity, faith, and family life, Ruth shares practical ways to embrace limitations, simplify everyday routines, cultivate delight, create a welcoming home, and invest intentionally in the people who matter most.

They discuss everything from protecting unscheduled family time and putting phones away at the table to hospitality, creativity, exercise, and finding beauty in ordinary moments. Ruth also...

Four forgotten hunting rounds turned a five-day vacation into a 70-day fight to get home. Ryan Watson traveled to Turks and Caicos with his wife and friends expecting a few restful days away.They had those but as they were headed home Ryan and his wife found themselves facing a possible 12-year prison sentence after ammunition Ryan didn’t know was buried in the lining of his luggage was discovered at the airport. Ryan joins Ginny Yurich to tell the unbelievable story behind Turks and Chaos. This episode includes everything from the jail cell to the fear of missing hi...

No one actually knows how many people are missing in America’s wilderness. In this gripping conversation, Ginny Yurich sits down with professor, journalist and The Cold Vanish author Jon Billman to explore what he calls the nation’s “silent mass disaster.” The silent mass disaster is about the people who vanish in national parks, forests, mountains, and other wild places. They talk about those who went missing and the families and searchers who refuse to stop looking. They discuss baffling disappearances, a father who gave up everything to search for his son, the astonishing abilities of search dogs, and what...

Popularity matters across our entire lifespan but it’s only a certain kind of popularity matters. Today, you get to learn what kind of popularity that is! Dr. Mitch Prinstein has spent decades studying what makes people liked, accepted, influential and connected, and his research also includes why popularity matters. Ginny talks with Mitch about the crucial difference between status and likability. You’ll learn why the “cool kids” of childhood don’t necessarily fare better later in life and why being more likable to can affect your health, relationships, and career. They also explore what happens in the adolescent...

Let's talk about the energy you bring into a room! It changes more than you think and Jon Gordon is here to let us know that we can actually learn to change it. The bestselling author of The Energy Bus (and 31 other books!) has arrived to talk about optimism, dealing with adversity, and just how far out your energy permeates. Jon shares his own remarkable shift from a negative, stressed-out young dad whose marriage was falling apart to someone who has spent the last two decades teaching millions of people a different way to approach life. You're going to...

Some families produce not just one high-achieving child, but several and Susan Dominus spent years trying to understand why. In this episode, Susan joins Ginny Yurich for a deep dive on the families she studied for The Family Dynamic. They explore topics like the surprising influence siblings have on lifelong success, why letting kids struggle can actually help them thrive, the role of screens and environment, and the shadow side of extraordinary achievement. They discuss historical families like the Brontës to current families who have raised world-class athletes, musicians, and entrepreneurs. They even discuss Susan’s own family!

Our kids are being handed powerful ideas about who they are, what will make them happy, and what it means to be free and most of those ideas arrive without anyone announcing themselves as a lesson. Michael Keller joins Ginny Yurich to unpack the cultural stories hiding inside everything from Disney movies and social media to the phrases “follow your heart” and “you do you,” and why some of our most well-intentioned messages can leave kids exhausted by the pressure to create and prove their own identity.

They talk about the surprising limits of freedom, why real love alw...

What happens when our desire to be responsible slowly turns into a need to control?

Ginny welcomes bestselling author Lysa TerKeurst back to the podcast to discuss her new book, Making Peace with What I Can’t Control. Drawing from years of heartbreak, uncertainty, loss, and healing, Lysa explores why highly responsible and caring people can become especially vulnerable to overthinking, fear, and trying to manage the people and circumstances around them.

Lysa shares practical wisdom for recognizing the thin line between helping and enabling, setting healthy boundaries, and separating what we can responsibly influence fr...

What does it take to become the first American woman to race a sailboat solo and nonstop around the world?

In this unforgettable conversation, Ginny sits down with record-breaking sailor Cole Brauer, author of First Light, to explore the grit, failure, wonder, and self-reliance behind her extraordinary 27,000-mile journey.

Cole shares how she broke into an elite sport without money, connections, or a sailing family—and why the countless setbacks along the way were essential to her success. She takes listeners inside the realities of solo sailing, from food poisoning and broken ribs to brutal So...

What happens when reaching the top isn’t really the point?

In this episode, Ginny sits down with legendary climber Emily Harrington, star of the Netflix documentary Girl Climber, to explore the years-long journey that made her the first woman to free-climb Yosemite’s Golden Gate route on El Capitan in under 24 hours.

Emily takes listeners inside the extraordinary physical and mental demands of climbing—from navigating massive falls and practicing individual pitches thousands of feet above the ground to learning when to push forward, when to reassess, and how to turn failure into information.

...

What if the biggest threat to childhood isn’t screens—but the loss of freedom, play, and independence?

Ginny welcomes back psychologist and Free to Learn author Dr. Peter Gray for a fascinating conversation about his new book, Restoring Childhood: How to Set Kids Free in the Age of Anxiety. Gray traces the dramatic transformation of childhood since the 1950s, as television, increased schooling, homework, organized sports, and greater adult supervision gradually displaced children’s independent outdoor play.

He also challenges one of today’s dominant narratives: that smartphones and social media are primarily responsible for the...

What if the things we chase to feel worthy—success, achievement, appearance, approval—can’t actually give us the worth we’re looking for?

Ginny sits down with psychologist and New York Times bestselling author Dr. Marisa Franco to explore the ideas behind her new book, Worth: The New Science of Self-Esteem and Secure Attachment. Dr. Franco explains why true self-worth isn’t something we earn and why affirmations, compliments, and accomplishments can sometimes make people with low self-esteem feel even worse.

They dive into the fascinating science of memory reconsolidation and how painful “open memories” fr...

Fear has a way of creeping into everything—from parenting and health to our future, relationships, and the pressure to keep up. But what if the answer isn’t trying harder to eliminate fear, but learning to trust God more deeply?

Ginny welcomes back bestselling author and speaker Christine Caine to discuss her new devotional, Whom Shall I Fear? 100 Devotions for Overcoming Fear and Living the Abundant Life. Christine shares practical wisdom for confronting fear through four powerful practices: rest, prayer, listening to the Holy Spirit, and finding strength in the joy of the Lord.

They...

Ginny Yurich sits down with Barry Hoffner, author of Belonging to the World: A Journey from Grief to Connection in Every Country on Earth, to explore how profound loss led him on an extraordinary journey across 192 of the world’s 193 countries. After the sudden death of his wife, Jackie, Barry stepped away from his old life and eventually discovered that travel, movement, and connection could help him find his way forward.

Barry shares how a chance conversation inspired his quest to visit every country on Earth, the surprising community he found among fellow travelers, and why the jo...

What if getting dirty is actually good for your kids?

Ginny Yurich sits down with microbiome scientist Dr. Jack Gilbert, co-author of Dirt Is Good, to explore how exposure to the natural world helps shape a child’s developing immune system. Dr. Gilbert explains why dirt, animals, farms, siblings, pets, and everyday microbes aren’t necessarily things parents should fear—and why our increasingly sanitized, indoor lives may come with unintended consequences.

They unpack fascinating research on everything from dropped pacifiers and hand-washed dishes to dogs, farm visits, breast milk, bathing habits, and the billions of mic...

Ginny Yurich sits down with Dr. Russ Harris, physician, therapist, and bestselling author of The Happiness Trap, for a powerful conversation about why our pursuit of happiness can actually make us miserable—and what to do instead.

Drawing on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Russ explains why a meaningful life isn’t one without anxiety, sadness, frustration, or fear. Instead of constantly trying to suppress uncomfortable emotions or distract ourselves from them, he shares practical tools for allowing difficult feelings to exist without letting them dictate our actions.

Russ walks Ginny through his “dropping anchor” techniqu...

Ginny Yurich welcomes Dr. Will Cole back to the podcast for a fascinating conversation about why our bodies may be aging faster than ever—and what we can do about it. Drawing from his new book, Heal Your Cells: Reversing the Irreversible, co-written with Dr. Josh Axe, Will explores the emerging science of cellular health and the surprising ways our everyday lives influence how well our bodies function and recover.

They discuss why different organs can age at different rates, the healing power of nature, movement, mitochondrial health, and the growing interest in peptides. But Will also ex...

Ginny Yurich sits down with Dr. Tamara Rosier, founder of the ADHD Center of West Michigan and author of Your Brain’s Not Broken and the new Your Brain’s Not Broken for Teens and Young Adults, for a practical and encouraging conversation about navigating life with ADHD.

Tamara explains why ADHD is about far more than attention or hyperactivity, exploring its often-overlooked effects on emotions, motivation, executive function, and identity. She shares why teens with ADHD may develop several years behind their peers in executive functioning—and why parents need the courage to look at the child...

Ginny Yurich sits down with Ben Peterson, author of When Intelligence Isn’t Human: Navigating Your Faith in the Age of AI, for a timely conversation about what families need to understand as artificial intelligence becomes increasingly woven into everyday life.

Ben argues that the greatest concern isn’t simply what AI can do, but the role we allow it to play. As chatbots become more relational and technology grows increasingly personalized, young people may begin turning to AI for guidance, connection, and emotional support instead of parents, friends, faith, and real-world community. Together, Ginny and Ben expl...

International fashion model, actress, author, and educational freedom advocate Sam Sorbo joins Ginny for a wide-ranging conversation about homeschooling, parenting, and what it really means to prepare a child for adulthood. Sam shares how a family trip to Hawaii first caused her to question traditional schooling and ultimately led her family into home education.

Together, Sam and Ginny explore why homeschooling may be far less complicated than parents fear, the importance of protecting a child’s natural curiosity, and the freedom that comes from letting kids develop on their own timelines. They also look beyond the K–12 year...

What if one of the biggest ways to create a healthier home is hiding right underneath you while you sleep? In this episode, Ginny sits down with Tim Masters, founder of My Green Mattress and a mattress maker since his teenage years, to unpack what’s actually inside the place where we spend nearly a third of our lives.

Tim shares the remarkable story of how his daughter’s eczema and allergies led him to create an organic crib mattress—and eventually launch My Green Mattress in 2007. They explore flame retardants, fiberglass, foams, off-gassing, and what families should...