Episode 3: The Owl Who Overthought the Moon

The Quest for the Moon

High up in the tallest tree of the forest lived an owl named Wylie. His feathers were a mix of soft, earthy browns, perfectly blending with the bark of his home, yet his thoughts were always brighter than the moonlight.

Wylie wasn't your typical owl. He had a habit of thinking... a lot. He would often sit perched in the crook of his tree, his large, thoughtful eyes scanning the horizon, his mind whirling with questions. Why do the stars seem so far away? Is the moon lonely in the night sky? And if I flap my wings just the right way, could I make the stars fall?

It wasn’t that Wylie didn’t enjoy the company of the other animals in the forest—he did! But his thoughts... they were louder. More persistent. Like an endless stream of what-ifs, each one more complicated than the last.

One evening, as the soft glow of twilight bathed the forest in silvery hues, Wylie gazed up at the moon. It was a full moon that night—round, bright, and impossibly far away.

"What if I could touch it?" he wondered aloud, the wind catching his words and carrying them off into the evening.

But even as he thought it, doubt began to creep in. Could an owl really fly that far? Would his wings tire before he even reached halfway? And what about the other creatures? What would they say if he failed?

“Stop overthinking it, Wylie,” he muttered to himself. “You're just an owl. You're meant to fly, not to question everything.”

But the question lingered, much like the moon itself, hanging in the sky just beyond his reach.

The Great Flight

The next morning, Wylie couldn’t shake the thought of the moon. It was as if it had become a part of him—his thoughts were tangled up with it, fluttering around like the wind rustling the leaves. So, he made a decision. A big one. The kind of decision that felt both thrilling and terrifying.

“I’m going to fly to the moon,” Wylie declared, standing tall in his tree. The leaves below him swayed in response, but no one answered. The forest seemed quiet. Maybe even a little skeptical.

Wylie spread his wings, feeling the cool air against his feathers. His heart pounded as he prepared to leap. His thoughts, as usual, ran ahead of him. What if my wings give out halfway there? What if the moon is just an illusion? What if—

“Enough!” he said, shaking his head. “I’m doing this.”

With a leap and a flap, Wylie soared into the sky. The wind rushed by him, the trees below shrinking into mere dots. He flew higher and higher, past the tallest branches, past the clouds, and into the dark expanse above.

But as he flew, Wylie couldn’t help but think—what if everyone was right? What if it was too far, too impossible? His wings started to feel heavier, his mind clouded with doubt. The further he flew, the more the forest below seemed like another world. The moon was still there, distant but ever-present.

The Return to the Branch

Hours passed, and Wylie’s wings grew tired. He was high above the world now, so far from home that the trees below seemed like distant memories. The moon was just ahead, so close he could almost touch it. But as he flew closer, it began to look less like a goal and more like a strange, unapproachable dream.

He stopped for a moment, hovering midair.

"This isn’t what I imagined," Wylie thought, staring at the moon’s surface. It wasn’t as inviting as he had hoped. It didn’t offer the answers he had been searching for. It was just... a cold, lonely thing in the sky.

And then, the most curious thing happened. Wylie realized he didn’t need to fly to the moon. He didn’t need to prove anything to anyone, least of all himself. The journey itself, the act of flying and thinking and questioning, had already been enough.

With a deep sigh, Wylie turned around and began his descent back to his home. The forest welcomed him as he landed gently on his branch, the world below coming into focus once again. He realized that perhaps it wasn’t about finding the answers; maybe it was about the questions themselves.

Lesson: Embracing the Journey

From that day on, Wylie still looked up at the moon, but he no longer overthought it. He appreciated it for what it was—a reminder that sometimes, the greatest discoveries are not the ones we find, but the ones we experience along the way.

The animals of the forest noticed a change in Wylie. He was still thoughtful, still curious, but there was a lightness in his eyes. He had learned something important: It wasn’t about reaching the moon. It was about understanding that sometimes, flying toward your dreams is enough, even if you never quite reach them.

And sometimes, the best way to find yourself is to simply stop thinking too much and just be.

End.