Recently, I wrote an article about the ancestral diet in which I mentioned my rewilding journey.

It’s fun to promote things I feel so passionately about. And the most magical part is when readers reach out about my writings. I received many messages from women around the world who want to rewild their soul; they think I’m brave and courageous and see me as some kind of role model.

Though it does take a lot of courage and bravery to give up a life that doesn’t particularly make us happy, it was much harder to walk away from a safe, comfortable life with a predictable future and follow my calling. Though the life I live now makes me happy and fulfilled, it is not as glamorous as it might look through social media. There are tears and pain that accompany this lonely road but it is definitely worth it.

Rewilding my soul.

What does it even mean?

Well, for me it meant courage. Courage to walk away. To walk away literally (on a 1000 km-long pilgrimage in the Spanish mountains) and to walk away figuratively from fear and comfort so I can live a life that is worth living for me. Courage to be who I really am despite of how society wants me to be. Courage to sing my own songs. Courage to live free and untamed. Courage to love.

Courage to feel in my bones that I’m alive.

Rewilding is a process of gradually changing something back to its natural state, a term that was first used in wildlife conservation. Its original context refers to the restoration of land to a wild, uncultivated state, including the reintroduction of native plants and animal species.

But it is so much more than that. Human rewilding is a concept of radical reclamation of all of our power and strength to return to a state of being, a natural human state before society told us who we are. It’s the process of re-learning what makes you really you.

You don’t need to be a wild woman already. Honestly, I’ve never been  much of a wild woman. I was more like a scared maiden, a shy little bird—with broken wings. I used to be a people pleaser, always wanting to be good for everyone. I always did what I was told or what I thought I should do, if no one told me otherwise. I was all about being good enough for everyone but me. So you don’t need to be a wild woman to start, all you need is to be fed up enough with your own BS to commit to making a change.

The Wild Woman Archetype

A few years ago, I found a book I always wanted to read: Women who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés . The book came to my life at the perfect time, as every word of it spoke to my soul and invited me to look deep within and listen.

There are several archetypes of a woman, with The Wild Woman being one of them. She is present in all of us, as are all the other archetypes, and they take over our lives at different times and ages. Jungian psychology explains that there are 12 feminine archetypes, and they may have different names depending on which resource you’re looking at. Each archetype represents a different type of person with certain characteristics and energy. We can use these archetypes to reflect on the qualities that we already possess and the energy we want to cultivate more of.

So, How Did I Change?

“When a woman is frozen of feeling, when she can no longer feel herself, when her blood, her passion, no longer reach the extremities of her psyche, when she is desperate; then a fantasy life is far more pleasurable than anything else she can set her sights upon. Her little match lights, because they have no wood to burn, instead burn up the psyche as though it were a big dry log. The psyche begins to play tricks on itself; it lives now in the fantasy fire of all yearning fulfilled. This kind of fantasizing is like a lie: If you tell it often enough, you begin to believe it.” ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés

First of all, I had to go through a personal collapse to come to the realization that I couldn’t go on the way I had been. I remember having a tarot card reading and The Tower showing up. Little did I know how earthquakes and thunderstorms would collapse the safe, stone tower I’d built for myself over the years to hide away from the world, and even myself.

My first helper was the above mentioned book, which became my Bible. I’ve read it in two languages already and carry an English version everywhere I go so I can show it to others, in hopes it starts a spark in someone.

I had support and help from my friends and family and later from a hypnotherapist. And it helped me a lot that before my Tower moment, I finished a course of holistic health coaching and took the opportunity to practice my coaching skills on myself.

Reflecting back on my journey, there are some steps that genuinely helped with my rewilding process:

>> It took a conscious decision that I wanted to live my best life and do all the work needed to be the person I am destined to be, but to do this I had to have a crystal clear vision, steel willpower, and serious commitment.

>> I had to learn to listen to my body and use her to acknowledge and express my feelings and emotions, and release them.

>> I built a serious daily routine for myself based on supportive practices that worked best for me: finding new yoga and meditation styles, deepening my kundalini and breathwork knowledge, journaling, shadow work, and many more. 

>> I became a hermit for a year and spent most of my time in solitude in nature.

>> I had to examine my relationships under a magnifying glass to see which ones were supporting me or holding me back and readjust them accordingly. This means having deep conversations with them about what I’ve been going through, and depending on their reactions, limiting interactions with some people or strengthening the bond, or in some cases completely cutting them out (no offense but not everything has to last forever, especially if it’s harmful).

>> Lastly, it took a tremendous amount of courage and curiosity to face my fears, traumas, and insecurities and work through them. But the reward was worth everything for me.

Today, I’m still learning. Still stretching into the unknown. And I don’t think this rewilding process will ever stop. But I’ve reached a state where finally I can enjoy the waves of the never-ending learning process.

It reminds me a lot of learning how to skateboard. I was 30 when I decided to finally get on the board that was collecting dust in the corner of my room. I had been using it as a nightstand for my books, journals, and Himalayan salt lamp. I got it when I was about 23 and always wanted to learn, but I was too ashamed to be seen in public back then, so I put it away. But I know now that it’s never too late to learn something new that you always wanted but never got the chance to before. And the same thinking applies to learning who we are.

I hope you will be inspired to go on your own path or at least taste a bit of your own rewilding.

“Go out in the woods, go out. If you don’t go out in the woods nothing will ever happen and your life will never begin.” ~ Clarissa Pinkola Estés

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