“When I’m older, I want to turn the farm into wildlands!” my child proclaimed.
We were in New Zealand and had just visited several wildlife refuges. Each of them left a profound feeling in our hearts of what our world could look like if we humans lived in better harmony with our planet and rewilded places we’ve destroyed. In stark contrast to the denuded grassy pastures that dominated the landscape, the refuges were a rich and complex mix of forest, shrublands and wetlands, full of deep organic soils, a wonderful diversity of native birds and their symphony of songs.
Whatungarongaro te tangata, toitū te whenua
As people disappear from sight, the land remains
Māori proverb
Being in these refuges felt like being in a different world, only they weren’t. They are still our world. If we actively work together to rewild and protect them. My child wants to do this for our family farm in California’s Central Valley.
Our visit to Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula this past summer was an inspiration. There, collaborative efforts between the government and local communities in the past 30+ years have restored forest cover from 21% to 52%. Being steeped in Pura Vida culture also gave us a taste of what it feels like to live in communities that are deeply connected to each other and the natural world. We had no internet access or electricity. We were more relaxed and living in the present moment, enjoying time with each other and the wonderful plants, animals and landscapes around us. We were rewilding our souls, just as the communities are rewilding the lands.
After returning to the US, I have struggled to maintain that calm and connected vibe. I noticed while walking around and pretty much everywhere how so many people have their eyes and/or ears glued to glowing rectangles instead of the marvelous world around us. I quickly got sucked back into the endless dramas of our modern life, attention-draining devices, and imploding social-political systems. I obsessively logged my exercise and food in health apps to get shiny virtual medals and “validation” for these slivers of life that still feel somewhat within my control.
When I zoom out and look at how I’ve been living my life and compare it to how I want to live my life, I can see how I’ve allowed so much of my life to be developed by societal and familial expectations. I’ve become serious, responsible, and high-achieving. I’ve strayed too far away from the wild, free, curious, creative, and outright zany younger person I had been. The view is like seeing the denuded grassy pastures in stark contrast with the lush rewilded lands.
How do we untether ourselves from the expectations, devices and systems that have been imposed upon us?
How do we rewild our souls and reconnect to our true selves?
I have embarked on a journey to rewild my soul and suspect it will take many years. So far, four years in, I know it requires me sitting in and looking at the muddy parts of my life, learning to stop when things are “good enough,” going slower, taking time to just be, reconnecting with childhood dreams, shedding hustle culture, and finding what Pura Vida means for me.
In an additive culture that keeps pushing us to buy more, produce more, do more, I am learning over and over again that I need to focus on subtracting. Each time I add stuff to my plate (my default mode), I need to take a break and figure out what to take off my plate before it overflows. This year I intend to subtract my obsessive health app logging.
As I write this, the Lunar Year of the Fire Horse will soon begin. Fire horses are energetic, fearless, free spirits who need space to move and express themselves. This Fire Horse year may well bring us the bright fire of clarity, along with intense cultural shifts, rebellion and change. I imagine my Fire Dragon zodiac animal galloping with the Fire Horse into a field of infinite possibilities.
My Fire Dragon needs to be free from the things that saddle us down. When I get scared of dropping my pathological work and productivity habits, I have to remind myself that forests naturally have fires to make compost and make room for new growth. This may be how my child rewilds our family farm in a few decades. I also need to set fire to those old, exhausting habits that are no longer needed to make space for healing, curiosity, creativity, and new growth. That is how the seeds within me, dormant for such a long time, break out. This is how I will rewild my soul and reconnect with my true self.
“Nuestra historia es una historia viva, que ha palpitado, resistido y sobrevivido siglos de sacrificios. Ahora resurge con vigor. Las semillas, durante tanto tiempo adormecidas, brotan hoy con certidumbre, no obstante que germinan en un mundo que se caracteriza actualmente por el desconcierto y la imprecisión.”
“Our history is a living history that has throbbed, withstood and survived many centuries of sacrifice. Now it comes forward again with strength. The seeds, dormant for such a long time, break out today with some uncertainty, although they germinate in a world that is at present characterized by confusion and uncertainty.”
-Rigoberta Menchú Tum, K’iche’ Maya leader, 1992 Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech.