To be a wild woman is to have a relationship with fear
As I write my own book (Be More Tree: Wild wisdom for busy women - available to pre-order from all major bookstores!) I’ve been busily reading other books and research on the subject of wildness and wild women. One book I’ve read recently is Philippa Forrester's "Wild Woman: Empowering stories from women who work in nature." It's a great book, and the stories certainly are inspiring, but one sentence in particular stood out for me:
"To have a relationship with the wild is to have a relationship with fear."
I love it when someone manages to inadvertently summarise a huge part of my work so succinctly! Philippa is talking about physical fear here, in the wild 'out there', but how many of us find ourselves inhibited by our fears on a daily basis, in the 'wilderness' of the modern world?!
A huge part of my work is about helping women access more of their inner wildness: their courage and curiosity, their resilience and resourcefulness. Yes, sometimes I do this out in the wild - and this deep work is definitely supercharged - but it feeds through all my work, whether that's 1-1 coaching online, in-person VIP days or my online programmes, and the results are life-changing.
In my book, in a section called 'emotions are not your enemy', I state that "when we stop fearing our emotions, we no longer fear life."
Where do you find you hold yourself back because you're afraid of feeling something? Perhaps it's fear of putting yourself out there because you're afraid of being seen (and feeling shame). Perhaps you're afraid of speaking up for what you want, because you're afraid of being judged or rejected? Perhaps you're afraid of trying something new because you're afraid of fear itself?
Notice what the biggest flavour of fear is for you and ask yourself: 'what would life look like, if I was no longer afraid?'
One client who journeyed through Wild Women's Wisdom, my online programme, last winter, recently reported back:
"Honestly Jen, finding my inner wild woman has really allowed me to trust myself and what I want to be happy in life. I've definitely noticed my fear dial is a lot lower this time round and today's call confirmed that I've got this. Thank you for doing what you do."
When we can learn to be ok with fear, we can embrace pretty much anything. So I invite you to ask yourself: what's one small way you can challenge yourself to 'feel the fear and do it anyway' this week? I'd love to hear what you choose and how it goes!
If you struggle with fear stopping you, or you just want to feel generally braver, more confident and more alive, I'll soon be sharing news about next year's BeWild programme. Be Wild is my year long journey through the seasons combining four wild, seasonal retreats in stunning off-grid venues, online coaching and circle calls, a wolf encounter and my Wild Women's Wisdom online programme to get your started over the winter. If you want to be among the first to hear of exciting updates, information and, most importantly, be the first to get your bum on a seat around the fire, you can join the priority waiting list here.
While you wait for more news of that, see where you can embrace a little more fear in your life…and notice that when you do the thing anyway, more of life opens up for you.