Lately I’ve been thinking about the concept of rewilding. A term often used by gardeners to describe restoring space to its natural state; it’s also a concept that can be applied to a life, and friends, I want to rewild my midlife self!
What the hell is rewilding?
Nice concept, but what the hell does it actually mean? For me, it means re-evaluating how I want to spend my time and live my life. I want to return to my truest self and pay more attention to my own authentic wants. I see rewinding as an exciting opportunity to nourish and grow organically … not as a mum, wife, or career woman. To simply expand as me!
How to start?
I recently spent an afternoon working out how I want to start this process. My list is basically a starter list of things I want and don’t want in life. I say it’s a starter list because I plan on expanding on this list and keeping it flexible.
My goals are to …
- Live a life in balance
- Sleep better
- Swim in the ocean more
- Spend more time in nature
- Shake off convention and cast aside expectations
- Give less fucks about things that don’t matter
- Feed my mind and body with energy, positivity and potential
- Be more present
- Travel more
I don’t want to…
- To be so exhausted by work that I forget to have a life
- Accumulate any more stuff or things
- Mindlessly engage on a phone or tech as real life passes me by
My steps to kickstart…
I’ve started cold water swimming. No longer will ocean swimming be relegated as a summer activity. With the right gear I can swim year-round, through the chill of Melbourne winters and beyond. The cold water is an absolute tonic, my life is better for it; plus I’ve even found a local and likewise minded group of women to swim with.
I’m getting back into the good habit of reading. Months on end in lockdown led to mindless binge watching as a first option for chill out time. While I still love a good series to watch, I now have a good book on the go too. I’m enjoying sitting at the kitchen table in our suntrap kitchen, looking out amongst the greenery, and reading. A simple pleasure all but forgotten as we endured the last couple of chaotic years.
Finding time to meditate. I’m badly out of practice, and it doesn’t always go to plan (cue mental grocery lists or trying to remember grade 3 teacher’s name when I’m meant to be breathing out) but I’m finding the time to practice and enjoying the process.
Finally, while I love the chaos of my work, I don’t love it every day of every week all year every year to the exclusion of all else. I’ve turned my attention more to taking work I enjoy and not sweating over the next project – I’m trying to put the ‘free’ back into freelancing. Let’s see how I go with this one, its a work in progress!
Let’s do it!
I’m shaking up this midlife thing. Throwing off the shackles (real and imagined) and pursuing things that genuinely delight. I’ve earnt this and you have too, so consider this an open invitation – let’s bring on the rewilded version of midlife us.
