I stopped drinking, I improved my fitness, and I lost many friendships I was examining my life and it wasn’t comfortable or clean. The fact that I was happier than ever, but still finding myself in conflict was deeply depressing. I isolated and went into a very dark headspace. My desperation for other people to affirm me was unbearable. To make things worse, I would find myself believing anything anyone said about me – almost like I had lost my own truth. I could feel a tug calling me to the wild within me.

I became curious about who I was underneath the opinions and stories of others I had carried around for years. In an attempt to coax my true wild nature out of hiding, I went searching. I studied books like, “Heart Minded,” by Sarah Blondin and “Women Who Run With The Wolves,” by Clarissa Pinkola Estés; I committed time to my creative writing and painting; I sought help from professional therapists to address my negative core beliefs; I found connection in nature; I practiced yoga and self-Reiki on my heart space; and I wrote about the slow unravel of my façade. All this effort provided me information and insight that led back to my body, mind, and spirit defined by my own terms. I dare you to unravel, too.