Living Wilder Helped Me Heal

In 2011, I founded an NGO in Tanzania that trained local recent graduates to be grassroots community leaders.  I threw myself into that project with everything I had, and for years I absolutely adored it. Building an organization made me feel completely alive.

But I was burning out. I was working constantly, consuming too much coffee and sugar, and pushing my body to the max to get through it all. In late 2015, we had to close. And almost immediately, my health fell off a cliff. My adrenal glands were spent. I had anxiety attacks and debilitating insomnia. I’d had a parasite months before and developed complicated digestive issues. I was completely depleted. Without the energy to rebuild a new career or do anything that made me feel like myself, I fell into a deep depression.

Those were very trying times, but during that period, I did manage to embark on two new paths: herbalism and coaching. I studied for 2 years at the Botanologos School of Herbal Studies and for a year and a half with CTI.

Some major shifts happened for me while sick, studying herbs, and becoming a coach that planted the seeds for Wilder and my new mission.

Learning about the magic of the plant kingdom cracked something open inside me. I learned a lot in my training, but every new thing I learned felt like a kind of remembering - déja vu in my cells, regaining knowledge hidden beneath the crust of industrialized life. I came home to myself as a human animal.

As I was experiencing this evolutionary homecoming, I was also learning Traditional Chinese Medicine 5-Phase theory, which connects organ systems in the body to elements in nature and seasons of the year. It’s an amazingly holistic system that treats the total human - mind, body, and spirit.

To heal myself, I began connecting my body and my life to the cycles of the 5 elements. Suddenly everything felt easier. It unlocked pools of energy and calm that I didn’t know I had. There wasn’t so much to plan and analyze. Organizing my time was more organic and less arbitrary. I was a better friend, partner, and entrepreneur. I could contribute more to the world and and to my loved ones.

When I became a coach, I suddenly had all kinds of practical tools to help people create more fulfilling lives. And I realized that I could use coaching tools to help people rediscover their ancient, animal selves too. Tapping into natural cycles had improved my life in very practical ways. Connecting with nature made me feel happier, healthier, more energetic, more grounded, and more alive. I thought, what would the world be like if more people felt that way, especially people who are working hard to improve the world? That’s how Wilder was born.

I thought back to my life in 2015, running myself ragged in the name of a good cause. I thought of all the big-hearted, passionate people out there doing good work in the world, and burning themselves out until they can’t do the Work anymore. What happens to our society when everyone is so overextended, anxious, and depressed? What kind of parents are we? What type of community leaders? How do we show up for our spouses, clients, or selves when we’re in a constant state of fight-or-flight?

I created Wilder to help people live in deeper connection with the Earth by aligning their bodies, lives, and personal growth to the cycles of nature. To help us find a new way to be, work, and engage with ourselves and the world. To help us remember who we truly are and live life with a little (or a lot) more flow.

If we can rediscover our deep, innate connection to nature and everything she makes possible, we can all come back to ourselves and create a world that is healthier, happier, and more sustainable. That’s my mission.