Answering the Call of the Wild Soul
Highlights
- Hollow Success
- Longing for Nature
- Taking Risks
- Awakening and Adventure
- Living a Balanced Life
- Embracing Authenticity
If you were to ask yourself—What does it mean to answer the call of the Wild Soul?—what thoughts, feelings or images would come to mind?
For me, it conjures an image of myself sitting behind a desk with eight screens, at the height of my “success” as a day trader—at just 26, I thought I had “made it”—university degree in advanced mathematics, apartment in the city and earning over a million dollars a year. Yet, despite these outward projections of success, accomplishment and achievement, I felt hollow, like I hadn’t done enough, like I didn’t belong—and worst still, like I wasn’t making enough money. The more I made, the more the ubiquitous societal goal post kept shifting—now I woke up everyday unsatisfied unless I made ten million. Feeding the hungry ghost, desperately seeking to quell the gnawing emptiness with… money, experiences, substances, a bottomless pit of consumption, further drifting away from my true essence, which I had to discover.
Born, raised and living in big cities, I longed to be in nature often spending many weekends away, but somehow I couldn’t find a way to balance it all. I was torn between the demands of a high-flying career and my longing for the simplicity and peace I found in nature.
I feel the word that best encapsulates this period of my life is Domesticated. The literal meaning “brought under control to provide power, company, or sustenance”. I operated like a human battery, feeding a conformist-consumerist culture that thrived on soul-less, empty shells. Although I had achieved financial freedom and eventually time freedom, I was unable to imagine a life beyond my soul-suppressing career sitting behind screens and living in the fast paced modern world—I was a cog in a machine, efficient and productive, but utterly disconnected from the essence of who I was.
The call of the Wild Soul was always there, I was never taught or paid attention to the sound and rhythm of its knock. A whisper in the wind, coincidences, serendipitous moments, the calmness I felt in nature, the aliveness I experienced in the bush… something within me knew that there was more to life than this endless cycle of striving and achieving.
Without attention or awareness to the sounds, rhythms and feelings of my inner knock from soul, the messages became louder—the breakdown of relationships, physical, mental and emotional issues, nervous system dysregulation, spiritual disconnection, addictions of all sorts, recklessly spending more money as fast as it was coming in, daily suicidal ideation—I could carry on with dysfunctional behaviors but you get the idea—eventually all the knocks came at once and it wasn’t until soul beat down of the front door to finally get my attention.
My awakening came when I woke up and found myself in debilitating life circumstances, almost on my deathbed, creating a karmic mess that would take me years to undo—but I finally responded to that barrage through the front door. I responded and sought a return to my primal essence, The Wild. In its natural state, the wild is independent of human control, thriving in natural conditions with inherent characteristics.
During my period of awakening, I spent most of my days in nature, which became my teacher and healer. Attuning my body clock to the natural rhythms of the world, I woke up to catch the warm rays of the sun, strolled through bushlands and beaches and connected deeply with trees. I would wander and marvel at the intricate details of the natural world; wind became song, trees became beings and together they danced as I observed, a curious onlooker . Though I couldn’t fully understand it then, I knew I felt alive and connected to everything around me. I lived in a sense of wonder, joy and curiosity. Not having any idea what my next steps would be, how I would make money, what I would “do”, I surrendered to the great mystery of life itself.
The path I followed was unconventional. I didn’t wait for “a full body yes”, or a “divine message from the universe”— I began to ask myself, what do I fear the most? What is the worst thing I could possibly think of doing? And I began to follow that path, leaning into my edges, discovering uncharted depths and expanses I had never known.
Now 6 years in, I reside in the heart of the Sacred Valley of Peru, where towering sacred mountains touch the sky and rivers sing songs of ancient times. Here, the call of my wild soul echoes with timeless resonance. I feel at home. Finding joy in the slow pace of life, breathing in the crisp morning air, the sound of rivers on morning walks and “traffic” now a few bulls on the rocky trail up the mountain.
Reconnecting with my wild soul does not mean abandoning modern conveniences or rejecting progress. Rather, it is about finding a balance, about remembering that I am more than my productivity and achievements. It is about creating space in my life for stillness, reflection, and genuine connection. It is about honoring my need for nature and recognizing the sacredness in everyday moments.
By embracing the call of my Wild Soul, I began to heal the disconnection that plagued me for many years living in modernity’s definition of “success”. It’s given me space to rediscover the joy and wonder of simply being alive. The wild soul invited me to slow down, to listen, and to remember that I am an integral part of a vast and beautiful web of life. 6 years into this journey, answering the call of the wild soul, stepping into the wilderness of my own heart, and reclaiming my authentic way of being that was always, my birthright.
