How To Start Rewilding Today

5 easy things you can do right now

Life consists with wildness. The most alive is the wildest. (Henry David Thoreau - Essay on Walking)

Hi lovely reader 👋

First of all, if you're new here, my name is Sophie. I’m on a journey to slow down, reconnect with nature, and live more intentionally. After moving off-grid, I’m sharing lessons on rewilding, simplicity, and finding balance in a busy world, without any of the fluff.

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Now on to the main question of today, how can we start with rewilding ourselves?

Rewilding and reconnecting with nature has been the most important factor for change in my own life.

I’ve gone from overachieving busy professional on the edge of burnout to a somewhat more balanced version of myself who is much more in control. Rewilding has been how I got there.

I did go out to live in a cabin in the woods, because that’s what I wanted to do. However, I don’t believe this is the only way you can reconnect with nature. Too often we hear messages that you should quit your job and embrace #vanlife or isolate yourself in the woods like Thoreau. I never quit my job, and yet I feel more balanced than ever.

What I want everyone to know, more than anything, is that you can have it all: you can have the nice job and you can enjoy life the way you want it. Life isn’t about extremes, it’s about balance and tailoring it exactly for you.

For me, rewilding was an important step in that process. I realised very early on that I needed to re-establish my connection with nature if I ever wanted to find balance in my life.

Rewilding, at its core, is about small, intentional steps that bring you closer to your natural self. Here are some things that worked for me:

1. Take off your shoes

I know, I know, this immediately conjures up images of women in white dresses with flowers in a field. But, bear with me here.

One of the simplest ways to reconnect with nature is to actually feel it directly under your feet, on your skin. Walk barefoot on the grass, the dirt, or even a rocky path or sit down and just touch the earth with your feet. The point is to feel the texture of the earth. Our bodies have been cushioned by shoes for so long that we’ve lost touch—literally—with the ground beneath us. Feeling the soil helps you recalibrate, even in a small way, to the rhythms of the natural world.

I first discovered the benefits of doing this, after reading some research about the benefits of grounding / earthing on inflammation. Yes, you read that right, touching the earth with your bare skin, preferably your feet, helps you heal faster from inflammation. After my surgery I figured it was worth a try. I can’t tell you whether I healed any faster than I normally would have, but I do know I enjoyed those little moments outside. I certainly felt a sense of calm while doing it and I’m fairly certain that it did no harm.

2. Spend Time in Nature

I’m sure I don’t need to explain how important it is to get some sunlight and fresh air on a daily basis. We all know this.

But when it comes to rewilding, we want to go a step further. I’m not talking about a green boring park with a lawn that stretches to the horizon. I’m talking about the forest, a hike in the bush, where nature is still in charge, where the grass grows long, the fallen trees haven’t been cleared away, where the path meanders unpredictably. I’m talking about those spaces where you can truly feel one with nature.

Even better if you can spend a night there, maybe even in a tent, and truly camp out in the wild. But you know what? That’s not even necessary, I fully understand this isn’t possible for everyone, so even if you only have 10 minutes to go and explore a forest area nearby - go for it, it will make a difference.

I realise I’m very lucky to be living right in the bush, surrounded by native trees. It’s as if nature is just allowing us to be here, and we’ve carved out a little spot where we were able to place our tiny house - but at every edge she is reminding us that this is her territory.

3. Bring Nature Indoors

I understand that sometimes it may be really difficult for people to spend time in nature, to go for a hike or go on a camping trip. Not everyone lives close to nature or has the benefit of having a large garden they can potter around in. So this one is for those of you who didn’t retreat to a cabin in the woods.

If that’s you, then have a think about how you can bring nature indoors: get some nice houseplants and dot them all around the house for example. Bringing some green life into your home, makes such a difference. I have a Monstera who started off as a little plant, but is now an actual monster — turning our tiny house into a jungle. I love the amount of life this one plant brings to our small space.

At the moment, I’m growing about 50 little seedlings indoors because we don’t have a greenhouse. Having these little seedlings all around the house brings such an energy to the house. It makes me happy seeing them grow and caring for them.

Even if you don’t have room outside to grow some veggies, you can grow small things inside in pots and containers — this is a great way to bring life and food indoors.

4. Pay Attention to Natural Cycles

This one is definitely something I’ve always felt was a bit ‘out there’, perhaps something more reserved for the women in the white dresses I spoke about in the beginning. I only fully realised what this meant once I started living off the grid, and especially after surviving our first winter.

Recently I’ve started living more in line with the elements, rather than forcing my own schedule on the world around me. It’s allowed me to calm down and slow down so much.

Rewilding is about noticing the subtle changes in nature: the phases of the moon, the changing seasons, the daylights shifts, the changes in temperature and weather. By noticing these natural rhythms and noticing that everything ebbs and flows, everything comes and goes, I started to realise that life is cyclical and seasonal too.

Suddenly I didn’t mind so much anymore that sometimes there are periods for growth and sometimes there are periods for rest — nature works exactly the same way, so why would I force myself to be any different?

Noticing these natural rhythms will allow you to start living more in harmony with the world, rather than fighting against it.

5. Move Like a Human, Not a Robot

If you’re an office worker like me, you’re probably spending a lot of time at your desk. If, like me, your hobby is to write in your free time, you’re only increasing the time that you’re sitting around.

Hunching over a keyboard is really not the most natural way to move your body.
I need frequent massages to deal with the constant pain in neck and shoulders this causes. It’s not great.

Part of rewilding for me has been to learn how to move my body again in a way that’s not stiff and unnatural, moving my body in the way it was designed to move. I’m a big fan of the gym, but I believe it’s important to go outside and move your body in more natural ways, alongside the gym routines.

This is where being out in nature helps as well. If you’re out on one of those “unpredictable paths” I mentioned, you’ll find yourself moving through uneven terrain, maybe even climbing and crawling. Being out and about, walking, gardening, doing stuff around the house — moving in any sort of way is beneficial for you.

You can do this any way you like, but it’s important to move your body in its full range of motion and incorporate movements like squatting and jumping and stretching. If you start now, your future self will thank you.

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One thing that inspired me this week:

Ok, maybe it wasn’t this week that I read this poem for the very first time, but it’s still something I really want to share with all of you — because it’s beautiful, quite possibly one of the most beautiful poems I have ever read. I’ll let it speak for itself: Song of the driftweed by Jessie Mackay

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This is what you can expect from me every week! A long-form article related to a reflection or life lesson on personal growth and one thing that inspired me this week. If you liked this, don’t keep it to yourself; share it with your friends:

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