If you know me in real life, I wrote you a letter.
Wylde & Free is where I write and work out the lessons I’m learning about how to live life well, a life full of purpose, joy and connection, even when there is also suffering and sadness. I believe, or at least want to believe, that life can be rich with deep relationships, full of the kind of freedom that comes from a healed and whole heart, sustainable – for us and individuals as well as for the earth – and soaked in the beauty of this wild, gorgeous planet.
I write to forge a path towards that kind of life, to create a space for reflection in my own life and to share what I’m learning along the way. Although really, I write because I’m a writer, I think – i.e. one of those people that will always find something to write about, no matter what is happening!
I also write practical posts sometimes on things I’ve learned during various adventures – traveling and hiking – that might be useful for people doing a similar route.
About Posts on Wylde & Free
I’m writing here more for myself than for anyone else, nowadays, but I nonetheless would love to hear your comments and feedback as it is part of what helps me learn and reflect. Different perspectives are so valuable, and I think writing in public is a really useful exercise for honing one’s thinking and writing skills.
It’s pretty interesting to look back on old posts and see how I’ve changed. I think sometimes we forget, when we read stuff on the internet, that they were written by someone who is changing and growing. Human beings are not static. Thankfully, I think there are few enough of you here reading that most of you know me personally, and give a lot of grace in the little bits of my own ‘becoming’ that you witness.
I think of my writing here as true though you may like to think of it as based on a true story. I draw a lot on my own experiences and on the experiences of those I’ve known and walked with, though names, of course, may be changed. I write honestly, and I reserve the right to fictionalise. Stories may be merged, I may insert imagined details or examples, and conversations or thoughts may be expressed a little differently from how they happened in order to really express the sense or emotion behind them. I have drunk deeply from the wells of many wise and wonderful people, books and organisations along my way, so if I can remember where I learned something – and can tell you without breaking confidentiality – then I will give credit where it’s due.
About Rachel Hughes Shah
I’m an anthropologist which is great fun because I’m fascinated by both the diversity and similarities across humanity, i.e. exactly what anthropologists study. As a researcher I get to delve deep into amazingly innovative and creative ways of studying this and, sometimes, I get to do the ‘finding stuff out’ bit for myself which is complex and messy and very, very nuanced and also phenomenally cool. I think a lot, travel a lot (for work and for fun), adventure a lot, and hang out with my friends and family as much as I can. I figure stuff out by thinking out loud, so writing is a helpful way of processing some of my personal musings on this strange, heartbreaking and beautiful world we all live in.
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