The Wildist: The First Steps To Finding Your Wild Side
By
8 months ago
Our new editor-at-wild Fee Drummond celebrates the importance of the tribe
Drawing on her passion for living well and living wild, in our new column The Wildist, C&TH‘s editor-at-wild Fee Drummond will be sharing her ‘wild hacks’, adventures, and valuable tips on how to harness the outdoors as a way of wellbeing in everyday life.
Welcome To The Wildist
‘The Wildist’ – the name of this new column, which will explore a return to old ways that can nurture and feed our souls, while restoring our fragile biochemistry – could imply a solitary spirit; as though being wild was about being alone rather like the image of the howling wolf in front of the moon. But it’s almost entirely the opposite. It is about freeing a magnetic aliveness and being open to connection. It is a form of togetherness, of finding your place within your ‘tribe’.
Nowadays, we lack the historical social structure of living within the security of a tribe, where everyone has a role, a sense of unconditional belonging, shared knowledge and aligned values. And where trusted peers, loyal-to-the-death friends, and a permanent community would surround you to support, share and hand down skills and knowledge about the intricate daily needs for human survival.
Life today mostly consists of separated boxes and small units of co-dependency, far from friends, family and a like-minded cohort, which makes it almost impossible to feel that we are surviving, let alone thriving.
I grew up travelling, having adventures lost in nature, off-grid exploring and surviving – experiences that have shaped me. But it has taken a lifetime of battling conformity to learn to respect the parts of me that yearn to be wild, and which need daily sustenance so that I can be the best version of myself.
Over the past ten years therefore, I have been exploring the science behind natural wellness. I try to listen to my gut instinct and lean towards ‘wild’ choices in everything from food, medicine and travel to parenting and lifestyle. As a mother of three, I have battled disease, trauma, and long-term illnesses, using food as medicine, and rejecting convention. Tuning into the call of nature, noticing where it leads me and better understanding why it is good for me, has become a habit.
In this column, I will be exploring what it is to live a luxe, barefoot, intelligent, nature-based, wild life in today’s world. I hope you’ll find your wild side with me.
Fee’s Wild Hacks
ABSORB
Water needs to contain minerals for your body to absorb it. If water is filtered of all nutrients or minerals, you are merely ‘flushing’, and not ‘absorbing’ any minerals. I sprinkle salt flakes – I use Celtic Sea Salt – under my tongue before drinking water.
GLOW
We lack collagen in the foods we eat, and need more of it to keep fluid, and youthful. What you put on the inside, glows on the outside. Add one table spoon to your latte.
OSSA Organic Grass Fed Organic Collagen Peptides, £32
STEEP
Choose tea leaves instead of teabags, as they contain plastic and chemicals that you then ingest. Plus, taking time to slow down while waiting for a real brew, is a form of mindfulness in itself.
TeaPigs Loose Tea Subscriptions, from £1
Featured image: Fee Drummond x FUJIFILM
