Two Remarkably Different Ways To Test Your Wildhood Factor

One test might be 3000 miles away and the other might be right in your kitchen.

Do you ever feel like you’ve fallen away from the original reason you started your blog or newsletter?

Yeah…that.

Below is my short intro blurb for Wildhood Wanted:

A weekly kick in the pants to DO SOMETHING about your restless human soul.

Every so often I take a step back and wonder if my posts are completely missing the mark, so this week I’ve decided to feature two women who are doing a better job at this than I am.

Neither of them has any idea I’m about to pull the sheet off and expose their stories just beyond the next fancy divider line.

Both of them are beautifully finding their Wild while exploring their restless human souls.

But first….

Hi. My name is Kristi and I’m a functioning bandwagonist.

I’ll never say highly functioning, however, mediocre functioning still counts.

A community is nothing without its people and hopefully, you actually LIKE your people enough to jump on their bandwagon when you see them forging new pathways to greatness.

If you know someone like this why not do them a solid and give them a boost? Tooting our own horns is fun but rounding up a whole marching band for someone else is priceless.

My first exposé

I’m kicking it off with

Jennifer Esposito

because I have photo evidence of what she’s done.

Jennifer writes The Curiosity Project. Doesn’t that name just scream, “I have no idea what I’m doing but dammit…I’m gonna do it anyway!” as she runs down Main Street with multi-colored streamers flying behind her?

I found her last year in the comments section of another newsletter we both subscribe to. Eventually, we subscribed to each other and so began my journey of watching her be uncomfortable in public.

Jennifer has documented more than one life experiment in her quest for Wildhood. One of those experiments showed up in my mailbox addressed to my dog. Not to me. To my dog. I had just moved into my new home a week before this box arrived - my dog got mail here before I did. 🙄

The parcel was the result of a thing called, “It’s all fun and games…until it’s not.” Jennifer quickly discovered that her dream was a lot more difficult to realize than she’d bargained for but that didn’t stop her from testing it out on a real live human and her dog.

Just look at this!

These are handmade, individually tied, beautifully packaged, and HEALTHY dog treats. Straight from her kitchen to my mailbox across country borders…and 100% customized for my dog. I don’t even know where she stole the photo of Dezi’s face from but the point is that she did.

Hands down one of the coolest dog items I’ve seen.

The first thing that popped into my head was, “This custom box needs to be a high-end, premium-priced subscription box for wealthy people who love their dogs far too much.”

Not that she should exclude average-income people but seriously…she put a LOT of effort into making and packaging this product right down to the glass treat jar. I hope for Jennifer’s sake that launching this idea won’t fall by the wayside because it needs to launch.

While she figures out her premium dog treat business she has put together this amazing little love-child called, They’re Not Just Dogs. You should go check it out. I did and trust me, I smile every single morning because of it.

So,

Jennifer Esposito

, I’m so proud of you! You’re doing the damn thing! And Dezi sends you a special thank-you 😁

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Next up, we have a runaway!

Have you ever felt like this?

Lord knows I have. I’ve even done it a time or two.

Nobody has run further wearing flip-flops on a dirty railroad track than

Alexa Juanita Jordan

though. And she didn’t even tell anyone about it until she got there and went public with her online journal.

From what I’ve heard, New Yorkers are pretty hardcore fans of their city. So, what do you think happens when a New Yorker goes west? Like ALL THE WAY west, as in, she pretty much walked off the western tip of the world three time zones from home.

I knew Alexa was planning to ‘exit stage right’ several months ago and I’d been waiting with bated breath for her story to start. Partly because she’s almost in my time zone now and it’s a super quick flight should I ever wish to take part in her flip-floppery.

Alexa says this in her introduction to A New Yorker Goes West:

“A friend and I used to talk about living in New York from “crib to crypt.” New York or Nowhere. It felt like the only city that mattered.”

I have always been fascinated by pictures of New York. It gives me cringe-worthy anxiety to think about existing in a place as high-density as NYC. Even the left side of this image is giving me low key panic attacks.

What a contrast. I’ll take the right side, thanks. And I’m looking forward to seeing how Alexa adapts from left to right, one Pacific beach wave at a time.

Image from A New Yorker Goes West

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I’ve taken many risks in my life. Some have landed me flat on my face, others turned into the greatest leaps I’ve ever taken, and ALL of them have been exercises in carving out the space I’m meant to occupy in the world.

Courage starts with showing up and letting ourselves be seen.

Bravery never goes out of style.

I want both of these ladies to know I see their courage, I admire their bravery, and I’m here for it!

What’s one of the biggest leaps you’ve taken while searching for your Wildhood?

Are you currently observing someone else discovering their Wild…whatever it may be?