Embracing African

I wrote about how God was shifting my perspective and my heart in relation to embracing Africa and its culture. This post is about how He’s changing my perspective and heart in a personal way, allowing me to embrace myself.

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I wasn’t sure how to start from ground zero and work my way up. But I did remember a talk given at the Mother Earth News Fair by Miles Olsen author of Unlearn, Rewild (how cool is that title?!).

Miles grew up a lot like me: eating sugar and watching T.V. But I didn’t know that when this rustic, long-haired man took stage. I especially didn’t suspect that when he was starting a fire using two pieces of wood and a small rope. Nope. Didn’t cross my mind.

As passionate as I am about learning about the Earth, how to garden, self-reliant skills, etc – I feel worlds away from competence in those areas. I’m left-brained and a recovering perfectionist — I loved the meaningfulness and the usefulness, but turning it into a reality for me seemed like an insurmountable challenge. What was I thinking? Thankfully, Miles’ talk allowed me to walk through similar emotions and doubts by way of his narrative. I was able to explore it, learn from it, and feel encouraged without having to join him on an isolated island outside of Alaska for 3 months right out of high school.

The major take away I got from his speech was his encouragement to not be overwhelmed by the big picture but instead to allow small mental shifts to take you there gradually, . . . eventually. That advice, from a guy like Miles (someone I could relate to, and yet is altogether different from me) has carried me through Autumn’s 1st few months, a cross-country move, and establishing a homestead now with Nate.

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Small mental shifts. That’s how I’m undoing 25 years of *not* embracing myself.