The Call of The Wild

The Call of the Wild

When I was a small child I was pretty quiet. As a matter of fact, I was downright shy. “You should have said something”, my parents would say to me after we would finish visiting an extended family member’s home. Of course I would not answer, and would sit quietly in the back seat, during what seemed to be the long drive home. Today I am not shy. I am quiet, soft spoken, a low talker (for all you Seinfeld fan’s) and laid back, but defiantly not shy. I am telling you this because the shy child eventually grew into the wild child. I am sure many of you can relate, and some of you may still hear the call. What I call the call of the wild. The call to do things that can be harmful to us. The urge or craving to do the things that brings a temporary “rush” but can bring long term pain. The inner “call” to go wild.

Many of us have had very wild times in our lives. Rather than struggle with the guilt that may accompany it; or the shame, focus on having survived those turbulent times, both physically and emotionally. Some of us may not have not survived these wild times as well. As a result, some of us are scared, some of us have issues and some of us still crave the wild life. We want what she’s having. What we have never seems to satisfy that craving for excitement, for fun and for adventure. We get bored easy. We are never satisfied, we are never happy. It can be an inner battle that lasts a lifetime.

Some of us would love to continue to party way too much, to drink way too much, to do drugs, to gamble, to have multiple sexual partners, etc, etc, etc. How do you ever finish “sowing your wild oats?” What does that even mean? I don’t even like oats. But how do you get control of the continued or occasional craving to just “go wild?” To “let your hair down?” To “blow off some steam?” One way is to learn how to be happy. Learn how to be happy with the other things in life; the important things; the things that make your heart sing. Happiness really is a choice, it can be that simple. But getting to that place, where you can make that decision, is not always as simple. Oh sure, things like being with the same partner for the rest of your life may sound boring, if not downright frightening to some of us, but....... in your last and final hours on this earth would you rather have a peaceful ending and be looking into the eyes of someone who loves you rather than be alone, because you choose to listen to the call of the wild. You may get the call, but you don’t have to answer.