“…it is good to make a halfway place, a way station, a considered place after one escapes famine. It is not too much to take one year, two years, to assess one’s wounds, seek guidance, apply the medicines, consider the future. A year or two is scant time. The feral woman is a woman making her way back. She is learning to wake up, pay attention, stop being naive, uninformed. She takes her life in her own hands. To re-learn the deep feminine instincts, it is vital to see how they were decommissioned to begin with.
Whether the injuries be to your art, words, lifestyles, thoughts, or ideas, and if you have knitted yourself up into a many-sleeved sweater, cut through the tangle now and get on with it. Beyond desire and wishing, beyond the carefully reasoned methods we love to talk and scheme over, there is a simple door waiting for us to walk through. On the other side are new feet. Go there. Crawl there if need be…just do it…
If our wild nature has been wounded by something, we refuse to lie down to die. We refuse to normalize the wound. We call up our instincts and do what we have to do…” Clarissa Pinkola-Estes, Ph.D.
This is true for the men, too. Of course.
J. Ruth Kelly 
Thank you for the caveat at the end. I was about to ask you how this could be applied to the “feral” man.
I was feeling a tad “gender-centrized” by the end of the first paragraph.
This is akin to what I have called just recently, “decompressing.” When trying to shift from extreme to the other in social existence it may be highly advisable to take the time to allow for Nitrogen Narcosis. It is possible to overstress all systems in the holistic schemata.
The younger you are the better for reasons of physical endurance capabilities as well as lighter previous emotional/spiritual/experiential “baggage.”
e.g., I bounce back slower now than 30 years ago. res ipsa loquitur.
Hi Ruth, I love this section from Estes book – I re-read her book like it is my Bible and indeed it is. Now what? I’ve asked myself that a million times it seems, my whole life over. I think the answer really is in the doing. To stop overthinking, to stop overplanning, to stop overasessing and as she says “Get on with it.” I rec’d a huge source of inspiration from a rather unlikely source a few years, when I too, was stumped, full of frustration, and crying way too much. He said “Just start.” and “Just take one step. When you do that the second step is revealed, and then the third, the fourth, and so on. But you have to start. So just start.” So I did. My whole life changed as a result. There are days when I think of that simple but profound advice to get me moving again. Another friend told me “think of these times of confusion and despair as temporary and a starting off point.” I had been feeling like being stuck was a final sentencing but he reminded me it was merely a plateau. These things all take time…and much patience. That is why I say “…take time to untangle…” it is ok if it takes a while. Sending you much love and light…xoxo
Kendra…so lovely to see you here. Thank you for this encouragement. My taking that step to go to school has been a big leap. And it’s requiring that I reassess much as a result of the clarity and the changes wrought in me from this leap. So, much untangled from my past. And now is another deal. Some days, like this morning, I feel like I have been steamrolled and told to dance. And guess what? I gotta dance. So exhausted lately. But the next few days will allow some recharge time. And it is time, time to ascertain what is truly doable at this point and what I will have to shelve for later. I want to re-write a book I lost when the pc melted. And. And. It’s a bit much, all of it!
Your kind words here are such a balm. Thank you!!!! Big hugs…
I was just sitting here thinking I need to get a kick in the pants…give up on vicarious living. Sure wish that inner voice would turn up the volume and send some real guidance. I’ve unraveled most of the sweater, what now?
sister. me too. now what? i’m in the same damn boat and you caught me hurling chunks of frustration. (my term for cathartic tears) soo stumped. a sense of being impaired, of needing to make a move and a big one and not sure how/what in particular is best first and. so many layers to consider. it’s not always “simple.” “just do it…” ? which it?! which one first?! and i take on more than i should. and. and. i’ve been in the way station a while now. time to move…