Or: How a fidgety soul found her way from wanting to escape to creating a camp for the spirit
Seven years ago—September 12, 2017, to be exact—I published my first post on SoulFire Adventures. It was a #TruthTuesday post titled “I feel like running away.”
I wrote about that familiar feeling that hits every nine months or so, when my soul gets fidgety like a wild horse and wants to just run. I’d drive by the RV lot with yearning, fantasizing about taking my son and exploring for a year, seeing all the national parks, traveling the open road—avoiding life issues like autism, aging dogs, aging grandparents, a marriage ending.
I was drowning in stress and dreaming of escape.
But here’s what I wrote at the end of that post, words that would become prophetic: “The ultimate goal is to allow my soul and my son’s soul to roam a little… to have one moment seeing the vast sky and being grateful. To just breathe… breathe… breathe.”
I didn’t know it then, but that post and the admission of wanting to run away was actually the first step toward running toward something.
The Beginning: Finding My SoulFire
SoulFire Adventures began as my personal blog about being present and in the moment, about working to keep the fire within me burning. I was navigating some of the hardest seasons of my life: single parenting a young child on the autism spectrum, dealing with loss and transition, feeling like I was barely keeping my head above water—a feeling I now name and explain as “Deep Soul Fatigue.”
I needed a place to be honest. A place to write down hopes and bucket lists. A place to share some of my creativity—whole Aprils of poetry, years of Wallpaper Wednesdays, experiments and explorations. A place to share me in tiny bits as I figured myself out along with my whys and true paths I wanted to go down both literally and figuratively.
So I started writing #TruthTuesday posts sharing about what was really going on. Not the highlight reel. Not the curated versions.
And did other people respond? No. Women didn’t really show up. I’ve been primarily talking to myself these many years.
And honestly, I did it on purpose. I have 25-plus years of experience as a marketing professional. I know exactly what I’m supposed to do—share on social media, build the audience, turn the spotlight on myself. But I couldn’t. Or wouldn’t. I wrote for myself mainly. If someone found a post through SEO or a blog party I joined, cool. But otherwise? I was hiding in plain sight… and I preferred it that way.
But a few women did find their way here. They wrote to say “me too.” They shared their own stories. And those quiet connections mattered more than I realized at the time. They kept my own fire burning when I couldn’t yet share it loudly.
I realize now that I was experiencing the exact thing I now help other women navigate: the terror of being seen, the fear that sharing my brilliance would invite the world to stomp out my SoulFire. So I kept the fire small. I tended it quietly. I wrote my truth but whispered it into the void.
I wasn’t ready then. But I’m working on it now.
The Evolution
A blog for my personal processing space was too small a container for what I could see as possible. And my ideas kept growing, some of the things I was doing in life were realy helping me feel better, do better. I began developing a philosophy, I started working on book outlines. I wanted Camp Wild Spirit.
With Camp Wild Spirit, I want to create a community of SoulFire Seekers—those of us learning to run toward ourselves, toward authenticity, toward our gifts, toward lives that feel true even when they feel really friggin’ hard.
Camp Wild Spirit is still SoulFire Adventures—I’m still seeking, still exploring, still on the journey. This is a gathering place. A campfire circle where we can be honest about our struggles and celebrate our small victories. Where we can encourage each other to keep going, to try again, to believe in ourselves.
- Camp: A gathering place, a community, a safe haven where we can be ourselves
- Wild: That fidgety soul that refuses to be tamed, that yearns for authenticity and freedom
- Spirit: The divine spark within us, the SoulFire that keeps us going
So come gather around the fire, hear our stories, share your own, and let’s remember who we are after we shed all these roles and responsibilities.
Welcome to Camp
If you’re new here: Welcome to Camp Wild Spirit. Join me at the fire.
What I offer is my lived experience, my ideas and tips, and a place to breathe.
You’re safe here to be exactly who you are—fidgety soul, big dreams, real struggles, and all.
If you’ve been here since the beginning, following along through the SoulFire Adventures years: Thank you. Thank you for being part of this journey, for sharing your stories, for keeping your own SoulFires burning and helping others do the same. This new space, Camp Wild Spirit, is for you too.
This is where SoulFire Seekers gather. The campfire’s warm. The night sky is vast. And we’re all here together, breathing… breathing… breathing.
What brought you to this space? I’d love to hear your story in the comments.