A Somatic Recalibration For Summer Overwhelm

Finding peace not just in your mind—but in your body and soul

Dearest Reader,

Welcome to Grounded & Wild: Our 8-Week Summer Series.

This is the beginning of our series together for the summer, where you might find recalibration—an exhale for the overwhelm, a place you can come for respite and renewal amidst the chaos of it all through grounding and connection.

Summer gets busy, so you are welcome to drop in anytime—wherever you are at and whatever you are facing.

Click here to join. It’s just $5 a month or $10 total to be a part of—and have complete access to—the whole series this summer. You will also gain full access to your very own growing Wildflowers Grow private bookshelf here to read whenever you’d like.

Wishing you love and light, no matter where your journey takes you this season,

Alice Wild

P.S. Please note, Thursday posts are still completely FREE. So, if you are at a place where you simply desire to enjoy free content in your inbox or on the Substack app, worry not—there’s a free preview below and a free post coming to you in two days.

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Click to listen to a preview of this post’s audio voiceover:

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I sat in a mountain stream today, watching my kids play in the bubbling water with a genuine smile on my face.

My husband, knee-deep in mud, steadied our six-year-old as she wobbled against the pull of the current. He looked up at me, and I wonder what he saw—me perched on the edge of the old wooden bridge, toes drifting in the rush of crystal-clear water, the mountains rising behind me like a memory too beautiful to hold.

“Well, are you feeling joy now?” he asked, his eyes glinting in the mountain light—so vivid up here it felt like the air itself was lit from within.

I smiled, genuinely. “Yes. It only took a week, didn’t it?”

He laughed, nodding as our daughter splashed his face, her joy spilling over—wide and wild like the stream itself.

A week to detox the stress and overwhelm of our life. And finally, I feel my shoulders unstiffening—the pain in my hip going away, the hives fading, my mind resting.

It has felt like a soul-deep exhale.

I’ve been asking myself today, “Why did it take so long to feel this way?” And “How do I carry this home with me?” In six days, we pack up and make the drive back into chaos. In six days we go back to living our jam-packed life—the chaos of what we live in and the overwhelm of the season: play dates, camps, family obligations and so much more.

Not even to mention, the simple overwhelm of how we are currently living—in a place with so much trauma memory for me. In a place brimming with challenges—from strained family ties to financial stress and the absolute ache of disconnection.

I’m sure you can relate to so much of this. Mental health and healing in the midst of summer chaos can threaten to undo so many of us.

So how do we take on slow living in the midst of the reality of our lives?

How do we feel a kind of rest, our bodies can accept—even when we have been through so much and will go through so much more?