Softness as Resistance: Letting Yourself Be Tender in a Demanding World

Why your tenderness might be the most grounded and wild thing you offer this season

Dearest Reader,

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

Within this series, you will 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. 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.

---

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

---

Right this second we are six hours in, traveling down the road in chaos towards home after a two-week summer vacation.

The kids are restless. My husband is restless. I am restless. The dog is asleep.

Traveling hours across states towards a vacation is very different than traveling hours across states away (and done) from vacation. It feels like a sad end—one we knew was inevitable, but is painful nonetheless.

And what makes it extra painful?

The place we traveled to was our soul-place. A place that sang to our hearts. One where we used to live, before our life came crashing down. Everything from the mountain air filled with the scent of evergreens to the crashing diamond-clear waters and towering earth, weaves a story—a reminder of times that felt like ours. Dreams.

Driving away feels like leaving those dreams miles behind us.

And all this adds up to another inevitable: the post-vacation crash.

I already feel my body tensing from the feelings—from the chaos—from the overstimulations. From the dreams and goodness left behind. Distancing myself from my husband—my children. Hardening into a state of resistance—of survival—of doing.

But what would it look like if amidst the summer vacations and post-trips, you and I allowed for those feelings—the softness to fade into view? To seep out of us with honesty?

What if we allowed ourselves grace? Allowed ourselves softness amidst the swirl of emotions instead of a coat-of-armor. One ready to do battle as we take on “all the things”?

Photo by Guilherme Caetano on Unsplash

The Myth of “High Performance” Womanhood—especially in light of a busy season

Softness isn’t laziness. It’s not fragility. It’s wisdom.