Wild Trails Wales Guide: Simple ways to re-wild yourself outdoors

A few years ago I was struggling with everyday life, lacking energy, feeling physically and mentally weak and it’s fair to say I’d lost my spark. On paper, I had a healthy lifestyle, I ate well, exercised and enjoyed my job. Something was just off.

I started to read a lot, to look for a way to get myself back on track and find the fun and joy for life again. Everything I read that struck a chord with me talked about the mismatch between our modern lives and our evolution as humans. I’m no scientist but the premise of it was that our comfortable environments and busy pace of life was out of step with our physical evolution as humans. It’s only in the last couple of hundred years or so that we’ve developed comforts such as sofas, central heating, hot running water, supermarket shelves stuffed full of food, cars, buses and trains. Before that we would have been subject to much more physical stress. In other words, we are now living too comfortably. So much so that our back aches if we sleep on the wrong kind of mattress. We have become detached from our place in nature; we now think of it as separate to us, rather than recognising ourselves as part of nature.

The answer, as far as I gathered, was to push myself outside of my comfort zone, and reconnect with nature. And that’s what I’ve spent the last few years doing. I put myself through physically uncomfortable experiences like sleeping in a tent on a freezing mountain in the winter, swimming in icy cold lakes, making myself walk ridges with a crippling fear of heights, and walking alone in the dark.

Slowly at first then almost overwhelmingly, I’ve felt an amazing transformation. I stopped feeling uncomfortable in these situations and was able to tolerate them more each time. Finally, I began looking forward to them - the colder the camp or icier the lake the better! Daily life has not only become comfortable again but feels luxurious - a hot shower after a bracing February swim in the sea, or a warm bed after a night out in the mountains have become special.

At the same time, I’ve rediscovered a childlike appreciation of nature, and feel connected to nature in a way I didn’t before. I measure time by the moon cycles, the tides, sunset and sunrise, spring flowers and autumn leaves. Of course I still live a very ordinary life with a full time job and daily school run and bills to pay, but my new found resilience has given me capacity to cope with the modern stress that comes my way. And life is fun again!

I wanted to share a few really simple ways to push your comfort zone boundaries a little. It doesn’t have to mean plunging yourself straight into an icy lake (though I recommend building up to that!).

Here are some easy ways to reconnect with your wild self outdoors.

Sleep Outside

I won’t pretend, I’m yet to have a fully comfortable and good night’s sleep when wild camping. That was the whole idea though. The point is to sleep in the wild; somewhere quiet, with no noise or light pollution, with good exposure to the elements. To listen to the wind whistling through the grass or a mountain stream trickling, going to bed under the stars and waking up to a sunrise. Then packing up and heading home for a warm dinner and hot shower.

Wild food

Once upon a time all of our food came from the wild. Way before factories and palm oil plantations humans would gather and hunt their food. Now I’m a fan of a nice coffee and chocolate cake as much as the next person, and there aren’t any coffee plants growing in the wilds of Wales, but it is very satisfying to find and collect food that you can eat from the wild. It also helps connect you with the rhythms of nature so you’ll notice what time of year certain plants grow. Folk lore says that whatever there is in abundance is what we need for our health, i.e. berries in the autumn provide vitamin c to help us ward off winter colds. Start simple with easily identifiable foods - blackberries, hazelnuts, nettles, and be sure to forage responsibly - don’t pick more than you will use, and never deplete an area. I’ve even ventured into making my own ‘coffee’ from dandelion, just need to find a wild welsh alternative to chocolate now…

Swim in wild water

‘Wild swimming’ has become hugely popular in the last few years as people are rediscovering the joys and benefits of swimming in natural water. With hot showers and chlorinated swimming pools, swimming and washing in natural water sources has become unnecessary, and most of us swim in the sea or lakes for the pure joy of it. There are widely reported benefits but don’t overthink it, it’s just water after all. Do be safe though, build up slowly, don’t go out of depth if you’re alone and make sure you are aware of tides and currents. Start in the summer months and for maximum life joy see if you can dip through the winter. Take care not to disturb wildlife too, and don’t wear any creams, make-up, hair products, fake tan or deodorant in wild water as it will upset the delicate the delicate balance of the ecosystem.

Go barefoot

I began my adult journey with barefoot walking after having children. After carrying big twins my hips and knees were all out of joint and I read about barefoot footwear (bit of a contradiction in terms there) as a way to help joints recover their natural movement. It took a couple of years to build up to covering any distance barefoot but now I can walk up to 8 miles completely barefoot and have a pair of barefoot hiking boots to protect my feet on mountain or rocky coast path terrain. When winter comes and I have to constrict my feet into stiff winter boots for walking I’m not happy. The purported benefits are greater sensory feedback and overall more effective natural movement, and personally I’m won over with the feeling of being connected to the earth and feeling the ground beneath my feet.

Be observative

Do you know when elderflower appears, what time of year you’re likely to see seal pups on the coast, or when we typically get our first snow on the hills? Do you know what time of the month the tide goes out furthest and comes in quickly? Being curious and noticing these things completely enriches your time spent outdoors and can help plan amazing wildlife watching experiences, as well as give you a way to measure time beyond the hectic schedules of work and commerce-driven holidays.