The Turning Feral Journal - Day 2
Exposing Rats in Your Cellar
Day 2: One of the hardest things for me to come to terms with as I began my journey to the wilderness was exposing my own deficiencies as a man. By modern standards I had everything… A nice suburban home, a marriage (which was on the rocks), health, a growing 401k, and job stability. Despite this “success,” I was constantly ignoring a pull in my soul to become more self reliant, and this lack of self reliance was exposed to me day in and day out in my modern living. If I had a broken toilet I would call a plumber without even investigating the issue. If I needed my oil changed I would drive to an auto dealer. If I needed food I would go to a grocery store.
Yet, with everyone one of those “easy button” calls I made to fix my problems, I was actively ignoring my own personal desire for self reliance. Why? If I’m being honest, it was purely to preserve my ego. Every time I had to call that plumber for a simple fix, call the pest control company, or drive my car to a dealer for an oil change I was exposing rats in my own personal cellar… and instead of addressing those “rats,” I would just willfully ignore them. I did this because if I actually acknowledged those rats, it would be an admission that despite all of the “things” I had attained on a path to “success” I had, in actuality, neutered myself as an independent man — If I addressed them, I would have to admit that I was fully reliant on so many other people and systems to continue living the cushy lifestyle I had built for me and my family.
Daily Prompt: As you begin your own journey toward self reliance, what rats are you hiding in your cellar? What things are you ignoring that are preventing you from being where you want to be on the self-reliance spectrum? Is it growing your own food? Physical health and strength? Something else?:
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Motivational Passage:
“On the other hand, surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is? Surely what pops out before the man has time to put on a disguise is the truth? If there are rats in a cellar you are most likely to see them if you go in very suddenly. But the suddenness does not create the rats: it only prevents them from hiding. In the same way that suddenness of the provocation does not make an ill-tempered man; it only shows me what an ill-tempered man I am. The rats are always there in the cellar, but if you go in shouting and noisily they will have taken cover before you switch on the light.”
-CS Lewis
Rewilding Action: Though today’s journal prompt is all about exposing metaphorical rats, one thing that many people deal with whether they live in an urban or rural environment is pests! If you have dealt with bugs or rodents, maybe it’s time you take your own action to control them instead of calling a pest control company. This was something I had to do when I moved to the woods in order to prevent mice from breaking in and chewing up our backup food supply. You can read an article on how to build your own mice catching device here.