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Unleashing Your Free Spirit

By: Natalie Russell

I think I was born with a careful mind and a wild heart. It makes for a troublesome combination. When informing the decisions of my life, spontaneity is a desire but not an actuality.

When I stare at myself in the mirror I see a woman that is well put together. She has a good head on her shoulders. She is safe. When I think of a free spirit… I think of boundlessness. I think of freedom. I think of the spirit being carefree and whimsical in nature.

For the longest time I have obsessed over “becoming” this free spirit. Yet, over the years, I have found that the key is in unbecoming. To unbecome and unlearn all that has been mapped onto us. All the values that are not ours. All the ideals, the opinions, and the beliefs that simply do not fit within our frame. It is much harder than it seems. You first have to pause, build presence, and separate what is yours and what is not.

Ultimately, I believe a free spirit lives within all of us but it is barricaded by fear. Fear that we won’t be able to understand ourselves anymore. We like it when we think we know ourselves. When we think we have ourselves pegged for a certain “type” of person with a certain “type” of personality. But you are not a type. You are “types of people” in a person.

Unleashing the free spirit within you allows you to see that you are more than just one thing. That is when true authenticity and radical honesty is born. You don’t need to put flowers in your hair and walk the world barefoot to be a free spirit. That is fun and games. But if that is your expression of free spirit, go and be wild. However, for the guarded souls out there, it is becoming in tune with your values, what you would regret most if would never get the chance to do it. Because regret is not born from the things we do, but from the things fear stopped us from doing.

Putting off our true selves for a later day creates pain, disappointment, and discomfort for you and others. Don’t save yourself for another day. Ask yourself what living with a free spirit means to you.

Natalie Russell is a professional counselor at Elle Studio + Wellness. She is hosting a workshop for “Unleashing Your Free Spirit” on the evening of Wednesday, July 25th. A series of exercises that will help you get to know your true self. Join us by registering on the workshops page.