Through the Wilderness, Brad Orsted

This one was a heartbreaker. The author’s fifteen-month-old daughter died mysteriously while at the home of his Mother. Understandably, he completely loses it… and the downward spiral continues for years. He seeks solace in drugs and alcohol, which we know, doesn’t work, plans his suicide, and then is saved by the Wilderness in and around Yellowstone. He begins spending his time around apex predators and learns to never show fear and to own your own space. He learned to love himself again. He realized everything was already stored inside himself. The suffering had woken it up. You learn, in his case, that one must go without to go within… a sort of autogenous state of self-transcendence. He learned the gift of the grizzly. To be whole and fully aware of not only yourself but your surroundings and your natural place in the order of things. He could have easily burnt himself down to the ground, and we’d all understand. The pain of his loss is tough for any person to even think of, let alone experience. But he is healing. And he will always be healing, and I’m thankful he has Mother Nature there with him.