Free in the Wild
I’m an artist. I’m a playful, emotional, questioning, curious, reactive, lover of the world and of all creativity. My favorite thing is working together in a group to create this external force and being that would trump anything that any of us could have done alone. Nothing fuels me more than when I’m creating and all of a sudden my muses take over, twirling my hand this way and that, dancing on the tip of my tongue, or moving my normally sluggish feet to the beat of a song. I love living in my creativity and feel the most joyous and fulfilled when I’m here; however, my normal LA life, filled with the everyday hustle of my acting career, almost completely suffocates my creativity.
(Pan to my brain)
Succinctly put, the left-brain is our logical, problem-solving side, and the right-brain is our creative side; they’re our Aristotelian white and black horses of reason vs. passion, constantly pulling us in different directions. At this moment, I don’t know how to live in both. I find myself, over the course of weeks or months, riding that little seesaw in my brain and switching between the two sides; I accomplish and prioritize very different things. When I relinquish control to my left-brain, aka the CEO of Kate Incorporated, she gets stuff done. She is thunderstorms or wildfire, consuming everything in her path. BUT, and a BIG BUT, she is not creative in the slightest. So when she takes over, I can’t reach my deep rivers for acting, I can’t write anything that isn’t tied to marketing, and I am not completely present when I’m with others, which I constantly feel guilty about. Worst of all, I tend to feel disconnected from spirit, from life, and from God. I love and hate that side of me; she is the mover and the shaker, but she also is all business.
It’s easy to look at my acting career and assume that it is purely a creative path-it is to a certain extent-but there is so much business and networking involved. I become frustrated when I find myself trapped by my CEO, left-brain. My life in the city is typically not conducive to my creativity.
To “get weird,” as I call the process of reconnecting to my creativity, I escape to the Southern Californian mountains to hike, I take long drives blasting my music and singing, I attend too many concerts, and I go to my beloved Wildlife Waystation to volunteer with wild and exotic animals; I get outside.
(Pan to The Bush)
For the past three weeks, here in South Africa, I’ve been getting weird and weirder. Privilegedly trapped (yes, I made up a word) in the bush, my creativity is perfectly gushing out of me. I’m writing, I’m filming, and I’m even making up songs! Oh, boy! I feel so free and present.
Science supports that the African continent is the birthplace of humankind; we were created here. I am so aware of this continent’s emphasis on creativity and it has manifested itself deep within my spirit. I am alive and creating!
But, the most wonderful thing of all, is that I am also “getting stuff done.” This internship focuses on raising awareness via social media, so we are required to broadcast our research and personal experiences multiple times a day. We even have our own hashtags! #howdoesitgetbetterthanthis? I am experiencing the perfect marriage of “her” and my creativity.
Here in the bush, I feel fulfilled and joyful when I go to sleep at night. This normally is a rare feeling for me, as I always feel like I could do more, and reach further. But here, living in this seed of creativity and working for animal conservation, for life, I feel fulfilled.
Nature reigns as my special place. Sure, I can drink kale smoothies, go to indie concerts, and actually dress up and put on makeup in a city, but I feel far more alive out in nature, away from everything man-made and deeply immersed in everything that God made.
So, get outside! Connect with animals. Hike a mountain. Raft down a river. Whatever you love. It is medicine and the best way to refresh your spirit.
I feel remarkably blessed to be here, to be a member of this talented and inspiring team, and to have my “weird” running rampant in the wild with the lions and wildebeest alike.
Roar, Kate Bowen