Call Of The Wild

Nature made me shed my fear.

- Paulette Agnew

It had been more than a week since I’d spoken to my mum Cynthia. I’d just spent seven days on a survival course with no access to the outside world. 

The tone of Mum’s voice told me something was wrong. 

‘It’s Dave,’ she said. ‘He fell off a mountain and died.’ 

Through my intense grief, a thought shot into my head. That could have been me.

Protected

You see, I was supposed to join my friends Dave and Matt on a climbing expedition in the Alps.

But I’d felt compelled to do a survival course instead.

It had helped me survive in more ways than one.

I’d always felt protected by Spirit and felt I’d been guided away from the dangerous lessons expedition. Luckily, Matt had fallen into snow.

To deal with my grief, I went walking in the mountains for two days.

I bathed in streams, my tears mixing with the water.

Soul

Since I was a baby, being out in nature was where I felt most comfortable.

I grew up in the Lake District and amid the mountains of Scotland.

Mum was rock climbing until she was six months pregnant with me, and took me walking in the mountains two weeks after I was born.

But, after graduating with a degree in biochemistry, my dad Tom encouraged me to get a ‘proper job’, which involved embracing city life.