15/07/2025
Unforesting…
A season that occurs after a life-altering event.
It comes after you’ve exited the survival forest – the one that kept you alive when everything else fell apart.
Unforesting is the slow, tender process of finding your way back to yourself.
Not your old self. That self is gone.
But a new, as-yet-unknown self.
A becoming.
It’s a journey through the long-forgotten debris of who you were and what you’ve endured.
It’s a season of truth. Of rediscovery. Of raw, hard-fought freedom.
It requires grieving.
Raging.
Unraveling.
Reinventing.
Growing.
Healing.
Becoming.
To Unforest, you must find the courage to face the tsunami of emotions head-on -
To acknowledge every single one without judgment.
No suppressing. No sweeping aside.
Just feel.
Feel. It. All.
Because pain is an inevitable requirement of rebirth…
My Unforesting has begun.
You see, in the thick of it, forest walking is about surviving. Actually it’s more like forest charging.
One foot in front of the other. Get through.
But once the forest ends, you don’t automatically step into the light.
There’s a whole process that still needs to happen…
Unforesting must occur.
Yesterday, I realized just how much grief this season holds.
Grief for so many things.
And there have been tears.
I’m letting them fall as soul-comforters.
This morning, I picked up a book by Jon Kabat-Zin (one I bought a few weeks ago) and flipped to a random page.
It read:
“Work at allowing more things to unfold in your life without forcing them to happen and without rejecting the ones that don’t fit your idea of what ‘should’ be happening. See whether you can sense the spaces through which you might move with no effort.”
Effortless moving through spaces…
Without expectation.
That’s exactly what I did.
I faced the wave. I allowed myself to fall apart.
To be soothed by a deeply in-tune, ADHD border collie pup.
And then-
I got up.
Off the floor. Literally and figuratively.
And did what needed doing.
Productive. Grounded. Alive.
Throughout the day, I rode the waves as they came. In the car. Over the sink. On that floor.
No forcing. No controlling.
Just noticing. Accepting.
My day held ALL the emotions.
I let them in.
Didn’t push them away.
Didn’t label them as wrong.
I saw them for what they were -
Wise messengers.
Carrying truth.
Releasing all that’s been trapped in the corners of my soul.
Their voices are the ones that open the door.
To unburdening.
To healing.
To finally exhaling…
Maybe THAT’s what Unforesting really is…
Being.
Accepting.
Not forcing spaces that aren’t ready.
Not controlling outcomes.
Not fearing emotions. Rather leaning into them.
It’s standing in front of the tsunami and whispering:
‘Come.’
It’s choosing you.
Finding you.
And learning to unconditionally love that you who still needs a voice-
Especially in the mess.
Especially in the ache.
Especially in the becoming.
If you are in the season of Unforesting, my friends, know this:
You are not broken. You are not done. Through the exhaustion-
You are building.
And every shattered piece of your being is rising into something exquisitely beautiful. Believe it.
With love and new seasons,
Naomi ❤️
PS. Thought this pic (with hounds and ducks- yes in the pool) just perfectly captured the Unforesting process- chaotic, messy, but beautifully becoming… Evidence of doing LIFE… Just rolling with everything that comes your way (even when your slippers get knocked into the icy pool by that ADHD Border Collie Pup!)
