After 50 years of man-hating feminism, large numbers of men have walked away from women, dating and marriage,
The silver lining is that there are a growing number of women that reject feminism, and respect and value men. Those are the only women men want to be near. Feminists will grow old alone.
Thank you for this article, Ellen! I've enjoyed being a subscriber of your newsletter very much. Your words and ideas are part of a powerful reprogramming process for me--and I need to hear these things over and over again!
What we call “wild” often isn’t rebellion — it’s regulation returning.
Midlife doesn’t make women untamed out of nowhere. It removes the tolerance for self-betrayal. The apologies, the hedging, the softening — those were adaptive strategies. And at some point, the body simply won’t carry them anymore.
What I appreciate here is the reframe: wildness as discernment. Instinct as intelligence. Not reckless, but rooted. Not louder, but truer.
That restlessness isn’t a call to blow everything up.
It’s a signal that something essential is asking to be restored.
So much resonate about what you’ve just shared! ✨ It’s interesting how the wolf keeps reappearing for me right now… It started with me seeing myself lying next to a dead (!) wolf in a vision during a (therapeutic) psychedelic experience… And I’ve also envisioned covering myself and my children with wolf fur in bed at night… I think it’s something calling me back home to truth and ancient wisdom. Home to my Nordic heritage and roots… To myself. And yes — to my wild woman. 🐺
I’ve been surrounded by death in the past months. Relationships ending. My grandpa passing. Ego deaths… Everything is asking me to let go — of an old version of self. I guess it’s time! 🕯️
Oh, and I just ordered the book. Finally. Thank you! 🙏🏻✨
I returned to the wild! It has calmed my nervous system, I am spending time with people who want to spend time with. Funny how I have removed myself and how mad it has made the people it affected the most.
Estes is wonderful! Another author that covers similar ground is Sharon Blackie is https://substack.com/@sharonblackie. I just finished her excellent book, Wise Women.
This resonates so deeply. Learning to not make myself small anymore, to find my voice, to be the true wild that I was always meant to be is so beautifully exciting and scary and all the things. Thank you, again, for your words.
My new novel, Pause…and Effect, has menopause/midlife/reawakening into our new selves as a key theme. If you like to read fiction, Visit my Substack. The novel is posted there for free. Would love your comments.
I read that book over 25 years ago and have a copy of it. It definitely resonated with me then…but since Covid pandemic I lost that wolf me. Your article is very timely as it reminds me of Estes message. It’s very difficult being caged.
A big, loud YES to all of this! I love that comparison of wolves to our intrinsic wild ways, which got shaped, shamed and shushed. I used to talk from a place of I'm-sorry-for-being-a-burden. Thankfully, that pattern has shifted. And yet ... making requests and asking for I need can still be challenging. My mentor, Ann Weiser Cornell, has this brilliant saying - Every no is a yes to something else. (Not sure why that small bit is underlined. There is no link)
Midlife as the moment our nervous systems refuse to keep performing? Our “wildness” not as recklessness, but as truth-telling, boundary-knowing, space-taking wisdom?
After 50 years of man-hating feminism, large numbers of men have walked away from women, dating and marriage,
The silver lining is that there are a growing number of women that reject feminism, and respect and value men. Those are the only women men want to be near. Feminists will grow old alone.
Thank you for this article, Ellen! I've enjoyed being a subscriber of your newsletter very much. Your words and ideas are part of a powerful reprogramming process for me--and I need to hear these things over and over again!
Women Who Run With the Wolves is one of my favorite books! I write book reviews, and I'm in the process moving my newsletter over to Substack. But, for anyone interested, I've already moved the article I wrote on this book over: https://katewebbwrites.substack.com/p/issue-6-women-who-run-with-the-wolves?r=2u2086
This feels deeply true.
What we call “wild” often isn’t rebellion — it’s regulation returning.
Midlife doesn’t make women untamed out of nowhere. It removes the tolerance for self-betrayal. The apologies, the hedging, the softening — those were adaptive strategies. And at some point, the body simply won’t carry them anymore.
What I appreciate here is the reframe: wildness as discernment. Instinct as intelligence. Not reckless, but rooted. Not louder, but truer.
That restlessness isn’t a call to blow everything up.
It’s a signal that something essential is asking to be restored.
And once you hear it, it’s very hard to unhear.
The book is one of the few that changed my life. Yes. It’s on my bookshelf!
I love this. I am running and writing my way out of the rage that is inside.
So much resonate about what you’ve just shared! ✨ It’s interesting how the wolf keeps reappearing for me right now… It started with me seeing myself lying next to a dead (!) wolf in a vision during a (therapeutic) psychedelic experience… And I’ve also envisioned covering myself and my children with wolf fur in bed at night… I think it’s something calling me back home to truth and ancient wisdom. Home to my Nordic heritage and roots… To myself. And yes — to my wild woman. 🐺
I’ve been surrounded by death in the past months. Relationships ending. My grandpa passing. Ego deaths… Everything is asking me to let go — of an old version of self. I guess it’s time! 🕯️
Oh, and I just ordered the book. Finally. Thank you! 🙏🏻✨
I returned to the wild! It has calmed my nervous system, I am spending time with people who want to spend time with. Funny how I have removed myself and how mad it has made the people it affected the most.
Yes 🙌🏽
Already here
♥️
Estes is wonderful! Another author that covers similar ground is Sharon Blackie is https://substack.com/@sharonblackie. I just finished her excellent book, Wise Women.
This resonates so deeply. Learning to not make myself small anymore, to find my voice, to be the true wild that I was always meant to be is so beautifully exciting and scary and all the things. Thank you, again, for your words.
Always a pleasure! Thank you for waking me up!
My new novel, Pause…and Effect, has menopause/midlife/reawakening into our new selves as a key theme. If you like to read fiction, Visit my Substack. The novel is posted there for free. Would love your comments.
I read that book over 25 years ago and have a copy of it. It definitely resonated with me then…but since Covid pandemic I lost that wolf me. Your article is very timely as it reminds me of Estes message. It’s very difficult being caged.
A big, loud YES to all of this! I love that comparison of wolves to our intrinsic wild ways, which got shaped, shamed and shushed. I used to talk from a place of I'm-sorry-for-being-a-burden. Thankfully, that pattern has shifted. And yet ... making requests and asking for I need can still be challenging. My mentor, Ann Weiser Cornell, has this brilliant saying - Every no is a yes to something else. (Not sure why that small bit is underlined. There is no link)
Yessss. This landed straight in my body.
Midlife as the moment our nervous systems refuse to keep performing? Our “wildness” not as recklessness, but as truth-telling, boundary-knowing, space-taking wisdom?
That’s not a crisis—that’s initiation.
I’m listening. And yes… I’m coming.