Sarah Wilson is a former journalist and TV presenter and author of I Quit Sugar and First, We Make the Beast Beautiful. We sat down with Sarah to talk about her latest book This Wild and Precious Life, before she heads on her ‘The Wild and Precious Tour’ in 2021. Full of knowledge and inspiration, get to know Sarah a little bit better.
Where did the idea come from for This One Wild and Precious Life and what made you want to start writing about it?
Like so many, I was feeling overwhelmed. And I felt the entire world was feeling disconnected and anxious. The climate, politics, consumption, technology – it was engulfing us all. I have been an activist most of my adult life and I felt that the way we were all discussing the massive issues (or, more to the point, avoiding them) was just not right, and making everything worse. So I set off to see if there was a more joyful, hopeful path we could tread, one that made sense intuitively, but was also backed by science. I knew that humans save what we love…so I wanted to connect readers to what we love more than anything else – this one wild and precious life.
What is one of the most memorable moments you had while hiking around the world?
A hard question – I’ve never done a hike that I haven’t treasured. I would say, however, the time I hiked in Crete was incredibly formative. I met a local, Giorgos, who paid my entry fee and we spent the day together hiking Samaria Gorge. We chatted about “philotimo”, which is a very Greek phenomenon that roughly translates as “love of honour”. It’s the noble idea of helping strangers, a form of paying it forward but not because you hope to get the same in return one day in the future, but because you believe you’ve already been helped, or loved, by a stranger. It’s a form of loving gratitude and the notion had a massive impact on me on this journey in the book.
Can you sum up the things you learnt in 3 words?
Live life fully.
What really surprised you while writing This One Wild and Precious Life?
It was the hardest journey I’ve ever embarked on – to get fully alive to what matters to me, and then to live it. What surprised me was that the salve, or path, was more joyous, simple and fun than I could ever have imagined. I literally had to research and hike and wrangle and talk to dozens of experts – and a nun! – and read hundreds of texts over the course of three solid years to arrive at this realisation. I don’t want to give away what this magical “silver bullet” is… but I will say that where I have arrived in my life at 46 feels very alive and calm.
Your Wild and Precious Tour is coming up, what can fans expect to takeaway from this experience?
I wrote this book because I felt that a big part of the disconnect we feel stems from not talking meaningfully about what experts call “Black Swans” and “hyperobjects” – basically these gargantuan life happenings, such as global pandemics, the climate crisis, racial inequality etc., that overwhelm us. This has made us even more lonely, overwhelmed and anxious. (And I realise this is the succinct answer to your first question!). So I committed to “talking” it out via my journey in the book, but then to continue the journey, or conversation, well beyond the book. In West Bengal there’s a tradition of talking out deep issues in massive community groups (over cups of tea) called “adda”. In previous eras there were “salons” and symposiums. I feel our era needs a similar kind of group discussion. This tour is my version of an adda and I hope readers will come along and feel less overwhelmed, more connected, more arrived, more joyous and more committed to being part of a mass “group soul” movement (a term I use in the book, based on bird flight science) to save this one wild and precious life together.
Make sure you don’t miss out on seeing Sarah Wilson live in your home state.
EVENT DETAILS
Thu 4 Feb 2021 – Brisbane Powerhouse, QLD
Thu 18 Feb 2021 – Astor Theatre, Perth, WA
Mon 22 Feb 2021 – Athenaeum Theatre, Melbourne, VIC
