I had to get lost in the wilderness to get found in midlife

As a writer, I feel the essays, stories and poems growing inside of me before I ever put them on the page. This essay, for example, has been building in me through meditation, imagery and sensations in my body, before the words even formed. During this time of gathering and distilling, there has been a magic circulating about me. Tiny particles of what wishes to come into being circulate around my aura, waiting for me to grab onto them and draw them closer.

Throughout my life, the natural world has always been a healing balm for me. As a child in the New York suburbs, I found quiet sanction...