by Wendy Jehanara Tremayne
My adventure began with an ideal, a life freed of money. I believed that money was in the way of my living sustainably. To manifest my ideal, Mikey and I became creators (instead of consumers). Then we put the things we made into a world that we learned to love by reconnecting to it. No longer other, its life became our own.
When I lived in New York City, and someone asked, “What do you do?” I answered, “I work in marketing.” Then I became a maker of things and my answer had to do with what I thought the person asking would understand: I’m a green builder, fermenter, welder, gardener, forager, or wild crafter to name a few of the things I had become. Today I answer differently. I say, “I do what needs to be done,” because I learned that when we turn our attention to the preservation of life, creativity and knowledge come naturally. They are a part of common sense. When I was disconnected from life and overly invested in acculturated knowledge, things like finance, brand, and media, I was marooned. Connected to life I became the recipient of a bounty. Life gave me wisdom and everything needed to live, free of charge.
photo © Meg Hunt, used with permission of Story Publishing
To read the entire Everything I Love is Free essay: