After more than 25 years working in addiction, mental health and acute healthcare services, I found myself asking a question I often shared with others: “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” — from Mary Oliver’s The Summer Day.

For years, I had been walking alongside others through moments of reckoning, but eventually, I arrived at my own. My passion had dimmed, adventure had faded, and my spirit felt dull. I could no longer ignore the pull toward something different—something that would bring me back to life.

A few years ago, I reset. I returned to nature through gardening and opened myself to creativity by finding an art teacher. I began oil painting,