The real medicine behind a beloved Mary Oliver quote that has been misused in our growing tech and social media loving world.
You’ve probably seen the reels: breathtaking views from mountain tops, underwater shots while scuba diving, ancient ruins, and hikes up dormant volcanoes—all neatly compiled into a video on Instagram. The caption reads,
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life”.
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen this quote paired with footage of people living seemingly extraordinary lives. Their videos showcase incredible adventures, endless travel, and postcard-perfect views, all silently screaming, “Look how full my life is.”
And at the end of every single one of them reads, “what do you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”.
Cue the self judgement.
Am I wasting this one wild and precious life?
Maybe my life isn’t as full as it should be. Maybe I don’t do enough cool things or go on enough adventures.
I don’t hike volcanoes regularly, I’m terrified to scuba dive, and I’ve only been abroad twice. On vacations I’m the slowest skier, and I don’t know how to mountain bike. Heck, I can’t even bike in a neighborhood with confidence. This summer the farthest I traveled was Brooklyn. (Also shout out to Brooklyn because I absolutely loved it.)
My days are filled talking to my cats, reading poetry, drinking crazy amounts of water, and convincing myself that even though the humidity is at a 98%, a walk will be good for me.
This summer I’ve been reading my way through Mary Oliver’s book Devotion.
I’ve always loved her writing and have enjoyed making my way through so many of her poems from other books- highly recommend getting yourself a copy.
Late last night, I came across the poem “The Summer Day”. It started like many of her works, pondering the meaning of life while observing nature and noticing the parallels that connect us. It speaks about an open field, a grasshopper, and resting in the grass. It was a lovely poem, but it didn’t stand out more than her others – until I reached the last line:
“Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life”.
I had to reread it three times to make sure I was seeing it correctly. I scanned back over the entire poem looking for something familiar. Surely this simple poem that spends eight lines talking about grasshoppers couldn’t be the source of the quote everyone uses to document their NatGeo-like lives?
Ahh but it is. The quote that so many use to describe their worldly travels and epic adventures comes from a poem about stillness and kneeling in the grass.
Mary continues in the poem and writes that she doesn’t know what a prayer is.
Instead, she knows how to pay attention,
how to fall into the grass,
and how to kneel down in it.
She talks about strolling through fields all day, sitting with a grasshopper, and ends by asking, “What else should I have done?”
This poem is about stillness. It’s about being idle yet fully satisfied. It questions why anyone would do anything else. It embodies everything Mary Oliver writes about – nature, mindfulness, and the untraditional yet holy prayer found in observing a kingfisher and listening to an owl, hearing the songs as a fox runs into tall grass, and seeing the divine in a deer eating berries.
I go through phases of finding spiritual teachers. Most of them I never meet and even fewer would describe themselves as such.
And yet, I find those individuals to say the wisest things of all.
This life is wild and it is precious.
But it is not wild because of how far you travel, or precious because of the remote location you hiked to just to see the sunset.
It is wild because there is wonder right outside your door. It is precious because there are other heart beats and souls found in creatures that look nothing like us and yet feel like our kin – if only we are still enough to remember we are all connected.
The hummingbird hovering outside your window, the fox skipping off across the field, and the cardinal perched in the dogwood – they are all part of this wild and precious life.
Where can you practice enjoying your simple, wild, and precious life?
Tell me where you observe this wild world and feel how precious it is in the comments below.
Book a free discovery call with me if you’re looking to simplify your life, get closer to nature, and become more present to the natural world around you.
