This is The Adventure with Brad Wetzler, my weekly dispatch about how we can brave the wilderness of these tough, post-modern, hyper-capitalist times…together. It’s about storytelling, healing, adventure, the human heart, and the pursuit of the sacred and the holy, too.
Who am I? I’m the author of the new memoir, Into the Soul of the World: My Journey to Healing, and a longtime journalist with bylines in the New York Times, Newsweek, Wired, GQ, National Geographic, Travel + Leisure, and Outside where I was a senior editor and a longtime contributing editor. I spent fifteen years working as an adventure writer, journalist, and magazine columnist. After a long period of depression and overmedication with prescription drugs, I launched a round-the-world quest to heal body, mind, and spirit—to recover my very soul. You can read all about this journey in Into the Soul of the World. I live in Austin, Texas, where I edit books, coach aspiring memoirists, and teach yoga and meditation.
As a Gen Xer, I've grappled with the challenges of adapting to new technologies and, in particular, learning how to “do” social media well. I suspect some of you feel similarly. In my case, I know where this struggle comes from.
When I began my career as an editor at a national magazine, writing and editing a single 200-word story was a laborious process. It involved multiple drafts, edits by various editors, copy-editing, proofing, and finalizing plastic-coated page proofs with no room for further changes. If a mistake was found, making last-minute changes cost money. There were so many opportunities to make a piece of writing better. And yet, today, I see that I learned to lean too much on the process itself and the opinions of others. I felt satisfied because I knew it had been read and re-read literally a hundred times. In other words, the confidence didn’t necessarily come from my faith in my ideas or abilities.
So, the idea of crafting a short piece, attaching a photo, and hitting "send" in a matter of an hour for Substack or a longer social media post can feel daunting. This discomfort has led to sporadic publishing on my part.
However, I recognize the need for change, and a few weeks ago, a friend recommended a book called "Show Your Work" by Austin Kleon. I’m late to the game in reading Show Your Work. It was written ten years ago,. But it’s a concise yet powerful book. Kleon encourages us to embrace the idea that nobody benefits from being shy about sharing their work, especially not you. He commits to sharing what he's working on every day.
Kleon's message is simple yet profound. It challenges us to break through our comfort zones and fears, even if we don't consider ourselves artists. While it may seem daunting to share something daily, we must acknowledge that our work deserves to be seen. It's a reminder that people are interested in what we say, even if we doubt it.
Stepping out of my comfort zone, I've decided to commit to this idea. Is it more complicated than it sounds? Absolutely. Sharing something daily feels like a challenge, especially for someone who doesn’t draw pictures. I write articles and books and edit memoirs. How can I create something to post every day? Moreover, there's often the nagging feeling that people may need to be more interested in what I say.
While I'm not quite at the "everyday" stage, I am determined to publish here a few times per week.
Here’s what I’m working on right now.
This week, my time has been consumed by editing two remarkable books. The first is a well-told, fascinating story of an American who spent the Vietnam War among loners and misfits in a small Alaska town and then found success as a painter in France, and the second is the journey of a spiritual seeker in Canada during the 1980s and 1990s and his devotion to a renowned Indian guru.
Gurus have always fascinated me. They’ve been a legitimate part of India’s religious history for centuries, and yet, in recent years, many of the more popular gurus have been exposed as charlatans and abusers. I've never had a guru, but I've felt the magnetic pull that draws people toward these spiritual leaders. Perhaps gurus work best when they are dead and they live on in our imaginations. My own unique connection is with the spirit of the long-dead Neem Karol Baba, famously written about by Ram Dass in "Be Here Now," and Sri
Ramana Maharishi, the saint of Arunachala in southern India. I've been fortunate to spend time at the temples and ashrams they inhabited, and those experiences remain some of the most meaningful times of my life.
One of the joys of my work as an editor and memoir writing coach is learning about entirely diffrerent worlds that exist outside my everyday life and awareness.
Amidst my book editing endeavors, I've found moments to work on my following book proposal, "I Want to Know What Love Is." For fellow Gen Xers like me, this is indeed a nod to the great Foreigner power ballad. Recently, I've been delving into books and taking extensive notes. Today, I found myself contemplating the connection between love and power. Are these concepts polar opposites, or are they intricately related? While I was still in contemplation, I stumbled upon a quote in a book by Bud Harris called Becoming a Love Warrior
that resonated with me:
"We must use the power of our outrageous love (of life) against the forces trying to destroy [life]. We are here to be healers, listeners, servants, and lovers. We are also here to be creators and spiritual warriors."
In other exciting news, my dear friend Emily Rapp Black, a memoirist extraordinaire, and I have something special in the works. We're planning a writing/journaling/yoga retreat in Austin, set for January 20-21.
This retreat will focus on reclaiming, reframing, and owning your life story. You don't need to consider yourself a "writer" to join us. It's not about writing a book; instead, it's about discovering, embracing, and sharing your story.
Expect lots of journaling, story-sharing, a touch of gentle yoga, and, of course, a ton of fun. The vibe will be something like the pics in this newsletter. Stay tuned for more details, and don't hesitate to email me at brad@bradwetzler.com if you're interested.
Thank you for participating in this journey of words, stories, and self-discovery. Until next time!
Stay creative,
Brad
If you haven’t bought my memoir, Into the Soul of the World: My Journey to Healing, yet, I hope you will.
Here’s what author Hampton Sides wrote about it:
“Brad Wetzler has led the very definition of an adventurous life, but in Into the Soul of the World, he gives an unflinching account of his interior adventures. Wetzler’s soulful quest, by turns anguished and transcendent, will resonate with readers around the world who struggle to find purpose and a sense of the holy in the ambient jitter of the digital age.”
Are you an aspiring memoirist who has struggled to finish your book? Sign up for my next Write Your Way Home: A Memoir Masterclass, a comprehensive four-week course for beginner and intermediate memoir writers. You’ll walk away with everything—tools, mindset, and confidence—you need to finally write and finish your memoir. Stay tuned for information about the next
class installment in the New Year.
Thanks Brad for the book recommendation! Such a great reminder. I struggle w self doubt pretty much daily🙃😂