The Lone Wolf
My study of the care and feeding of the WEIRDO in you, has brought me to many…weird places.
Here is one: The Myth of the LONE WOLF.
The call of the weird is a strong one. Maybe you remember it from your youth, or maybe you’re trying to forget it, because of the pain it brings. Because it points out that you were different. Or it points out that other people pointed out that you were different.
When our weirdness is diagnosed as a flaw or weakness, barriers occur. It brings deep questioning thoughts like, “What’s wrong with me? Why am I different? No one understands me. Who the hell are these people?” What was once play and fun is now questioned and made to feel wrong. The result is feeling like outsider, a “Weirdo.”
Once we accept this lie posing as truth, we tend to withdraw from our family and friends physically and emotionally. We retreat to isolation and solitude…and adopt the attitude of the ‘Lone Wolf.’
BUT! If we’re going to give ourselves a title, we need to understand what that title means. To fully understand the mythology of the Lone Wolf, we look to the natural history of wolves, where the moniker comes from.
Wolves are social, pack animals with a structure and rules of conduct designed to protect its members. While a pack may be a tight nit crew, each wolf accepting its position in it, it is not uncommon for a wolf to leave or be forced out of the pack. An alpha wolf that can no longer lead may be challenged by the more aggressive wolves. If food or resources are scarce, a weaker wolf may not get adequate attention and leave out of necessity. And a wolf that “doesn’t fit in” is pushed to hit the road by the pack's more dominant wolves. Sound familiar?
In lore, an abandoned wolf leaves the pack to languish and die alone in the wilderness. This is where most people leave the story, but possible death alone in the woods is just the beginning of the wolf’s journey. The bigger reason for the break from the group is more significant than that. Weird wolves do not leave to die, they leave to go searching. If a wolf is not accepted in their born pack, they will leave to create a new one, to become the alpha wolf on their own. In essence, the wolf’s rejection is fully in line with the journey of the hero. The lone wolf story ends with equal beauty for you, my weird hero.
Your banishment—forced or self imposed—is the opportunity to seek your own life. Yours, the way you see it. To create your own community of wildly creative outcasts, free thinkers and hooligans. A new pack with friends and enough creativity to sustain you and room to grow.
Leave your natal pack if you must, but don’t go it alone to wither and languish. Choose to be reborn as a leader.
