Sixth-generation Utahn, park ranger, and award-winning author Amy Irvine talks with Zibby Owens about her visceral and deeply personal new memoir, Almost Animal: A Memoir of Motherhood, Wildness, and the American West. Despite living an outsized, adventurous life bucking against patriarchal norms as a competitive rock climber and wildland firefighter, Amy opens up about how she was completely knocked back on her heels by the isolating realities of new motherhood and severe postpartum depression. She dives into the terrifying concept of "zoochosis"—the psychological madness that comes with caging a wild animal—and shares how she felt inexplicably trapped despite being surrounded by millions of acres of gorgeous Colorado public lands.
Amy reflects on how the sudden onset of her daughter’s mysterious nocturnal seizures forced her into years of sleepless hyper-vigilance. She courageously untangles her complex family lineage, connecting the generational trauma of early Mormon history and her own father's abuse to her eventual journey of clawing her way toward personal healing. Ultimately, Amy analyzes the disempowering realities of the modern "trad wife" trend and shares a beautiful message on why mothers need mothering more than anyone else—revealing how a fiercely sensory connection to the natural world can offer profound medicine for the soul.
Learn more about Amy here, and follow her on Instagram @junipergirl44. You can purchase Almost Animal: A Memoir of Motherhood, Wildness, and the American West here.
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