Welcome to Rewilding
Hi. I’m Abbey Fish.
You may know me professionally as Abbey Rodriguez—a name I carried during my marriage, and still carry through motherhood and career-building. But this space is different.
This is where I write as Abbey Fish: meeting the girl I was before religion told me who to be, before my marriage taught me to disappear, and before I realized I was allowed to come home to myself. And now reclaiming and rewilding the woman who is Abbey Fish.
I started this Substack because I am in the middle of something. And isn’t that liminal space a lovely and terrifying place to occupy?
I left Mormonism. I got divorced. I am raising three incredible boys. I am learning how to be comfortable in solitude, how to be a single mom with shared custody, how to believe again, how to date again, to trust my body, to express the truth—especially the kind that feels complicated and like such a hot mess that it makes my heart pound to say out loud. But, I know those are the stories I crave to hear. And it’s likely you do, too.
What to Expect
Rewilding is a space for resonant truth-telling. This is for the people who have unraveled a life they were promised would make them happy… and are asking, What now?
If are in your own coming-of-middle-age (my preferred poetic alternate label for a midlife crisis), you are not alone. This space is raw and meant for sharing my deepest thoughts and opinions.
I share stories about:
Leaving high-control religion and my experience with its impact on the mind, body, and relationships
Divorce, co-parenting, and rebuilding identity
Parenting after deconstruction
Dating, desire, sex, and what it means to feel safe in your body again
Trauma, healing, and re-learning trust without a manual
And to keep it hopeful and joy-filled: snippets of my life on Netherstoke Farm, the 100+ year-old farmhouse cottage where I now live, surrounded by nature, peace, and beauty
I post weekly-ish, depending on the flow of life and inspiration. Some posts will be personal essays, some reflective, some trivial and dumb, and some just ugly and vulnerable. Think of this as a letter from a friend who’s choosing radical transparency over perfection (especially when you have been conditioned to lie to yourself in service of being worthy and agreeable—self-integrity and learning to trust oneself can take a long time to develop, and is something I work on every day).
We’re in this together
If this resonates—even a little—I’d love for you to subscribe, read, and share. Whether you’re here because you’ve left a religion, a marriage, or a version of yourself… or you’re just curious what it means to live more wildly and truly, you are welcome here.
We’re not lost. We’re rewilding.
xo-Abbey
