The wanting was a wilderness and I had to find my own way out of the woods. Cheryl Strayed More Quotes by Cheryl Strayed More Quotes From Cheryl Strayed Forgiveness doesn't sit there like a pretty boy in a bar. Forgiveness is the old fat guy you have to haul up a hill. Cheryl Strayed forgiveness guy boys I asked, often out loud: Who is tougher than me? The answer was always the same, and even when I knew absolutely there was no way on this earth that it was true, I said it anyway: No one. Cheryl Strayed earth answers way In my perception, the world wasn't a graph or formula or an equation. It was a story. Cheryl Strayed perception stories world My concept of an advice giver had been a therapist or a know-it-all, and then I realized nobody listens to the know-it-alls. You turn to the people you know, the friend who has been in the thick of it or messed up - and I'm that person for sure. Cheryl Strayed know-it-all advice people When I woke the next morning in my room at White's Motel, I showered and stood naked in front of the mirror, watching myself solemnly brush my teeth. I tried to feel something like excitement but came up only with a morose unease. Every now and then I could see myself-truly see myself-and a sentence would come to me, thundering like a god into my head, and as I saw myself then in front of that tarnished mirror what came was 'the woman with the hole in her heart'. That was me. Cheryl Strayed life-changing morning inspirational Every time I set foot on that trail, I feel grateful for the PCTA for doing the work it does to protect and preserve it Cheryl Strayed grateful feet doe We are all at risk of something. Of ending up exactly where we began, of failing to imagine and find and know and actualize who we could be. The only difference is the distance of the leap. Cheryl Strayed distance risk differences I remember being absolutely rocked to my core by how profoundly I could love another human being. Cheryl Strayed core humans remember It isn't enough to have had an interesting or hilarious or tragic life. Art isn't anecdote. It's the consciousness we bring to bear on our lives. For what happened in the story to transcend the limits of the personal, it must be driven by the engine of what the story means. Cheryl Strayed mean art interesting The complicated thing about friends is that sometimes they are totally wrong about us and sometimes they are totally right and it's almost always only in retrospect that we know which is which. Cheryl Strayed retrospect complicated sometimes Once I was in a cafe in Portland and the woman at the next table and I began chatting and in the course of our conversation she strongly recommend I visit this web site called 'The Rumpus' so I could read this advice column called 'Dear Sugar.' It was so painful not to tell her that in fact I was Sugar, but I didn't. Cheryl Strayed next advice facts One thing any backpacker will tell you is that it's tedious and monotonous. You're bored sometimes, so you really have to make the fun in your head. Cheryl Strayed bored fun sometimes Trusting yourself means living out what you already know to be true. Cheryl Strayed being-true knows mean Writing is part intuition and part trial and error, but mostly it's very hard work. Cheryl Strayed errors hard-work writing But if I could go back in time, I wouldn't do a single thing differently. What if all those things I did were the things that got me here? Cheryl Strayed if-i-could go-back-in-time what-if My mother saved hundreds of animals in her life. Wherever she encountered and injured or needy or abandoned animal, she brought it home. Cheryl Strayed mother home animal My mother's death put me in touch with my most savage self. As I've grown up and come to terms with her death and accepted it, the pieces of her that I keep don't exist materially. Cheryl Strayed savages self mother My mom said there's a sunrise and a sunset every day and you can choose to be there or not. You can put yourself in the way of beauty. Cheryl Strayed wild-beauty sunset mom What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was? Cheryl Strayed wild-girl what-if ifs It's hard to go. It's scary and lonely...and half the time you'll be wondering why the hell you're in Cincinnati or Austin or North Dakota or Mongolia or wherever your melodious little finger-plucking heinie takes you. There will be boondoggles and discombobulated days, freaked-out nights and metaphorical flat tires. But it will be soul-smashingly beautiful... It will open up your life. Cheryl Strayed lonely beautiful night
