I grew up in northern Minnesota on 40 acres of wooded land 20 miles from the nearest town, and so the wilderness was home. It was not an unsafe place. I had that advantage. But there are so many representations of the wilderness being dangerous. You know, depictions of wild animals attacking people. It's like, "No, we kill those animals in far greater numbers than they kill us."
Cheryl StrayedPeople do support themselves as artists and writers, so there's no need to be all doom and gloom about it. You just have to push forward. You have to follow your vision and hope for the best. You have to write for love.
Cheryl StrayedAlone had always felt like an actual place to me, as if it weren't a state of being, but rather a room where I could retreat to be who I really was.
Cheryl StrayedI had to change. I had to change was the thought that drove me in those months of planning. Not into a different person, but back to the person I used to beโstrong and responsible, clear-eyed and driven, ethical and good. And the PCT would make me that way. There, Iโd walk and think about my entire life. Iโd find my strength again, far from everything that had made my life ridiculous.
Cheryl Strayed