I had to go on without my mother, even though I was suffering terribly, grieving her.
Cheryl StrayedWriting is such a strangely and radically private act, and yet its purpose is this great sense of connection and community. I mean, I wanted people to love the book. And the only way to get them to love it is to try to make it good for them. So of course the audience has to be considered.
Cheryl StrayedNobody's going to do your life for you. You have to do it yourself, whether you're rich or poor, out of money or raking it in, the beneficiary of ridiculous fortune or terrible injustice. And you have to do it no matter what is true. No matter what is hard. No matter what unjust, sad, sucky things befall you. Self-pity is a dead-end road. You make the choice to drive down it. It's up to you to decide to stay parked there or to turn around and drive out.
Cheryl StrayedBecause when an artist has to assert that her intended audience is all humans rather than those who happen to be of her particular gender or race, what sheโs actually having to assert is the breadth and depth of her own humanity.
Cheryl Strayed