You will come to know things that can only be known with the wisdom of age and the grace of years. Most of those things will have to do with forgiveness.
Cheryl StrayedRead
I 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 be—strong and responsible, clear-eyed and driven, ethical and good. And the PCT would make me that way. There, I’d walk and think about my entire life. I’d find my strength again, far from everything that had made my life ridiculous.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects the desire for personal transformation and rediscovering one's true self through reflection and challenge.
In this quote, Cheryl Strayed expresses her intrinsic need to change and evolve back into a stronger and more responsible version of herself. She emphasizes that her journey on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) serves as a pivotal moment for introspection and personal growth, allowing her to reclaim the clarity and drive that she once possessed while distancing herself from the chaos of her past life.
Themes
ChangePersonal GrowthSelf-DiscoveryStrengthIntrospection
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech about resilience and transformation, one might reference this quote to inspire the audience.
More from Cheryl Strayed
All quotes →The obliterated place is equal parts destruction and creation. The obliterated place is pitch black and bright light. It is water and parched earth. It is mud and it is manna. The real work of deep grief is making a home there.
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I walked all those miles, I learned all those lessons. It's as if my new life was the gift I got at the end of a long struggle.
Cheryl StrayedRead
There is a path toward the light. The one that goes blink, blink, blink inside your chest when you know what you're doing is right. Listen to it. Trust it. Let it make you stronger than you are.
Cheryl StrayedRead
Each evening, I ached for the shelter of my tent, for the smallest sense that something was shielding me from the entire rest of the world, keeping me safe not from danger, but from vastness itself. I loved the dim, clammy dark of my tent, the cozy familiarity of the way I arranged my few belongings all around me each night.
Cheryl StrayedRead
Nobody will protect you from your suffering. You can't cry it away or eat it away or starve it away or walk it away or punch it away or even therapy it away. It's just there, and you have to survive it. You have to endure it. You have to live through it and love it and move on and be better for it and run as far as you can in the direction of your best and happiest dreams across the bridge that was built by your own desire to heal.
Cheryl StrayedRead
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