Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Strayed
Cheryl Strayedis an American memoirist, novelist, and essayist. The author of four books, her award-winning writing has been published widely in national magazines and anthologies...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionNovelist
Date of Birth17 September 1968
CitySpangler, PA
CountryUnited States of America
people advice know-it-all
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.
remember humans human-beings
I remember being absolutely rocked to my core by how profoundly I could love another human being.
grateful feet doe
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
art bears anecdotes
Art isn't anecdote. It's the consciousness we bring to bear in our lives.
what-if done made
What if what made me do all those things everyone thought I shouldn't have done was what also had got me here? What if I was never redeemed? What if I already was?
giving-up giving lasts
And every last one of us can do better than give up.
clarity wilderness skeptical
Of all the things I’d been skeptical about, I didn’t feel skeptical about this: the wilderness had a clarity that included me.
strong thinking different
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.
selfish reality firsts
But the reality is we often become our kindest, most ethical selves only by seeing what it feels like to be a selfish jackass first.
ends wells
He hadn't loved me well in the end, but he'd loved me well when it mattered.
believe should-have play
You don’t have a right to the cards you believe you should have been dealt with. You have an obligation to play the hell out of the ones you’re holding and my dear one, you and I have been granted a mighty generous one.
free-spirit balls spirit
I’m a free spirit who never had the balls to be free.
tao-te-ching thousand reserves
The amount that she loved us was beyond her reach. It could not be quantified or contained. It was the ten thousand named things in the Tao Te Ching’s universe and then ten thousand more. Her love was full-throated and all-encompassing and unadorned. Every day she blew through her entire reserve.
fun adventure writing
A lot of people go off and have fun adventures, or hard adventures, and their impulse is to write about them right away. What really makes a difference is having some perspective on what happened.