Somebody doesn’t have to die for you to grieve. Many people grieve over lost friendships, romantic relationships, or unrealized opportunities.
When Cheryl Strayed embarks on the Pacific Crest Trail in the book Wild, she is grieving her mother but also dealing with a handful of other life crises including but not limited to: divorce, infidelity, abortion, and a heroin addiction. Even though her life is a mess and she seems wildly unfit to embark on a thousand mile hike across the country, she does it anyway.
Wild is a story about healing and redemption. When we fail or are disappointed with ourselves, it is easy to get caught in cycles of shame and self-loathing but Strayed emphasizes the importance of taking responsibility of our lives in order to heal.
Strayed recognizes that healing is a decision that you make for yourself in spite of what you’ve done or what you’ve gone through:
When Cheryl Strayed embarks on the Pacific Crest Trail in the book Wild, she is grieving her mother but also dealing with a handful of other life crises including but not limited to: divorce, infidelity, abortion, and a heroin addiction. Even though her life is a mess and she seems wildly unfit to embark on a thousand mile hike across the country, she does it anyway.
Wild is a story about healing and redemption. When we fail or are disappointed with ourselves, it is easy to get caught in cycles of shame and self-loathing but Strayed emphasizes the importance of taking responsibility of our lives in order to heal.
Strayed recognizes that healing is a decision that you make for yourself in spite of what you’ve done or what you’ve gone through:
Nobody’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 have befallen 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.
Strayed’s ability to take responsibility for her failures is what allows her to heal and thrive. Instead of being a victim to her circumstance, she takes action to prove to herself what she is capable of.
Strayed also recognizes that healing is sometimes painful and difficult. Before she embarks on the Pacific Crest Trail, her way of coping with her grief is trying to numb the pain: meaningless sex and heroin. Her journey on the Pacific Crest Trail shows her that while healing is difficult and messy, it is worth it.
Strayed also recognizes that healing is sometimes painful and difficult. Before she embarks on the Pacific Crest Trail, her way of coping with her grief is trying to numb the pain: meaningless sex and heroin. Her journey on the Pacific Crest Trail shows her that while healing is difficult and messy, it is worth it.
Nobody will protect you from your suffering. You can’t cry it away or eat it away or walk it away or punch 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 you best and happiest dreams across the bridge that was built by your desire to heal.
Although it is important to take the time to grieve, Strayed reminds us that life continues on without us and we have to learn to live with our grief while still moving forward in our lives. While it is important not to repress our feelings when we lose something that is important to us, accepting responsibility for our lives allows us to keep moving forward toward new goals.
