After watching an episode of Super Soul Sunday on Oprah's OWN network, I decided to pick up the book "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail" by Cheryl Strayed. My taste in books tends to lean more towards self-help, improvement, and inspirational reads. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy my fair share of fun fiction, but I love reading books where I feel like I’ve learned something new after I turn that final page.
A book that makes me reevaluate my own life and opens up the opportunity for me to question what can I do better?
This is what Wild did for me. Wild is an autobiography from Cheryl Strayed. Cheryl was a woman who was at her deepest hole in life. Her mother passed away from cancer, her marriage ended, and she got involved with heroin. Most people who have reached that point in their lives would have completely given up and allow their life to waste away slowly. However, Cheryl decided on a whim to hike the Pacific Crest Trail. A woman with absolutely no backpacking or trekking experience decides to hike on one of the longest mountaineering trails in the U.S. The PCT starts at the Southern California/Mexico border and ends at the Washington/Canada border. Cheryl decided to take this trip on her own to help find herself in the process during a wave of loss and misfortune.
The adventures during this trail will make you laugh and make you cry. Based on a true story, Cheryl takes us on a journey of focusing forward rather giving up and looking back.
I certainly don’t see myself hiking on any sort of trail at this time, but this book inspired me in a profound way and made me realize, that even though life is a hard journey and the challenges are never easy, in the end what doesn’t kill you in fact really does make you stronger. It’s definitely a worthwhile read for anyone that needs answers to some of life’s probing questions.
