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Cheryl Strayed

Cheryl Strayed Quotes

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Famous Cheryl Strayed Quotes

“A lot of artists give up because it's just too damn hard to go on making art in a culture that by and large does not support its artists. But the people who don't give up are the people who find a way to believe in abundance rather than scarcity. They've taken into their hearts the idea that there is enough for all of us, that success will manifest itself in different ways for different sorts of artists, that keeping the faith is more important than cashing the check, that being genuinely happy for someone else who got something you hope to get makes you genuinely happier too.”

PeopleWayGivingBelieveHeartDoeArtImportantIdeasDifferentHardEnoughArtistCultureSupportTakenGoes OnGiving UpChecksDamnDifferent WaysAbundanceManifestDon't Give UpScarcityKeep The Faith
Author:Cheryl Strayed
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“I made it the mantra of those days; when I paused before yet another series of switchbacks or skidded down knee-jarring slopes, when patches of flesh peeled off my feet along with my socks, when I lay alone and lonely in my tent at night I asked, often out loud: Who is tougher than me? The answer was always the same, and even when I knew absolutely there was no way on this earth that it was true, I said it anyway: No one.”

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Book:Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found
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“It had nothing to do with gear or footwear or the backpacking fads or philosophies of any particular era or even with getting from point A to point B. It had to do with how it felt to be in the wild. With what it was like to walk for miles with no reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets. The experience was powerful and fundamental. It seemed to me that it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild, and as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.”

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Book:Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found
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“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.”

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Book:Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found
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“The narratives we create in order to justify our actions and choices become in so many ways who we are. They are the things we say back to ourselves to explain our complicated lives. Perhaps the reason you've not yet been able to forgive yourself is that you're still invested in your self-loathing. Perhaps not forgiving yourself is the flip side of your stealing-this-now cycle. Would you be a better or worse person if you forgave yourself for the bad things you did? If you perpetually condemn yourself for being a liar and a thief, does that make you good?”

IfsWayPersonsDoeStillsSelfReasonAbleActionOrderChoicesSidesForgivingComplicatedStealingNarrativeWho We AreJustifyCyclesLiarsBad ThingsThievesOur ActionsFlipLoathingSelf LoathingForgive YourselfNot ForgivingComplicated Life
Author:Cheryl Strayed
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“Each night the black sky and the bright stars were my stunning companions; occasionally Id see their beauty and solemnity so plainly that I'd realize in a piercing way that my mother was right. That someday I WOULD be grateful and that in fact I was grateful now, that I felt something growing in me that was strong and real.”

WayRealFactsWould BeMotherNightStrongStarsFeltBlackRealizingGrowingSkyGratefulSomedayCompanionBe GratefulStunningPiercingsSolemnityBright Star
Author:Cheryl Strayed
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“There's no way to know what makes one thing happen and not another. What leads to what. What destroys what. What causes what to flourish or die or take another course. But I was pretty certain as I sat there that tonight that if it hadn't been for Eddie, I wouldn't have found myself on the PCT. And though it was true that everything I felt for him sat like a boulder in my throat, this realization made the boulder sit ever so much lighter. He hadn't loved me well in the end, but he'd loved me well when it mattered.”

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Author:Cheryl Strayed
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“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.”

ThinkingWayPersonsMadeDifferentUsedStrongWalksClearMonthsResponsibleDrivenRidiculousPlanningUsed To BeEthical
Book:Wild: A Journey from Lost to Found
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