“I thought about the seven straight days of rain and ultimately walking through the last of it jacketless and how so often we tend to protect ourselves from unharmful things.”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“Perhaps it was just the offspring of being completely alone, moving at a pace and in a place that allowed for reflection. Maybe that’s how all the best insights are born.”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“I began to appreciate the fact that this highest point in Virginia didn’t have a view, a lesson about expectations and maybe a metaphor about some efforts being only about the effort itself and not some tangible reward at the end.”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“The clouds parted, and the trees were situated in such a way that the beams of light coming through the cracks felt like you could reach out and scoop a piece of the golden light into your hands.”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“I wondered what I might have learned about myself had I given myself the freedom, when I was fresh out of college, the permission to wander and contemplate what I wanted from my life.”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“I imagined the experience being similar to going your whole life believing you had perfect vision, then suddenly learning a new color, one that brought meaning to every other hue. How would I describe that? How would I convince former “me” of the importance? The more I thought about it, the less confident I was that I could, but the more convinced I was that I should try—not to the former me, of course, but to everyone.”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“Wasn’t that the whole point of the trail? To embrace growth as a journey, not some finished destination? To be okay just wandering, not sure where that wandering might take you?”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“The first was a touch unsettling, but before long it was more therapeutic than scary, listening to the soft thunder rolling through the hills and valleys around you. There was a connectedness to nature that the storm brought, almost like a deep voice singing to you as you lay in your tent.”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“All good writing reflects and illuminates life; Fast Funny Women holds up a compact mirror. In it you'll see yourself. With luck, you'll laugh.”
Source: Fast Funny Women: 75 Essays of Flash Nonfiction
“Hi, Anya. Can I join you?"
Anya looked up from her meal with a dour expression. "I'm not a blond."
An obvious statement, it made no sense without a context. She added, "I'm not a twig."
"You're not a twig, that's also true." He gave her a smile, curious where this was going.”
Source: Anya