“I hadn’t come to that world of adulthood with the right intentions—purpose over prosperity, value over quantity, meaning over means. I had wanted to gain the world, not realizing I already had it, lived in it, was a part of it, and it was a part of me. And all I needed was to contribute in a way I loved, in a way I wanted.”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“I realized that was how problems worked. When you quit worrying about them, they ceased being problems.”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“It’s only when we slow down that we notice all the beauty surrounding us.”
Source: Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.
“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.