Hiking Through Her Words : Strayed, but Not Lost in Meaning 👣🎬

“If your nerves deny you, Go above your nerves”

– Emily Dickinson & Cheryl Strayed

Aren’t we all fans of some heart-warming and exciting movies or TV shows?

Well, allow me to tell you about a movie which for sure will touch hearts and keep you excited yet calm throughout. It will polish your reality with a new paradigm. Yes, it isn’t one of the rom-coms or the classic actions, but a simple take on a woman who decides to hike 1100 miles alone through deserts and mountains, to tidy up the mess that her life had become and to regain clarity of thought.

I was personally touched by her, not because she did something exceptional or was a complete “heroic” figure but because she is as messed up as we all can get and worse. This character feels real and can be found in each one of us in a certain way. She may not make the finest choices, but they are the daring ones that she needs to make, to see things clearly again.

This piece is truly dedicated to the protagonist of the movie WILD – CHERYL STRAYED.

It is a beautiful movie that forces you to think deeper into the meanings of little things and get inspired by an ordinary person capable of doing most extraordinary wonders! It has got 7.1 IMDd ratings and because of this movie’s profundity and underlying message, I’m sure that everybody who sees it will be touched.

WILD is based on a truly inspiring real story of a woman named Cheryl Strayed who hiked 1,100 miles of the 2663 mile long Pacific Crest Trail.

This ain’t a review of how good this movie is or an attempt to make you watch it if you haven’t already. It is a piece on some of the many lessons I have learned and kept with me after watching it!

“IF YOUR NERVES DENY YOU, GO ABOVE YOUR NERVES” – Emily Dickinson & Cheryl Strayed

This movie is filled with such inspiring quotes and it is what Cheryl writes in her journals on peak stops or just thinks about in general. They’ll get right to your heart – raw, relatable and poetic!

This one comes into picture when she herself was feeling doubtful – early on. Just like us all, when she started her journey, her mind came up with reasons and excuses to not do it!

When Cheryl starts hiking, in the initial stages of it all her mind goes –

“What the hell have you done? … You can quit now… You can quit anytime…You can quit anytime!”

Silencing your mind isn’t easy, when it constantly finds reasons to escape the pain (physical or mental), and makes that purpose questionable and diverts you from what was truly planned!

Her reasons could have been the physical pain that caused painful bruises and wounds from carrying the heaviest backpack, walking with that weight, the 24/7 self-talk, the loneliness, an insane project of hiking alone for 1100 miles through deserts, etc. etc. At that point she wasn’t even very sure why did she wanna do that, but that didn’t stop her from moving forward one step at a time, as guilt and traumas of the past kept her from staying still.

One of the reasons, our minds find those excuses could be that it fears failure, embarrassment or judgement and therefore wants to avoid the risks and going out on limbs. But don’t we all know, that some of those risks are always worth taking, to actually move forward! And therefore doing things that scare you is one of the ways to expose yourself to new possibilities, experiences and opportunities.

So here’s to taking risks and moving forward – way beyond our minds would ever give us permission to!

“DENYING HER WOUNDS CAME FROM THE SAME SOURCE AS HER POWER” – MARIE CURIE & CHERYL STRAYED.

Champions are built from the dirt they have fallen into a million times. It’s the accumulation of all, the will, the perseverance, the determination but most importantly the “want” to stop hurting. To prove all, that the one who’s fallen down is or was not you. To shine light on the “new you”.

Cherly kept asking herself if the hurt was worth it, both the physical and mental. All she had endured so far, was it okay to endure some more and if yes, why and what for?

Others, people who can’t comprehend your undreamable dreams, will call it an act of foolishness to push yourself that much, to keep going, but how do you tell them when you can’t really stop? When you can’t really lose that one thing that got you to endure so much and be where you are!

It is not really proving or justifying others, it’s a battle you fight within, every single day with every single decision.

Whether you make amends and try to understand where your pain comes from really, and why are you choosing to hurt yourself more or you keep going, blindly, making that same source of pain your power, both really comes from the same place : YOUR WOUNDS. It takes courage to keep going either ways. Courage you wouldn’t have otherwise.

“I didn’t even know where I was going, until I got there on the last day of my Hike.” – CHERYL STRAYED

No matter the planning, life always gets in the way. Cheryl learnt many lessons like letting go to her safety net (heaviest backpack symbolic of her attachments), dealing with loneliness, understanding others a little better, etc. And what started as a somewhat well thought plan, ended up as something one could never have comprehended. That’s life, you can plan and plan, but are you ready when it all goes haywire?

Honestly, just like Cheryl we might feel that we know where we are going with our goals, plans or wishes in life, but thankfully we all end up in a place way beyond our imagination at most times.

Life is like that trail, maybe showing up each day is your call, maybe not taking the lessons thrown your way is your call, but the destination is always much more beautiful and almost never in your control. And this line teaches you to appreciate that mystery and show up each day excitedly for you never know when the last day of the Hike is going to be!!

I hope you enjoyed a slightly different type of blog, today. I love watching movies and analysing my favourite characters and quotes which have a deep impact on me. Sharing some of them here today, felt absolutely warming.

Thank you for reading.

Catch you in the next one.