Wild

Summer is my favorite time to read. I say this because I can pick what I want to read without having to read what professors assign. Don’t get me wrong, I seem to always enjoy what my teachers assign – I even have a literature minor. 

But there’s something so relaxing about being able to read what you want, when you want and with no time restraints. Last semester, one of my really good friends, Julie, was reading a book every time I’d see her on campus. She just couldn’t seem to put it down. I had heard many good things about this book and knew I had to borrow her copy when she was done.

Now, I don’t want to ruin the book for you or give anything away, but I do want to share with you some quotes and things I learned from reading Cheryl Strayed’s Wild.

Let me start off by saying I almost always read love stories that are extremely predictable. Yes, I’m a Nicholas Sparks junkie. But I also love stories that are inspiring, stories that are powerful. Normally these are inspiring love stories. But they are inspiring, nonetheless.

I was hesitant starting this book. I knew it was about a woman who backpacked all alone in the woods. What could have intrigued Julie so much about that?! After one page, I knew this wasn’t as my friends would say, a “Randi book.” (Anything super cheesy or cliché seems to be a “Randi fill-in-the-blank). But after a great recommendation from, I had to at least give it a try, right?!

But once I hiked (punny, right?!) further into Strayed’s words, I realized it actually was a love story; a story about self-love, self-worth, self-motivation and most importantly self-determination.

I thought it would be fun to pull some of my favorite quotes from the book (a lot of which Julie must’ve loved too because she underlined them!). If you’re anything like me and love pinning quotes on Pinterest, I hope you get a little inspired from Strayed’s words and head over to Amazon to get your own copy!

My favorite Wild quotes:

“I didn’t feel sad or happy. I didn’t feel proud or ashamed. I only felt that in spite of all the things I’d done wrong, in getting myself here, I’d done right.”
Death, drugs, lying, cheating, divorce… all of these things got Cheryl to hike over a thousand miles. Maybe they weren’t the best things that could have happened to her, but they definitely led her to the right place to find who she truly was and could be. 

“The universe, I’d learned, was never, ever kidding. It would take whatever it wanted and it would never give it back.”
Although this was referring to when she lost her boot on the trail, these words stuck out so true to me. We can’t control the things or people that come in and out of our lives. We just have to trust and accept that it was for a reason and that more good things are coming. 

“Theres no way to know what makes one thing happen and not another. What leads to what. What destroys what.”
Again, trust and accept yourself, God’s timing and your surroundings. 

And of course my favorite…

I hope you enjoyed this and maybe one of you will want to read Wild.
Strayed also wrote Tiny Beautiful Things (Advice on Love and Life from a column titled Dear Sugar.) I can’t wait to read that.

Next on my list is The Promise by Danielle Steel, a recommendation from another great friend of mine! Anyone read it?
What else should I be reading now?

xoxo,
Randi