Cheryl Strayed

knew that if I allowed fear to overtake me, my journey was doomed. Fear, to a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different story from the one women are told. I decided I was safe. I was strong. I was brave

Power begets power. I willed myself to beget power. And it wasn’t long before I actually wasn’t afraid.

The story of human intimacy is one of constantly allowing ourselves to see those we love most deeply in a new, more fractured light. Look hard. Risk that.

Just because you can fuck a different man every night of the week doesn’t mean you should.

this man likes you, but not the way you like him. Which is to say, not enough.

keep things out of the public eye.

You’re in a pickle. You did things you didn’t hop

I’ve consoled and counseled.

I cannot help but say

that who we become is born of who we most primitively are