Book Review: WILD by Cheryl Strayed

If you follow me on IG, you already know about this, but just in case you do not, I have to share with you one of my absolute favorite books from the Reese Witherspoon Book Club I read: WILD by Cheryl Strayed. *NOW a major motion picture film.

When I heard about her book club, I was overly excited. I found my love of reading re-sparked with each book she suggested. But, out of them all, this one stood out the most. See, I have always loved being outside. As a self-proclaimed tomboy in my younger years, the idea of being out in the woods, hiking and climbing trees was just the cat's meow for me. And, one my family came to learn I would never venture far from.

I had heard of the book prior to seeing in on Reese Witherspoons' IG account but after reading reviews online, I finally decided to head to my local bookstore and grab a copy. During the spring and into the beginning of summer, I would sit down each day and read a good chunk of the book until my camping trip came up. It was so wonderful to read and one passage especially stood out to me.

From Chapter 13:

What mattered is utterly timeless...to walk for miles for no other reason other than to witness the accumulation of trees and meadows, mountains and deserts, streams and rocks, rivers and grasses, sunrises and sunsets....it had always felt like this to be a human in the wild, as long as the wild existed it would always feel this way.

And once that exact quote hit me, I realized finally why I have loved being outside for as long as I can even remember. It just feels right. I have always has a sense of wanderlust but each time I find myself out on the trails or hiking to a new viewpoint, I fall deeper in love with all that I see. There is something magical about seeing all the beauty not touched by the hand of man. The realization of how small you are in an infinitely larger place. Nature is organic, untouched. It is freedom in the rawest form. It is the wanderlust of the unknown- the wild, and exploration of something bugger than oneself. It is beautiful, bountiful and completely endless. It is the representation of nirvana on earth.

This book talk about so much more than just a girl on a hike along the PCT. It is her saving herself; not by a man, or girlfriends or anyone else. It is her alone, dealing with her own struggles and coming out on the other end better for it. Her journey is two-fold. She may be dealing with the grief of losing her mother and the low point of her life, but she is also taking a journey to discover who she is and what she is capable of doing. It is never easy to venture out on your own but in life we often have to walk alone in our own struggles, only to come out stronger than we ever were before. This book exudes that confidence that you can survive and carry on. You can do the impossible, doing something you have never done before and come out better than you could even imagine.