Wild From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail

Cheryl Strayed is the author of the number one New York Times bestseller, Wilde, from lost to found, on the Pacific Crest Trail,

which has sold more than 4 million copies worldwide and was made into an Oscar-nominated film starring Reese Witherspoon.

Did you ever read that book by Cheryl Strayed? What is it even called? She like goes on the Appalachian Trail. Is it wild?

I mean, there's this woman and she's having some kind of crisis in her life. It's beautifully written, by the way. I was like, wow, this woman can write. And the premise of it is like she decides to hike the Appalachian Trail as some people do when they are feeling like they really need to reset their life.

I was waiting in line. I was buying a shovel which ends up, you know, it's totally a metaphor. I had to dig myself out but it's funny how life can be metaphor.

And I came upon this guidebook. I'd never heard of the Pacific Crest Trail and there was this book.

I wrote about this in Wild one of the things, I mean it was really like one of the biggest surprises of my life to have the feeling that I wasn't anymore suffering.

I was hunting in a remotely upright position but that's the beauty I think of any kind of recovery I guess is you don't have to be doing it perfect you don't have to be upright you don't have to be fast you just have to get yourself in a remotely upright position and go.

I nicknamed my backpack monster because it was so big and heavy and it was like my companion and later when you know that was something that just I wasn't thinking like it's a metaphor I'm carrying my own monster on my back but later when I ran the book I'm like wow it's a monster and we all we all have to learn to make friends with our monsters

I just decided that I would be expanded by doing this thing.

I was told there's this kind of big tank kind of midway through that these ranchers have for their cattle and it was a water source is a water source for hikers and I knew that I could only carry a certain number amount of water to get to that tank and I was told there was water in that tank and I got there and the tank was empty and I had no water and it was like a hundred and some degrees it was incredibly hot.

I was so surprised by how remote the trail was I knew it would be solitary but I didn't know it would be so solitary I mean no electronics no phones no iPods no drugs no booze no escape from your escape that you're trying to to make there.

I was afraid of snakes I was afraid of bears and I was afraid of cougars otherwise known as mountain lions and you know those are real things and I encountered bears and snakes several times I probably encountered mountain lions but I didn't see them I'm quite sure they saw me yeah you know I was walking through cougar country for sure.

I was also afraid of men yeah that's a good point right because cougar might go as she's too big but a drunk you know guys might not make that same calculation yeah I mean the human animal who's the most dangerous one to women is the human male.

I was waiting in line. I was buying a shovel which ends up, you know, it's totally a metaphor. I had to dig myself out but it's funny how life can be metaphor.

I wrote about this in Wild one of the things, I mean it was really like one of the biggest surprises of my life to have the feeling that I wasn't anymore suffering.

I was so surprised by how remote the trail was I knew it would be solitary but I didn't know it would be so solitary I mean no electronics no phones no iPods no drugs no booze no escape from your escape that you're trying to to make there.

I am not afraid I am not afraid I am not afraid and of course I said it because I was and I was having to tell myself that I had to be brave and strong in order to do this thing that I really wanted to do

I really wrapped my arms around this idea I call it surrendering to my own mediocrity I said you know what maybe I'm a mediocre writer maybe I am I'm going to be her full throttle I'm going to write this book and whatever people think of it is not up to me.

Did you see that movie Wild with Reese Witherspoon where she got out there?