How about taking a long walk to somewhere through nowhere particular, with no one particular? Cheryl Strayed did just that – going on an almost entirely solo pilgrimage of 94 days, trekking 1,100 miles through the Pacific Crest Trail. It was not so much the destination that mattered, but the journey itself. In the company of only oneself, she eventually learnt to face herself, to catch glimpses of her true nature through the unpredictability of nature. As much as it was an outward trip, it was an inward journey.
It was to be herself to herself, to not merely be someone else to someone else. Walking out of her normal life was a deliberate yet almost totally unknown challenge. It was an opportunity to be lost and found. It was to lose herself to the wilderness of her grief over her mother’s passing, to find her way out of the woods, and to walk back to life as a better person with greater purpose and hope. It was a retreat to better advance beyond. It was a huge adventure of many little misadventures.
Taking time off before running out of time, it was a quest to meet herself, and to know who she can become. Not expecting to meet many along the way, it was nevertheless the unexpected and unconditional kindness of perfect strangers that encouraged and empowered her too. Realising their interconnections, she was not so alone after all. Yet, as exclaimed, ‘How wild it was to let it be’. How free to be open to the rest of the world, come what may, to appreciate and make the most of karmic chaos!
