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.

marriage is indeed this horribly complex thing for which you appear to be ill prepared and about which you seem to be utterly naïve.

That’s okay. A lot of people are. You can learn along the way.

really, really love women and don’t know if I could ever just turn it off. I also don’t want to end up another distant, difficult, noncommunicative male unsure of his own feelings.

She’ll offer you one of the balloons, but you won’t take it because you believe you no longer have a right

when we’re
in the presence of someone else’s pain, the burden of not-

doing is so much greater than the burden of doing.

Trusting yourself means living out what you already know to

Trusting yourself means living out what you already know to be true.

How much power you give those feelings is entirely up to you.