“I didn’t know where I was going until I got there.” –Cheryl Strayed
I saw the movie Wild this weekend, and I’ve been contemplating my life and my relationships and searching my soul ever since.
2014 has been a little rough. At least for me. There have been plenty of high points and I’ve experienced lots of joy, too, but there was a lot of tough stuff happening in my life this past year. The cry until you collapse, ache until you implode kinds of things. I know you know what I mean. We all have that hard, dark, heavy stuff, the kind that sometimes forces us into a better place. Often we don’t see it that way until much later, after the rocky road is behind us, until, whether prepared for it or not, we journey through some sort of cathartic experience, and realize the grit and heart and promise that’s been inside us all along. Perhaps a bit battle-scarred, but healed and whole once again.
With that in mind, I connected with Wild from Fox Searchlight. Reese Witherspoon (one of my favorites) portrays Cheryl, at the proverbial rock bottom after a series of devastating events and self destructive behavior. In a last ditch attempt to cope with the fallout, she straps on a backpack and decides to hike the entire Pacific Crest Trail. The whole thing. 1,100 miles. Alone. Carrying a pack filled with far too much heavy and unnecessary stuff–that’s probably metaphorical. It’s hard to say if she’s running away from something, or journeying toward something. Maybe both.
“Not til we are completely lost or turned around…do we begin to find ourselves.” –-Henry David Thoreau
I walked away pondering what’s truly most essential my own life survival pack, and what I should just let go, wondering whether or not I’m wearing the right shoes (that’s another metaphor) and a little bit jealous of her adventure and self-discovery in the wild.
This post is sponsored by Fox Searchlight, though all thoughts and opinions are 100% sincere and 100% my own.
Kimberly
...by day, making a home where the buffalo roam. By night, pretty much the same thing, punctuated by the occasional fantasies of sunny beaches, italian movies and sparkling lemonade.
