As a child, my reading appetite was nothing if not voracious.I would skip home from the library with a satchel stuffed with books and sequester myself in my room to devour them. The next day, I would return the library and fill the satchel again. Those were the blissful days of a bookworm childhood. My carefree, lazy days of childhood are very clearly gone, and with the responsibilities of adulthood comes far less free time for trivial pursuits like pleasure readings. These days, I am lucky if I get to read three or four books are year that aren’t for work.
The treasured moments that I do get to read for fun usually happen during travel. I indulge in a book a two to keep me company on long flights or other travel moments. This year, I was in a frenzy to throw everything in a bag and make my flight to Utah for white water rafting when I ran through the bookstore for an impulse book purchase. Normally, I am jittery with excitement when I travel, but for this trip, I was jittery with just plain fear. Whitewater rafting was on the scary side of my comfort level, and I was feeling the anxiety.
With those thoughts in mind, I cruised through the travel section, looking for a memoir that might mimic and then buoy my own travel fears. As my fingers ran over the spines of the books, I stopped on the title Wild by Cheryl Strayed. I had seen the preview for the movie with Reese Witherspoon and knew that it would be a movie I would want to see-anything with Reese Witherspoon is a winner in my book-so it would probably be a book I would want to read.
I had already almost made up my mind to grab the book and go, but the clincher was reading the short synopsis on the back cover. With her life in shambles after the death of her mother Cheryl haphazardly sets out to discover herself and find healing by hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. I absolutely identified with the idea of using travel to find clarity and purpose, and I certainly felt that my whitewater rafting trip was my own version of haphazardly setting off. Cheryl and I were different in many ways, but I was intrigued to dive into her story to explore the ways that we were the same.
With the book tucked in my waterproof bag, Cheryl’s story became my soundtrack in the solitude of a four day backwoods rafting trip. Once I was dry from a day on the river, I pulled it out to keep me company as I warmed by the fire. As I gathered my sleeping bag up around my neck in my tent, I snuck in a few more pages by the glow of flashlight. In my tent, I had kindred moments reading about Cheryl collapsing after a day of hiking in her tent. Although a span of time, distance, and circumstances separated us, I felt joined with her, a real person, not a character. Her triumph made me feel stronger. Her strength made me feel brave.
As I suspected, I found many similarities between Cheryl’s spirit and mine as I finished the book. We are both impulsive-she set out on the Pacific Crest Trail without really knowing much about hiking, and I did same with rafting. We both see travel as a way to find meaning in life and as a way to deal with the places in ourselves where we see inadequacies. And, if there was ever a movie version of my life, Reese Witherspoon would totally play me.
The movie Wild, is in theatres now and I am looking forward to seeing Cheryl’s journey come to life on the beautiful and wild backdrop of the Pacific Crest Trail.
To celebrate the movie release, I am giving away a Wild prize package that includes a $50 Visa Gift Card, a copy of the book Wild by Cheryl Strayed and the soundtrack from the movie. Visit my Instagram page to enter and good luck.