wild.
My summer has been such a blessing. I've had a lot of time to relax with all three of my boys and come and go as we please. We've had time to adjust to being a family of four, which I know is an allotment of time that I will never take for granted.
Thanks to all of this lovely time, I've had the opportunity to scour the library for great reads. I've listed one or two previously, but other than those, I have had a very difficult time finding one of those good reads--you know, the oops-I-let-the-frozen-pizza-burn-because-I-was-so-zoned-in-I-didn't-hear-the-oven-timer-twenty-feet-away kind of book... not that that just happened to me 48 hours ago...
So I'm excited to share that my burnt pizza & all of my free time are enjoying wild by Cheryl Strayed. (see: not writing a post in a while because I'm enthralled)
For those who aren't familiar with the book, it is Cheryl's memoir of the life experiences that led her to hike the Pacific Crest Trail--to put it lightly, a daunting task. The movie was released just last year starring Reese Witherspoon
I admire her vulnerability about her challenging upbringing and her honesty about the unfortunate choices she made after her mother's passing. She engaged with various demons in response to all of life's adversity, but what I find most intriguing is her growth near the end of the novel as she refuses regret. I love her strength in owning her negative choices, but even more, her strength to forgive herself, understanding that's all she knew at that moment in her life.
It's so cliche' to claim to live without regrets, but the ability to forgive yourself knowing that, even if it wasn't your best effort, you did what you could with what you were dealt at that time is everything.
Large or small, whether our choices impacted others or only ourselves, or whether the choices of others impacted us, it's so freeing to just. let. go.
Cheryl wrote:
“I 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. Nothing could vanquish me.”
This passage took me right back to the pastor last Sunday--stop listening, and start talking to yourself.
As many times as I've reintroduced myself to the concept, you'd think I'd accept the fact that my perceptions and the story I tell myself are up to me. I decide how I will feel in all of life's journeys.
I decide if I'm going to accept past choices knowing that I can't replicate the feelings I experienced in those moments.
I decide if I'm going to fear the unknown or tell myself a story of courage.
In my journey through Strayed's book (which, by the way, was her chosen last name--so apropos), which I have finished in the midst of writing this post--seriously, that good--I also stumbled upon another TED talk (surprise surprise) that spoke to me on all that I was already reflecting on:
This is Rory Sutherland. I knew I'd love what he had to say as soon as he made reference to Daniel Pink--another TED talker to check out.
I took away a lot from his talk on our perspectives & how much they impact our reality, but in regards to what I've been thinking through, I couldn't get over something he said near the end of this talk:
"If your perception is much worse than the reality, then what are you doing trying to change the reality? It's like trying to improve the food in a restaurant that stinks [i.e. smells]."
"Choose your frame of reference and the perceived value--therefore actual value-- is completely transformed."
There's a lot to listen in to, but my takeaway was that sometimes I need to put on the brakes when I'm trying to find the next best thing or a life hack on Pinterest to solve my "problem". Sometimes, I just need to take a breath and change how I am perceiving what is in front of me.
I don't have to lift a finger, and yet, monumental shifts will take place.
Here's to a mental adventure into the wild....for now,
Kristy
Thanks to all of this lovely time, I've had the opportunity to scour the library for great reads. I've listed one or two previously, but other than those, I have had a very difficult time finding one of those good reads--you know, the oops-I-let-the-frozen-pizza-burn-because-I-was-so-zoned-in-I-didn't-hear-the-oven-timer-twenty-feet-away kind of book... not that that just happened to me 48 hours ago...
So I'm excited to share that my burnt pizza & all of my free time are enjoying wild by Cheryl Strayed. (see: not writing a post in a while because I'm enthralled)
For those who aren't familiar with the book, it is Cheryl's memoir of the life experiences that led her to hike the Pacific Crest Trail--to put it lightly, a daunting task. The movie was released just last year starring Reese Witherspoon
I admire her vulnerability about her challenging upbringing and her honesty about the unfortunate choices she made after her mother's passing. She engaged with various demons in response to all of life's adversity, but what I find most intriguing is her growth near the end of the novel as she refuses regret. I love her strength in owning her negative choices, but even more, her strength to forgive herself, understanding that's all she knew at that moment in her life.
It's so cliche' to claim to live without regrets, but the ability to forgive yourself knowing that, even if it wasn't your best effort, you did what you could with what you were dealt at that time is everything.
Large or small, whether our choices impacted others or only ourselves, or whether the choices of others impacted us, it's so freeing to just. let. go.
Cheryl wrote:
“I 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. Nothing could vanquish me.”
This passage took me right back to the pastor last Sunday--stop listening, and start talking to yourself.
As many times as I've reintroduced myself to the concept, you'd think I'd accept the fact that my perceptions and the story I tell myself are up to me. I decide how I will feel in all of life's journeys.
I decide if I'm going to accept past choices knowing that I can't replicate the feelings I experienced in those moments.
I decide if I'm going to fear the unknown or tell myself a story of courage.
In my journey through Strayed's book (which, by the way, was her chosen last name--so apropos), which I have finished in the midst of writing this post--seriously, that good--I also stumbled upon another TED talk (surprise surprise) that spoke to me on all that I was already reflecting on:
This is Rory Sutherland. I knew I'd love what he had to say as soon as he made reference to Daniel Pink--another TED talker to check out.
I took away a lot from his talk on our perspectives & how much they impact our reality, but in regards to what I've been thinking through, I couldn't get over something he said near the end of this talk:
"If your perception is much worse than the reality, then what are you doing trying to change the reality? It's like trying to improve the food in a restaurant that stinks [i.e. smells]."
"Choose your frame of reference and the perceived value--therefore actual value-- is completely transformed."
There's a lot to listen in to, but my takeaway was that sometimes I need to put on the brakes when I'm trying to find the next best thing or a life hack on Pinterest to solve my "problem". Sometimes, I just need to take a breath and change how I am perceiving what is in front of me.
I don't have to lift a finger, and yet, monumental shifts will take place.
Here's to a mental adventure into the wild....for now,
Kristy
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