There was only the stillness and silence of that water: what a mountain and a wasteland and an empty bowl turned into after the healing began. - Cheryl Strayed

had to change. I had to change was the thought that drove me in those months of planning. Not into a different person, but back to the person I used to be — strong and responsible, clear-eyed and driven, ethical and good.

They realized that, in fact, the lie wasn't safe. That it threatened their existence more profoundly than the truth did.

I’d made the arguably unreasonable decision to take a long walk alone on the PCT in order to save myself. When I believed that all the things I’d been before had prepared me for this journey. But nothing had or could. Each day on the trail was the only possible preparation for the one that followed. And sometimes even the day before didn’t prepare me for what would happen next.