I didn't feel sad or happy. I didn't feel proud or ashamed. I only felt that in spite of all the things I'd done wrong, in getting myself here, I'd d… - Cheryl Strayed

There's no way to know what makes one thing happen and not another. What leads to what. What destroys what. What causes what to flourish or die or take another course.

The thing about hiking the Pacific Coast Trial, the thing that was so profound to me that summer — and yet also, like many things, so very simple — was how few choices I had and how often I had to do the thing I least wanted to do. How there was no escape or denial. (69)

Fear begets fear. Power begets power. I willed myself to beget power. And it wasn't long before I actually wasn't afraid.