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. ~ page 51 of Wild by Cheryl Strayed
One thing about Wild that kept jumping out at me, was how brave the author was in her willingness to hike the trail alone. Even when Cheryl could have hiked with others, she often preferred to remain alone.
A woman alone. I think this is a good discussion topic.
I hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail with a friend in my early twenties (just a couple of years earlier than when Strayed went on her trip only ours was only for a week and on the opposite coast). When we got off the trail at the end of our hike and returned to civilization, all the locals we encountered were shocked that just the two of us would hike for so many nights out on the trail…two women alone.
Just as the forest ranger seemed to relish telling Strayed and her trail buddies all of his horror stories about all of the terrible things he’d witnessed, the locals did the same thing with us after we got off the trail for good. And boy, were we glad we hadn’t known more before our hike. It was hard enough to sleep. Afterwards, folks could not wait to tell us how the government wanted to expand the trail and how, in protest, local dissenters were booby-trapping the trails by hanging fish hooks at eye level. We heard about women disappearing, getting raped, etc. And on and on and on. I don’t necessarily remember all the stories, but I remember that they were delivered with emotion and amazement. How could we be so foolish?
Women are not supposed to be alone. It’s not safe. Right?
And yet the redemption that comes to Strayed seemed to depend on facing her journey, both external and internal, alone.
If you are familiar with The Hero’s Journey, as discussed by Joseph Campbell and others, you may remember that a Hero’s success in any particular quest typically has much to do with his alliances.
And yet, Strayed’s success in restoring her feeling of wholeness by going on her wilderness hike seemed dependent on her insistence on being alone, again and again, no matter how many times she connected and reconnected with others she came to know and like. She had alliances but so much of the story was about letting those old ties go.
Is this the Heroine’s Journey then? And is being alone an important factor in the Heroine’s Journey?
Have you been on a journey that was more like Strayed’s—more like a heroine’s journey? Or have you read other books that describe something similar?
Is Strayed describing The Heroine’s Journey…or is there no such thing separate from The Hero’s Journey? What do you think?
