Mitra Salari

- I’m sorry that you have to walk a thousand miles to … - … Finish that sentence! But the ex-husband was out of words. I reckon that Cheryl Strayed went on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) to find herself; to heal her deeply-rooted traumas and unseen wounds with every step she takes in this mindful trip in the heart of the wilderness and through silence. Days after days hiking, retreating into the Mother Nature, Inhaling the smell of rosemary, watching every sunrise and the sunset, and gradually lightening her backpack weight gave her the opportunity to fix her relationship with her mother with whom she was in love, yet felt angry and resentful towards. A mother, who had married her alcoholic abusive father, and instead of regretting consciously chose “to live fully” every moment; but in Cheryl’s eyes she was so pathetic. Injecting heroin and promiscuity was Cheryl’s complex grief in reaction to her mother’s early death. When facing a dead-end in such dysfunctional response, she decides to tread in this symbol trail and embarks on the adventurous journey. Through this mythological trail she encounters a snake, a fox, a cow, a horse, and finally a llama. She encounters her deepest fears and frustrations, goes through fear and trembling and hope, learns patience and persistence, at a rainy fall throws up all the indigestible and in the end achieves an insight with which she can experience inner peace and acceptance. Cheryl had chosen the name “strayed” herself, meaning a wanderer, motherless, homeless, and deviated. But at the last scene, when she stood on the Bridge of Gods, she’s no longer strayed! Now she has perceived the deep paradox of Being: Responsibility and commitment to one’s self while being incredibly insignificant and only a tiny fraction of a grand whole!