Hello all you happy people. I am
back after a long hiatus and it feels great to be writing again. As the title
suggests, I am starting a new series where I talk about movies that have made
an impact on me. I am starting off with one of my favourite movies of all time,
Wild. It stars Reese Witherspoon and is based on Cheryl Strayed’s memoir of the
same name. It is the story of a recently divorced Cheryl who hikes the Pacific
Crest Trail (PCT) for 94 days, all by herself. It is about her journey, her
struggle before and on the PCT. It
essentially is the story about healing and rediscovering yourself.
The movie begins with Cheryl
starting her hike from Mojave dessert. On the first day, she struggles with
everything, right from her bag to the tent, to cooking a meal (she brings wrong
fuel for the stove), to sleeping at night. For 8 days, she continues walking,
but she is constantly thinking, “Should I stay (on the PCT) or should I go?” On
day 8, she meets a construction worker who takes her home, helps her in getting
the fuel for her stove and his wife serves her warm meal, which Cheryl hasn’t
had since 8 days. On day 14, she meets other hikers at a camp called Kennedy
Meadows. There a person named Ed helps her in decreasing the weight of her
backpack, by throwing out stuff she doesn’t need. He also helps her with the
shoes, which were a size smaller for her. After that, she walks through the
snow for days, lost for direction. She still continues her trail, getting
bruises here and there, losing her shoes, walking with floaters duct taped to
her feet. On day 49, she finally gets new shoes. On day 58, she runs out of
water, meets creepy hikers near a water body and runs away scared. On day 62,
she reaches Oregon, there on the sea shore, she finally lets go of her feelings
for her ex-husband. She writes to him saying, “Dear Paul, I woke up this
morning and wrote your name on sand. I have done that on every beach I’ve been
to ever since I met you. But I am not going to do it again. I am ready to move
on.” She continues her journey meeting fellow hikers along the way who name her
“The queen of PCT”. On day 80, she meets a child named Kyle and his
grandmother. Kyle tells her that she is staying with his grandmother because
his parents have problems, to which Cheryl replies, “Everybody has problems. But
problems don’t stay problems, they turn into something else.” After this
meeting, she finally breaks down missing her dead mother. On her final day, she
reaches the ‘Bridge of gods’, feeling satisfied, thanking the trail for
everything it had taught her and everything she couldn’t yet know.
In the flashbacks it is revealed
that Cheryl had an abusive father, who her mother later leaves. Her mother, Bobbi
raises Cheryl and her brother single-handedly, she takes classes in the morning
and works in the evening. Bobbi is really the love of Cheryl’s life. She is
happy, loves her children unconditionally and is full of life. There is a scene
where she says, “We have nothing, but we are rich in love”. Bobbi is diagnosed
with cancer and dies at the age of 45. And after that Cheryl goes into depression.
She then cheats on her husband several times, does drugs and gets pregnant with
some random guy that she sleeps with. While she goes to a store to buy the
pregnancy test, she comes across a guide to PCT and it stays in her mind. She
gets an abortion, breaks down before her friend and says, “I don’t know when I
became such a piece of shit. I was strong, responsible. I wanted things in
life. I was good you know. I ruined my marriage and now I am ruining the rest
of my life. I gotta walk myself back to the woman my mother thought I was.” And
that’s when she decides to go on the PCT.
Cheryl’s journey is so inspiring
for me and quiet relatable too. I had a tough time growing up and I have been
on my own, emotionally since I was very young, I mean yes I had my parents,
family and friends, but I am a loner and an introvert. Last few years have been
extremely tough for me. I lost jobs, I was failing at every single step that I took,
all my decisions were turning out to be wrong, I didn’t feel like I was enough,
insecurities crept in and my mental health suffered. Everyone around me was
moving ahead and I was stuck at this dark place, carrying a burden of being a
loser and a disaster at life. I had lost myself, trying to find a purpose and I
didn’t know where I was going. I still am trying to figure out my best self,
still trying to heal my heart but I know this for sure that I love my life too
deeply to quit midway. I don’t know what life has in store for me, but I will
continue fighting for everything I want, till the very end. Cheryl’s story
restored my belief in the fact that if you keep going, despite of all the obstacles,
you eventually get there, and it’s all beautiful in the end. There is this one
particular portion of Cheryl’s monologue at the end that has stayed with me and
I want you all to take away from this article. It goes, “After I lost myself in
the wilderness of my grief, I found my way out of the woods. I didn’t even know
where I was going until I got there”.
If you have any movies that have
made a powerful impact on you, let me know in the comments below. I would love
to hear your stories. I take your leave here. Have a great week and I will see
you all very soon.
