Quotes about Personal Growth

We yogied this from day hikers for you.

Perhaps by now I'd come far enough that I had the guts to be afraid.

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.

boundaries have nothing to do with whether you love someone or not. They are not judgments, punishments, or betrayals. They are a purely peaceable thing: the basic principles you identify for yourself that define the behaviors that you will tolerate from others, as well as the responses you will have to those behaviors. Boundaries teach people how to treat you, and they teach you how to respect yourself.

It seemed like a long time and also it seemed like my trip had just begun, like I was only now digging into whatever it was I was out here to do. Like I was still the woman with the hole in her heart, but the hole had gotten ever so infinitesimally smaller.

The wanting was a wilderness and I had to find my own way out of the woods.

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.

I'd set out to hike the trail so that I could reflect upon my life, to think about everything that had broken me and make myself whole again.

Don't surrender all your joy for an idea you used to have about yourself that isn't true anymore.

Boundaries teach people how to treat you and they teach you how to respect yourself. Every last one of us can do better than give up.

The most terrible and beautiful and interesting things happen in a life. For some of you, those things have already happened. Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you, because it will.

The most terrible and beautiful and interesting things happen in a life. For some of you, those things have already happened. Whatever happens to you belongs to you. Make it yours. Feed it to yourself even if it feels impossible to swallow. Let it nurture you, because it will. I have learned this over and over and over again.

the thing that had grown in me that I'd remember

They made my life big. They contributed to an education that money can't buy.

The thing that would make me believe that hiking the Pacific Crest Trail was my way back to the person I used to be.

For once I didn't ache for a companion. For once the phrase a woman with a hole in her heart didn't thunder into my head. That phrase, it didn't even live for me anymore.

I grew up and left home for college in the Twin Cities at a school called St. Thomas,

I felt better than I'd ever felt in all of my life, now that the trail had taught me how horrible I could feel.

I'd thought I'd weep tears of cathartic sorrow and restorative joy each day of my journey.

When I say you don't have to explain what you're going to do with your life, I'm not suggesting you lounge around whining about how difficult it is. I'm suggesting you apply yourself in directions for which we have no accurate measurement. I'm talking about work. And love.

It is, I guess, exactly what you're stuck with if you can't get some perspective on this matter, sweet pea.

Testing yourself means relinquishing the things you believe have so far kept you safe or comfortable

I had to do something hard so I could know my strength. I had to do something scary so I could find my courage. I had to do something alone so I could see who I was.

Aside from the people I love, there is little I value more than my education.