Brave Enough by Cheryl Strayed

[katekintailbc]

Brave Enough
by Cheryl Strayed

I saw this book in the library and was drawn to it because I've enjoyed Wild and seeing Cheryl speak in person twice. It's kind of funny to me that someone would put together a collection of his or her own quotes. But once I started reading, I'm SO glad this book exists. Many of the quotes are about relationships and life goals, the latter of which was useful and inspiring to me. Here are a few quotes I especially liked:
Don't surrender all your joy
for an idea you used
to have about yourself that
isn't true anymore.

You don't have to get a job that
makes others feel comfortable about what
they perceive as your success. You don't
have to explain what you plan to do with your life....
You have to pay your own electric bill.
You have to be kind. You have to give it all you've got.
You have to find people who love you truly
and love them back with the same truth.
But that's all.

Nobody's going to
do your life for you.
You have to do it yourself, whether
you're rich or poor, out of money
or rating it in, the beneficiary
of ridiculous fortune or terrible
injustice. And you have to do it no
matter what is true. No matter what
is hard. No matter what unjust, sad,
sucky things have befallen you. Self-
pity is a dead-end road. You make
the choice to drive down it. It's up to
you to decide to stay parked there
or to turn around and drive out.

And this one that reminds me of the Winchester boys...
Parents teach their children how to be
warriors, to give them the confidence
to get on the horse to ride into battle
when it's necessary to do so. If you didn't
get that from your parents, you have to
teach yourself.