Heather Anish Anderson > Quotes

“At least now I knew that my heart was wedded to the mountains--to the wild places. It was there, and there alone, that I was whole, contented, and blissful. No relationship, career, or wealth could ever take its place.”
― Heather "Anish" Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“I'd failed to live up to the expectations of my parents. I had not utilized my education in any real way and I'd given up on my marriage. For the first time, I accepted that I could not meet the expectations of others and make myself happy at the same time. Being true to myself had led me here--onto a wild trail in the middle of the night--not into a nine-to-five and the creation of my own family. I hated myself for not being able to conform happily. I hated myself for trying and failing. I loved myself for choosing to do what was right for me, no matter the cost. I forgave myself for trying to please others when I knew it wasn't right for me.”
― Heather "Anish" Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“I want to set a record. Not just any record, but an athletic record. One that everyone will know me for. One that my dad will be proud of. I don't know what it will be, but I will do it. I have a lot of weaknesses, but I have two critical strengths. I am stubborn and I am smart.”
― Heather "Anish" Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“No matter the outcome, I will be thankful for the strength of my body--for the blessing of being alive. For the opportunity to face the night.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“I refuse to let this suffering be for nothing. In fact, I refuse to suffer." I whispered to myself as I pushed each tent stake into the ground. "I can adapt. I am adapting." Another long day was done and I was forty-two miles closer to Canada.”
― Heather "Anish" Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“I had never thought that I was good enough, fast enough, strong enough, thin enough, pretty enough, smart enough, or any other “enough.” Nothing I did had ever met my own unattainable expectations of what “enough” was. Is that why I threw myself into the hardest physical endeavor I could think of? Was I simply desperate to do something that would make me approve of myself?”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“Did it matter whether or not I was normal if I was happy?”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“If you’re not scared, you aren’t pushing yourself. If you’re not pushing yourself, you’re not going to expand your limits. You’d just be living in the realm of the safe and stagnate.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“The river had not taken anything. Instead it had given me something great: hope.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“Having loved and lost—having hiked and come home—is better than never having hiked at all.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“It was a tidy equation—one that was easy to understand. Yet, somehow, he’d raised a daughter who did not follow a neat mathematical path. Her rocky route was unfathomable to him.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“Do you remember ever having a bad day on that hike? “No.” Why not? “I was hiking with determination and passion for adventure.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“I’d realized that everyone was beautifully scarred by life’s wounds. Before, I hadn’t thought of my scars as beautiful, but in facing my fears, and myself, in the dark hours I saw that scars denote healing—they tell our story of triumph. They proclaim our ability to overcome, and to face the Night.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“Then I merged onto the white-blazed path and didn’t look back.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“The truth is, I don’t know if I can or not. However, I think I can, and that is more than half the battle.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“The daylight following a full moon always seems warmer, softer. It vies for your love, lest you forsake it for the placid, blue ambiance of the night.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“How can I feel at home in so many places? Even ones so different from each other?”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“I was stronger than I had known. I was also hungry, sunburned, and lonely.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“It takes a certain level of insanity to seek a record on a twothousand-mile-long trail.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“A nemophilist, I loved dwelling in the womb of the forest.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“Trails took me on the adventures I craved and to beautiful, wondrous, wild places. I lost my heart and soul—and eventually 70 pounds—to the trails.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“You’re stronger than you believe. Just do your best.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“had to let go of my own expectations in order to find out what I was truly capable of doing.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“When I made my way down the trail, I would be on my own: reliant on the boxes I had shipped to myself and purchases I would make along the way, able to accept only spontaneous kindness from strangers—trail magic.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“For the first time, I accepted that I could not meet the expectations of others and make myself happy at the same time. Being true to myself had led me here—onto a wild trail in the middle of the night—not into a nine-to-five and the creation of my own family. I hated myself for not being able to conform happily. I hated myself for trying and failing. I loved myself for choosing to do what was right for me, no matter the cost. I forgave myself for trying to please others when I knew it wasn’t right for me.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“A surge of optimism overwhelmed me. At first, I couldn't quite identify the new emotion, but at last I realized what it was: I felt capable. Perhaps not capable of completing my goal, but at least capable of meeting challenges and solving problems as they came my way.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home

“I inhaled, mindful only of the mountain, the fog, and my thoughts.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“For the joy, beauty, focus, drive, depletion, pain, and chance to achieve the impossible are simply too alluring.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“Then, last night under the moon, I’d moved from self-acceptance to self-love.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Mud, Rocks, Blazes: Letting Go on the Appalachian Trail

“Somewhere along the way I learned to stop letting fear stop me. And that has made all the difference.”
― Heather Anish Anderson, Thirst: 2600 Miles to Home