Quotes by Aspen Matis, Girl in the Woods: A Memoir

“The trees were friendly, they gave me rest and shadowed refuge. Slipping through them, I felt safe and competent. My whole body was occupied. I had little energy to think or worry.”

“Beneath hot sun, desert roses bloomed. Under cold moon, I still refused to.”

“And so, despite the complex web of paths, waterfalls, cliffs, as a hiker wanders downhill, drainages merge, faint, abstract paths coalesce, thicken, until there is one path the one, natural, trodd...”

“I was passive by nature. I had always been. Arguing felt unnatural and uncomfortable. I was always agreeing even when I didnt really, instinctively looking for ways to forfeit power, to become more...”

“This was trail magic. Sea Breezes fire, his light, his heat, his life, remained, their salvation. It is a fact that all drainages, if followed downhill, lead to the same lowland water body. Lost an...”

“I saw now that bad men existed who would take advantage of any weakness and insecurity they found when violating a victim. I saw it was not my fault; I did not choose to be raped or kidnapped. But ...”

“There was so little I wanted to carry. Packing my backpack took me all of four minutes”

“The bravest thing I ever did was leave there. The next bravest thing I did was come back, to make myself heard.”

“Id believed I needed to be steady in myself before I could function with othersbut surviving alone no longer felt like a good way either.”

“On this walk I'd had so much time and space to actually figure out who I was without my mother's influence. I understood now: the things that my mother had found made her happy were not the same as...”

“Still I walked into the snow, moving to keep warm, burning precious energy searching for an answer I couldnt think of. I didnt turn back, compelled to continue without the trail. I didnt want to ri...”

“And if I'd be left alone in the woods again, I smiled to think how I'd find new gifts and thrive. At the end of a long trail and the beginning of the rest of my life, I was committed to always lovi...”

“I saw for the first time that I could stop giving people the power to make me feel disrespected. In my anger I began to see the absurdity of allowing this boy to shame me.”

“I had feared this end, wondered where I would go from it, from the moment I first stepped on this footpath in the desert. But I found I was not afraid of reaching it now. I was happy. I hadn't foun...”

“I realized that the most empowering important thing was actually simply taking care of myself.”

“I was promising myself strength.I had to write it, say it, make the effort and fake it before I actually believed I could do it.”

“I was the director of my life, it was already true, and I would soon lead myself to my dreamed-of destinations.It was the task of my one thousand miles of solitude.”

“I no longer needed to peel myself of my skin, or to hide. To Dash the colorless ephemeral things that existed just beneath my surface were as vivid as the beauty marks he traced on my cheek.”

“You dont need extra food, extra water, extra clothing for extra warmth anything extra. You dont need soap or deodorant. Everything you carry you should need daily.”

“The way to self-love and admiration is to behave like someone whom you love and admire.”