Lessons I Learned from The Walk

I recently read "The Walk" by Richard Paul Evans which was about a man who lost everything and thinks he has nothing left to live for and so he decides to take a walk across America. This is the beginning of a series, and so he has only crossed his state of Washington so far, but already he has had many interesting experiences. I love all of Richard Paul Evans' books and one thing that I love about them is that there are so many quotable and inspiring lines. For most of his books that I have read I have gone through and typed up many of the quotes. This book didn't have quite as many as the other books by him that I've read, but there were still a lot of good lines, which I included in this blog. Reading the book has really made me think about my walk in this life... all of the people whose paths have crossed mine and have had an influence on me...all of my unique experiences... developing and growing to become who I am meant to be...seeing how I can make a difference in others' journeys...and all of the lessons that I have learned.

Here were some of my favorite lines from the book...

"Kierkegaard wrote that 'we understand our lives backward, but must live them forward.' He was right, of course; but in looking back on the hammer strikes that chisel and shape our souls we understand more than our lives and even ourselves--we begin to comprehend the sculptor."


"I do not know what lies beyond the horizon, only that the road I walk was meant for me. It is enough."


"The assumption of time is one humanity's greatest follies: we tell ourselves that there's always tomorrow, when we can no more predict tomorrow than we can the weather. Procrastination is the thief of dreams."


"...the only real sign of life is growth. And growth requires pain. So to choose life is to accept pain. Some people go to such lengths to avoid pain that they give up on life. They bury their hearts, or they drug or drink themselves numb until they don't feel anything anymore. The irony is, in the end their escape becomes more painful than what they're avoiding."


"Some people in this world have stopped looking for beauty, then wonder why their lives are so ugly. Don't be like them. The ability to appreciate beauty is of God. Especially in one another. Look for beauty in everyone you meet and you'll find it. Everyone carries divinity with them. And everyone we meet has something to impart."


"It's a rare human who spends more time looking for truth than protecting their already-held beliefs."


"This is what I've learned. We can spend our days bemoaning our losses, or we can grow from them. Ultimately the choice is ours. We can be victims of circumstances or masters of our fate, but make no mistake, we cannot be both."