β
This experience was both adding and subtracting to Ryan. The experience of life itself, the moments of silence and laughter, the time spent thinking and wondering and not thinking at all were all added. Subtracted from me were the previously held idea of who I was and the belief that my worth was found in a title, a salary, a position of responsibility, or anything that could be purchased by having those things. The scabs that covered the wounds of life were falling away, and under them, I found healthy skin, Ryanβs skin, parts of myself I hadnβt seen so clearly since trekking into the woods of the Appalachian Mountains of my childhood.
β
β
Ryan Benz (Wander: A Memoir of Letting go and Walking 2,000 Miles to a Meaningful Life.)