Cheryl Strayed on Traveling for Reinvention, Intimacy in Writing, and Listening to Your Wise Inner Sage

Lifted

In our Season 3 premiere, Tembi Locke welcomes bestselling author and literary powerhouse Cheryl Strayed (Wild, Tiny Beautiful Things, Dear Sugar) for a heartfelt conversation on the transformative power of travel, writing, and grief. Together, they explore how travel - across landscapes, emotions, and memory - serves as a catalyst for healing and self-discovery. Cheryl opens up about her earliest travel memories, her creative process, and how walking the Pacific Crest Trail became a metaphor for rebuilding after loss. They discuss her latest memoir-in-progress (about the journeys that changed her), her beloved newsletter Dear Sugar, and how writers can stay grounded while navigating the messy process of creation. From navigating grief to mapping out meaning with butcher paper, Cheryl and Tembi unpack what it means to truly listen to your "wise inner sage" and how staying present can unlock the deepest intimacy in art and life. They also discuss Cheryl’s healing trip back to her childhood home in Pennsylvania with her sister, an emotional reckoning decades in the making. If you’re seeking creative inspiration, emotional clarity, or simply permission to begin again, this conversation is a beautiful reminder that healing is not linear, and we can always find our way back to ourselves.

Key themes: personal growth, travel as transformation, grief, writing process, healing through creativity, emotional resilience, family, intimacy, self-trust

Mentioned: Pacific Crest Trail, Wild (book and film), Tiny Beautiful Things (book and Hulu adaptation), Torch, Dear Sugar newsletter

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices