Cheryl Strayed, author of the brave and insightful memoir Wild, offers wisdom on finding the extraordinary in the ordinary, talks about the ways that hiking the Pacific Crest Trail transformed her, and shares what she learned from writing about the experience. Anyone who is in transition, facing grief, or writing about life experiences will find comfort and affirmation in Strayed’s talk.

Here’s a sneak preview of Strayed’s wisdom: “Our deepest treasures are buried in the crappy detritus in our life,” she says in this talk. “So much of that reach for the extraordinary is bound up in the self-doubt, the self-loathing, the darkness, the difficulty, the things that we bury…. What we accomplish is built on what we failed at, what we tried out, what we hope to do better someday.”

This video runs 16 minutes, 47 seconds. Watching it will be time well-spent!

Read more wisdom from Cheryl Strayed.