A review by katebelt
Out of the Woods: A Memoir of Wayfinding by Lynn Darling

5.0

I love the writing and the thoughts in this book about finding and mapping your way, both physically and emotionally/mentally, in going through life transitions. I made several notes about doing some soul searching of my own, along with a new goal of learning how to map where you are, physically and geographically. Darling, who had a bout with breast cancer while living in rural Vermont, writes about disaster brain, when the adrenalin kicks in and you become focused on what you must do, vs. normal brain, which "on the other hand stumbles into a swamp of negative thoughts. You don't get to see what's up ahead or how to get there. obstacles loom ... or disguise themselves as worthwhile destinations of their own so you let them lead you astray or you walk part of the way around them but don't make it all the way back to your original course." She shares learning over the last solitary years that "it takes a long time to distinguish the small clear quiet voice within from the fickle winds of immediate desire ...for comfort, love, the blunting of anxiety or fear. "In that way, my instincts lied; they always had." I don't remember how I heard about this book, possibly from another Vermonter, Ellen Stimson. Read her too if you haven't already.