You are a Goddamn Cheetah!

Have you met Tabitha?

She’s a Cheetah.

Born and raised in captivity, yet…

The wild in her eyes lets us know she yearns for more.

~

“She’d sigh and say,

“I should be grateful. I have a good enough life here.

It’s crazy to long for what doesn’t even exist.”

I’d say:

Tabitha, you are not crazy.

You are a goddamn cheetah.”

-Glennon Doyle-

Untamed

Untamed is a compilation of short stories that emphasize important, transitional moments in Glennon Doyle’s life while elaborating on the meaningful lessons that she has learned along the way. A philosopher and excruciatingly self-aware author, Doyle is able to encapsulate complex realizations through storytelling that resonates with the woman who knows she was meant for more.

Understanding the undue pressures assigned to boys and girls at birth - then working against them - is only one of many inspirational messages of Untamed. Riddled with heavy topics such as bulimia, infidelity, divorce, sexuality, and more, Doyle is able to gracefully reflect and teach her readers how to ground themselves during moments of duress and discontent. She does not sugarcoat the experiences of her life, nor does she catastrophize them; she uses her unique perspective to honestly include the reader in her journey.

This method of storytelling opens the reader’s eyes to the many ways in which they can reflect upon their own experiences throughout life. It’s enlightening and terrifying at the same time. Uncovering hard truths and diving into realizations that were shrouded by suppressed trauma are not necessarily the elements that make this book a New York Times bestseller.

The draw here is in the raw connectedness that you feel while sharing authentic moments with someone who understands. You are given permission to sit in the difficulties that life inevitably brings and then encouraged, empowered, and elevated to a place where you can emerge from the darkness, giving into the ‘Knowing’ that directs you to your truest self.