Untamed – Glennon Doyle

Caged cheetah coming alive – or not? Are we trapped?

Imagine Directions Gatherings Sparks Gardens Bases Talks Vows Polar bears

Life covers many topics and that is what we learn about in this book

A woman who, after years of suffering, finally gathers her courage and walks her own path. Year after year, Glennon lives as if in a fog, unable to find her way out. An unfaithful husband, alcohol, addiction, grief, frustration and abandonment, this is the author’s everyday life. Her struggles are countless. I suffer with her. 

The recognition factor is difficult, but sometimes I wake up and see some of the similarities that Glennon describes. Isn’t it strange that without knowing, you actually reflect on your own situation using the stories of others?

Caged cheetah coming alive – or not? Are we trapped?

In the first chapter, Glennon describes herself as a caged cheetah. The wild lives inside the animal, with no opportunity to live wildly, freely as it is meant to do. I stop for a second and think at society at large. My interest is striking and automatically I start reflecting. Are we trapped? Do we have to follow and obey to everything society expects of us? How do we become free? Is more possible than we think? Freedom cries out, but what does it mean? Why do we have to be mainstream and like everyone else?

               “Life, sleep walking through life. Until the day you wake up and wonder what on earth you’ve been doing. Why am I the way I am and which circumstances have influenced me to make certain decisions?”.

The book is straightforward and honest words permeate the book. The truth may sting for some of the readers, sometimes even for me. I have to be honest there. A little hard to put my finger on exactly what and why, but enough to make me feel pointed at. Not in the sense that I’m wrong, but something gnaws at my soul.

Throughout the book I ask myself many questions, more than I do when I read other books. 

Now I can’t put myself into Glennon’s life as an alcoholic, an addict, and sad, despairing, dead inside. To relate to such a life is not possible. I am free and feel inner joy. Longing, faith, hope and curiosity. I have all these things. Unfortunately, Glennon doesn’t, or did not.

The book keeps waking me up. I stay awake and my thoughts go round and round, in circles and loops, disappearing, coming back with new questions.

Glennon describes brief episodes from her life as a mother where she remembers coming to life and looking at her life and the lives of others with different eyes. The disappointment on her part of having wasted so many precious years literally drowning her sorrows is heart-breaking. When that day comes when she meets Abby, the meaning of life one might almost say, in addition to Glennon’s three jewels, i.e. the children, a seed of hope and longing is sown for Glennon. It takes a long time for her to let it flourish because she is afraid, very afraid, terrified in fact, because what happens if it is nurtured.

Conclusion: That by looking back we can see what we learned about ourselves and how that can help us in the future.

Why read this book

When reading about someone else´s life, we can get clarity about our own needs and behaviour, which gives us clarity in a way we did not know about.

Three main take-aways from reading this book:

1. That the true you is sometimes hidden in your soul and is waiting to be found

2. Even if we think that we have life planned out, the result can be different

3. Being true to ourselves is of very high importance

Questions and reflections:

1. How blindly do you believe everything you read and hear?

2. What have you been willing to work hard for and fight for to achieve?

3. How would you have reacted and done if there were bad rumors going around about what kind of bad person you are?

“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” — George Bernard Shaw