Untamed

About the Author

Glennon Doyle is a renowned speaker, author, and activist whose work has touched the lives of many across the globe. Doyle’s journey from personal struggles with addiction, bulimia, and depression to becoming a voice for women’s empowerment is a testament to her resilience and courage. Her vulnerability and willingness to share her personal experiences have made her a relatable figure for many who face similar challenges.

Doyle’s first book, Carry On, Warrior, was a collection of essays that chronicled her life as a mother, wife, and woman struggling to find her place in the world. It was met with critical acclaim and established her as a powerful new voice in the literary world. Her second book, Love Warrior, was a memoir that detailed her battle with infidelity and the subsequent journey toward self-discovery and healing. However, it is Untamed, her third book, that truly encapsulates her evolution as both a writer and a woman determined to live life on her own terms.

Untamed is more than just a memoir; it is a rallying cry for women everywhere to break free from societal expectations and embrace their true selves. Doyle’s ability to intertwine her personal story with universal themes of liberation, self-love, and authenticity has resonated with millions, making Untamed a cultural phenomenon and a New York Times bestseller.

Main Idea

Untamed is a powerful exploration of what it means to live authentically in a world that often tries to tame us. Doyle’s central thesis is that women are born wild—free, intuitive, and full of life—but are gradually conditioned by society to suppress their true selves in order to fit into narrow, predefined roles. She challenges women to break free from these societal chains, embrace their wildness, and create lives that are true reflections of their inner selves.

Doyle’s book is structured around her personal journey of self-discovery, beginning with her realization that she had been living a life that was not her own. She describes the various ways in which she had conformed to societal expectations—becoming a dutiful wife, a self-sacrificing mother, and a model citizen—only to find herself deeply unhappy and disconnected from her true self. Untamed is a manifesto for reclaiming that lost self, with Doyle offering her readers a roadmap for breaking free from the constraints that society places on women.

Table of Contents

• Introduction: Captivity and the Pathways to Freedom
• The Cheetah
• Pathway #1: Embracing Emotion
• Pathway #2: Embracing Intuition
• Pathway #3: Embracing Imagination
• Pathway #4: Embracing Deconstruction
• Conclusion: Reconstruction and Rebirth

Introduction: Captivity and the Pathways to Freedom

Glennon Doyle opens Untamed with a powerful metaphor that encapsulates the essence of the book: the image of a wild animal in captivity. She describes feeling like a cheetah in a zoo—born to be wild and free, but confined within the bars of societal expectations. This sense of captivity, she explains, is something that many women experience as they navigate the pressures and limitations imposed on them by society.

Doyle’s experience of captivity began in childhood, where she was taught to be pleasing, agreeable, and self-sacrificing. These lessons were reinforced throughout her life, as she took on the roles of wife, mother, and "good woman." But underneath the surface, Doyle felt a deep sense of dissatisfaction and a longing for something more. She realized that she had been living a life that was not her own—a life shaped by the expectations of others rather than her own desires and instincts.

This realization was the catalyst for Doyle’s journey toward freedom. She identified four pathways that helped her break free from the societal constraints that had been holding her back: embracing emotion, intuition, imagination, and deconstruction. These pathways, she argues, are essential for any woman who wants to reclaim her true self and live authentically.

The Cheetah

The metaphor of the cheetah is central to Doyle’s narrative. On a trip to the zoo with her children, Doyle observed a cheetah named Tabitha, who had been trained to chase a stuffed animal around a pen for the amusement of zoo visitors. Doyle saw herself in the cheetah—born wild, but tamed and confined by society. This image became a powerful symbol for the way women are conditioned to suppress their true selves in order to fit into the narrow roles prescribed for them.