Leslie F*cking Jones

by Leslie Jones

You better live because muthafuckas be dyin’.

The psychology of what I was doing is clear: When your power is taken away, you need to reassert it somehow, and what better way than dominating something less powerful than you? I found something more innocent than me and took my agony out on it, and I was trying to regain control because it had been taken away from me.

It hurt, but more than the hurt, it meant that I was free. So even if I was hurt, I wouldn’t have ever gone back there.

it was a crazy decision, but an easy one.

Your life might be interesting to you, but you haven’t lived long enough to know how to tell someone about it.”

There’s a difference between fighting and defending yourself, and I’ve learned both: if you can carry yourself properly and show the world that you won’t be fucked with, you probably won’t ever have to fight.

I take up space in your head for a reason, I thought. If I didn’t mean shit, you wouldn’t talk to me.

You can try all the tricks you want; you’re still going to pay the piper. What if I’m supposed to lose? Well, then I guess I’m going to lose. If I’m supposed to win, I’m going to win. Whatever my journey’s supposed to be is going to be my journey—same for everybody. Change is going to be, no matter what—that’s the only thing that doesn’t change. Life is a constant:

because people just hate not even being in a real relationship with you. It’s a form of death. It is cold in your darkness.”

“Know who you are because if you don’t, they will make you what they want.”

It all goes together to make up who you are. Go through it all—it’s yours. You should love it and own it as yours. It’s what helps you love yourself, and all of you, not just the good parts. You may not be perfect, but you are somebody, and you have a story. You don’t need to be anyone but who you are. So many of us are trying to escape from who we are. Stand in yourself. I swear, if you start that work, you will be amazed to find out you are awesome. There is only one you.

life is life. It’s not supposed to be easy all the time, and it’s never as easy as we want it to be. But live through your trauma, stop running from yourself—you are your best friend. Think about it—would you let someone hurt your best friend? No. Do the same for yourself. You will get the biggest reward: happiness, even in a storm. Grant yourself some grace because life can be short, but it can be long as fuck, too. You wake up every day and you hope you make it back to your bed safely. You hope you get good sleep, and you hope you wake the fuck up. That’s it.