You Are Here

by David Nicholls

she was surprised that recalling misery had not made her miserable.

It’s true I do have time and freedom and I love it, sometimes. But the notion that I should be “making the most of it”, travelling the world or out every night, there’s a kind of tyranny in that too, that life has to be full, like your life’s a hole that you have to keep filling, a leaky bucket, and not just fulfilled but seen to be fulfilled.

The one without. No one wants to be defined by the thing you don’t have, whether it’s a kid or a partner, and people are obsessed, especially people in a relationship. You’ll be out somewhere and people you’ve barely met will ask you,