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May 29 - May 30, 2024
Being a little damaged does not make someone broken. It just means they have better stories to tell and cooler scars.
No one is less human than anyone else. It was an invaluable lesson I took with me throughout my life. The president of any corporation I’ve worked for gets the exact same smile and greeting as the janitor who mops the building’s floors. Do me a personal favor and try this in your life. You have no idea how much it’ll mean to someone who too often feels invisible. Everyone just wants to feel seen.
No matter what your circumstance, if you provide kids with creative ammunition, they will blast holes into an oppressive reality and conceive limitless worlds.
It might be hard to reconcile the fact that I wore denim booty shorts for a living with the fact that I don’t have daddy issues. No, when I’m thirsty for a pity party, or blaming someone for my adolescent proclivity to fall in love with gay men, I fill up at the deep dark well of maternal abandonment.
As humans we are programmed to crave motherly comfort, despite ourselves. We want to be enveloped in protective warmth. To have an all-knowing blanket of safety who will stroke our hair and then rock us to sleep. An unconditional shelter from an unforgiving world. No matter how old we are, it is something our hearts will find a way to ache for. No matter how big and strong we grow, there will always be an innate urge to run to Mommy when we fear the monsters underneath our bed. But sometimes the person we depend on for that comfort becomes the thing we fear the most. Sometimes we just draw the
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I didn’t like meek, Chihuahua AJ anymore. I needed to be stronger. Did it mean I was being disowned? As if I should be punished for not being afraid of a man with a balled-up fist? For standing up for myself and for another person? What kind of message was that to send to your own daughter? That cowering is a correct response? Not only was I upset about all the possibilities, in a strange way I felt empowered. I was becoming a different person. And I liked who she was.
My heart was a messy blender filled with appreciation, embarrassment, swallowed pride, and pure, unadulterated joy. Though it physically pained me to have to rely on anyone, let alone strangers, for help, I couldn’t help but feel deeply moved. Kids had done something kinder, braver, and more generous than any grown-up I knew. And there was not one well-off person in that whole school. We were all flat broke, so the fact that they shared what little they had to help one of their own succeed is enough to occasionally restore my faith in humanity.
“If you have a deep cut, you go to a doctor and get a stitch. If you have a cold, you go to a doctor and get medicine. So what makes having something wrong with your brain any different?”
“Life is like a wheel. Some days you’re on top and some days you’re on the bottom. What’s the fucking difference?”
People tend to find too much comfort in half measures. They want everyone to like them and so they never say anything too offensive. They never pick a side in an argument so they don’t lose a future ally. They don’t allow themselves to love completely so they avoid getting hurt. They never take too strong a stand on what they believe in for fear of standing alone.
The hardest thing in the world is to accept that something is wrong with you, face the uphill road to recovery ahead, and realize that none of it makes you less than human.
Just taking the time to put your mental health first, acknowledging that it deserves respect and care, and accepting help when you need it, can save your life. You are worth saving. And you are not alone.
In general, it’s a good rule to just avoid fighting about guys altogether throughout life—with friends, other women, etc. Most guys are not worth fighting over. Trust me. The good ones will fight for you. The rest can kindly fuck off.
When you are at your lowest, there really is nowhere else to go but up. My foundation was cracked. The whole building needed to be torn down and reconstructed. Every day felt like knocking down walls and gathering bricks. But brick by tedious brick, I would rebuild and become someone better.
For two years I had practiced as and played the role of the babyface on the independent circuit, but for some reason known only to my frayed nerves, I cut a heel promo. I insulted everyone watching me and talked myself up like a conceited villain. It was nice to find out that my fight-or-flight instinct was to be a total dick.
When you finally live out your biggest dream, the next step must always be: Dream bigger.
And misogynists, please shut the fuck up. Treat women the way you would want someone to treat your daughter, sister, mother, or wife—or scratch that—treat women how you want to be treated. Step up. Be kinder. Be smarter. Be better. Or just smile real pretty for me, so I can punch you in the teeth.
And so for as long as I can remember I loudly declared that I would never get married. I couldn’t understand receiving that kind of unconditional love from someone who did not walk on all fours. I had been taught love and tenderness was dependent on my behavior and on what I could provide. I just didn’t trust in the idea that anyone would love me forever. That sounded like a hell of a long time. If I didn’t know what to make of my own mother’s love, if it came and went with the tide, how would I ever trust a stranger’s?
“You’re really good at playing crazy,” Vince McMahon, the owner of the company, told me after I returned backstage from an in-ring temper tantrum. But to me, I wasn’t playing crazy. I was discovering my superpower.
• Reject every guy who approaches you. Even if he was just going to ask for the time, reject him anyway. If he keeps trying, he must really like you. • Remember that a partner will only respect you as much as you respect yourself. • Don’t go looking for it. If Fate is real, tempt her by declaring you are willing to die a virgin and live comfortably in your asexual sweat suits. • Have a kick-ass career. It’ll be hard to give a shit about the other side of the bed being empty when it’s filled with stacks of cash, keeping you warm. How to Keep Love • Consistently knock your partner down a few
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A real woman has the strength of character to face conflict head-on, carry herself politely throughout it, and to move on when she’s said all she has to say.
All a woman needs to succeed is the guts to kick the door of opportunity open. All she needs is to be brave enough to be herself.
It has been a source of pain, but it has also been a fountain of strength. So save the pity. I am not a victim to mental illness. I am the hero of this story and I do not need to be saved.
