Permanent Record

by Mary H.K. Choi

Honestly, it scares me the way I end up living out the aftermath of decisions I don’t remember making.

To this day I have no inkling as to what I care about the most. I care about everything equally until I care about so many things I get overwhelmed and care about nothing at all.

You don’t get to start over every day; you get to keep going.”

It is honestly so terrifying—so intolerably humiliating—to want anything and to declare it.

“Nothing that is a manifestation of your creative energies is stupid,” he says. “Doing nothing is the only stupid.”

“Do you enjoy doing anything for the sake of doing it? Life isn’t a destination. It’s the continual practice of things that make you wiser and happier.

Art is fueled by longing but you must learn to want what you have, not get what you want. It’s the only way to stop suffering. I pray that you’ll know this meaning by the time you’re my age.”