Exciting Times

by Naoise Dolan

you still put more time and energy into showing you don’t love me

than anyone has ever put into showing me they do.

I enjoyed conversations where I wasn’t attempting to persuade anyone, where I just said precisely what I thought. I got tired of making myself acceptable.

“You keep describing yourself as this uniquely damaged person, when a lot

of it is completely normal. I think you want to feel special—which is fair, who doesn’t—but you won’t allow yourself to feel special in a good way, so you tell yourself you’re especially bad.”