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It’s true that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. But no one says that strength doesn’t come at a price.
DO YOU EVER FEEL ALONE in a crowded room? That when other people laugh, you don’t get the joke? That everyone knows something—the secret to life, the true meaning of happiness—that you will forever fail to understand? That is the way I have always felt.
And part of brilliance isn’t just solving a problem; it’s seeing a problem no one else realizes is a problem yet.
The truth is, genius and depression have always gone hand in hand. Which was why I spent so many afternoons, sitting at the piano, playing and playing, because my father said my music soothed his spirit and allowed him to rest in a way a truly great mind could never completely be at ease. I did my best to music the sadness out of him.
You don’t become a teacher without having some level of optimism. And you don’t stay in the field if you don’t believe that everyone, from bitter teens to burnt-out administrators, can change.
MEMORY IS A FUNNY THING. There are moments that sear into our minds. If we’re lucky, it’s because we’re happy—first kiss, wedding day, birth of a child. The kind of experience where you both have it and stand outside of it because your brain recognizes this is something so special that you’re going to want to relive it.
“I’m going to have to kick his ass, aren’t I?” “See, you sound happier already.”
“People think trauma is mental,” I say abruptly. “I’m mentally scarred, damaged, take your pick. And with enough therapy, time, my mind will heal and, ta-da, one day I’ll be all better again. But trauma isn’t just mental. It’s physiological. It’s an adrenal system that’s totally burnt out, so that I spend days at a time in fight mode.” I realize as I’m describing this that one of my knees is bouncing uncontrollably. “Followed by crashes where I can barely get out of bed.
The worst part of being a survivor: There’s no security blanket anymore. You can’t assume the worst won’t happen, because it did. And none of your screaming changed that.
she arrived bearing gifts: a tray of four fancy coffee drinks with whipped cream and chocolate drizzles and peppermint pieces. Not just caffeine, but caffeine and intense amounts of sugar married together in a concoction designed to cause an immediate jolt to the central nervous system.
Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you.
“Great minds think alike,” she said, as she took Patti Di Lucca’s call. “Though fools seldom differ,” Di Lucca finished the proverb.
“Conrad is Batman? Turned into a lone crime fighter to avenge his parents’ death?” “I’m surrounded by nutjobs with no respect for law enforcement,” D.D. agrees.
