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Kindle Notes & Highlights
The closeness of the ledge keeps me sharp.
I still wrestle with demons that won’t leave me be. They never go away; they just get quiet enough so I can think straight.
Was I getting out or running away?
not everyone’s year on this Earth is created equal.
You valued it more because it wasn’t so easily available.
We cannot be what we do not see.
That’s its nature—just enough to hook, never enough to satisfy.
Fear blocks the flow.
You can’t heal what you never reveal.
That kind of situation was so normal to me, but my body was telling me, No, Michael, this is not normal. My shaking hands was my body telling me that. There’s the trauma of life in the projects, and there’s the survivors’ means of processing it. This kind of violence is so rampant, so habitual, that we put on blinders just to get through the day. We normalize the abnormal.
not. So I had more money and more time on my hands: it was the devil’s workshop.
My demons had room to play. On
saying I’ve never met a strong person with an easy past.
When we spoke, I felt known and, more important, seen.
“Remember what they say: those closest to the problem are closest to the solution.”
We have normalized the abnormal so completely we don’t even realize it.
you have a plan, goal, focus.”
There are higher levels of PTSD in kids from some communities of color than soldiers returning from war.
You can’t heal what you never reveal.
Through a mix of grace and stubborn will, I managed to get through the night without getting high. But I have to keep my guard up. I know it always comes back around; you’re never free for good.
We cannot forget that those closest to the problem are closest to the solution.
We can’t wait for people to invite us to the table. We have to build our own table.
far. It’s like I was shoving my shoulder into a door never expecting it to open up, and then I fell into the room.
