More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“The thing about chronic illness is that you never know what you’re going to feel like when you wake up every day. It’s a new battle, because the good days don’t mean that you don’t hurt. They just mean that you can tolerate the pain better. I could wake up tomorrow and struggle to get out of bed.
“What if the damage is too much?” Grandma’s steps stop. “Healing doesn’t mean the damage never existed. It just means that it can no longer control our lives. I sincerely hope you remember that. I know a hurt soul when I see one, boy. You and Emery are one and the same, which means you’re also tough. It doesn’t matter what battle you’re fighting. It only matters that you’re willing to fight.”
Fiction is the perfect platform to talk about the things nobody wants to have conversations about in real life. When you’re reading about a character’s struggles, you find ways to relate from a distance. It doesn’t always hurt as much, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt at all. Chronic illness is real. Death is real. People don’t like to read about those things because they know it could happen to them. Distance or not, you put yourself in the shoes of every character you read. Denial doesn’t make the fear go away. It expands it. Feeds it. Makes it impossible to fight.
The truth is you never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.
“We get one life. One chance. One opportunity to live. Why should I spend that in more pain than I already do? Anybody can hurt me, but if I choose not to let them, I can find some solace in what life has given me. It’s not much, but it’s something.”
“When you have a disease that nobody can see and they find out, most of the time they won’t even believe you. On the off chance they take your word for it, they say the stupidest things, like I can be cured if I sleep more or eat healthier.”
It all makes sense. My lack of friends. My unwillingness to settle down, to find a promising career path, to dream. I never wanted to date—to make time for people in my life. I make thousands of excuses that hold me back from truly living, and the final puzzle piece reveals the reason why. I’m not meant to.
