Cindi

“Most adult children of toxic parents grow up feeling tremendous confusion about what love means and how it’s supposed to feel. Their parents did extremely unloving things to them in the name of love. They came to understand love as something chaotic, dramatic, confusing, and often painful—something they had to give up their own dreams and desires for. Obviously, that’s not what love is all about. Loving behaviour doesn’t grind you down, keep you off balance, or create feelings of self-hatred. Love doesn’t hurt, it feels good. Loving behaviour nourishes your emotional well-being. When someone is being loving to you, you feel accepted, cared for, valued, and respected. Genuine love creates feelings of warmth, pleasure, safety, stability, and inner peace.”
― Susan Forward, Toxic Parents: Overcoming Their Hurtful Legacy and Reclaiming Your Life

“I’m at that age where everyone younger than me looks fifteen. It’s like there’s no sliding scale. One day you’re young. The next, you’re debating the pain relievers all because you sat down wrong.”
― Jacki James, 45 and Holding

“You should never play safe with your heart. It doesn’t get to grow if you don’t take it out. You break it. You give it away. And sometimes, you kind of hope someone gives it back to you—maybe wrapped up and taped but better because they held it for a little while.”
― Rhys Ford, Tequila Mockingbird

“Okay, Matty could admit it. There was a chance he’d said yes to a serial killer, just because he was drop-dead-fucking-gorgeous.”
― H.J. Welch, Reign or Shine