Jae

“When it started, I believed I was special. It was a terrible thing to discover that I was common, that everything that happened to me—a crystalline, devastating landscape I navigated in my bare feet—was detailed in books and reports, in statistics. It was terrible because I wanted to believe that my love was unique and my pain was unique, as all of us do.”
― Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House

“Nietzsche (ugh) told us, "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."
You've been hearing this for years, in one form or another, but let's be specific. Like, if you're hit by a car and don't die, does the car make you stronger? No. Does injury or disease make you stronger? No. Does suffering alone build character? No. These things leave you more vulnerable to further injury.
What makes you stronger is whatever happens to you after you survive the thing that didn't kill you.
What makes you stronger is rest.”
― Emily Nagoski, Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle

“You cannot be upset at strangers who hurt the people you love, but ignore when the people you love hurt strangers.”
― Maggie McMuffin, We Too: Essays on Sex Work and Survival

“We have calcium in our bones, iron in our veins, carbon in our souls, and nitrogen in our brains. 93 percent stardust, with souls made of flames, we are all just stars that have people names.”
― Nikita Gill