Nduu

“She had never told her friends this, not in so many words, but they were her safety net. Every time she stumbled or keeled over, they were there for her, supporting her or softening the impact of the fall. On nights when she was mistreated by a client, she would still find the strength to hold herself up, knowing that her friends, with their very presence, would come with ointment for her scrapes and bruises; and on days when she wallowed in self-pity, her chest cracking open, they would gently pull her up and breathe life into her lungs.”
― Elif Shafak, 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

“Talking so much you horrify yourself and those around you; talking so little that you almost refuse your own existence: a demonstrates that speech is by no means a straightforward route to connection. If loneliness is to be defined as a desire for intimacy, then included within that is the need to express oneself and to be heard, to share thoughts, experiences and feelings. Intimacy can’t exist if the participants aren’t willing to make themselves known, to be revealed. But gauging the levels is tricky. Either you don’t communicate enough and remain concealed from other people, or you risk rejection by exposing too much altogether: the minor and major hurts, the tedious obsessions, the abscesses and cataracts of need and shame and longing.”
― Olivia Laing, The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone

“Better than those mobile phones the young ones check hundreds of times a day which makes them go mental
She’s read about it in the paper
Besides, why replace her old phone when it’s still in good working order, sits on the console by the front door, attached to a wire that’s attached to a socket
Telephone conversations should be kept short and had standing
Far as she’s concerned”
― Bernardine Evaristo, Girl, Woman, Other

“Loneliness, longing, does not mean one has failed, but simply that one is alive.”
― Olivia Laing, The Lonely City: Adventures in the Art of Being Alone