Starfish Quotes

“We all have to dream our own dreams. We only get one life to live—live it for yourself, not anyone else.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“Beauty isn’t a single thing. Beauty is dreaming一it’s different for everyone, and there are so many versions of it that you mostly have no control over how you see it”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“But some people are just starfish--they need everyone to fill the roles that they assign. They need the world to sit around them, pointing at them and validating their feelings. But you can't spend your life trying to make a starfish happy, because no matter what you do, it will never be enough. They will always find a way to make themselves the center of attention, because it's the only way they know how to live.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“Don't live to please the starfish, especially when their happiness is at the expense of yours. That is not love. That is narcissism. There's an entire ocean out there, Kiko--swim in it.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“I want to find self-worth without needing it to come from someone's approval.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“I've always felt like I desperately needed to say my feelings out loud - to form the words and get them out of me, because they've always felt like dark clouds in my head that contaminate everything around them.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“But I don't need an apology. Not anymore. I have my whole life ahead of me - there isn't room in it for anger about things I don't have the power to change. I've mourned the loss of the mother I imagined could exist. I accept the one I have will never be the one I need.
And that's okay - because I will be the person I need. I will be the one I can depend on, the one who has the power to make my life better or worse.
I'll still panic when I'm in a crowd. I'll still question whether people mean something different from what they say. And I'll probably always feel my heart thump when I think someone is criticizing me.
But I can live with that.
I accept myself.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“Hearts aren't meant to be broken an infinite amount of times.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“I draw a girl without a face, drawing somebody else’s face onto her own reflection.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“I'd rather have an ugly face than an ugly heart.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“I live my life in the small space between "uncomfortable and "awkward.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“You care too much about what other people think. I mean, so what if you fail? So what if it takes a few tries? You're following your dreams. It shouldn't matter to anyone else how long it takes you or what your journey is like–it should just matter to you.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“But I feel like I've spent most of my life wishing for someone else's approval, or relying on their reassurance that I'm living my life the right way. And somewhere along the way, I forgot to care what I thought about myself.

I feel trapped beneath all the things that make me think less of myself. If my life were a video game, I would have hit the reset button a long time ago.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“tired of wishing I were someone else and tired of feeling like everyone expects me to be someone else”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“It's strange–hope can make you forget so much, so quickly. That's why hoping is so dangerous.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“He doesn't wear his heart on his sleeve; he keeps it in a locked box with all of his dreams and expressions because he doesn't want to share them with the rest of the world.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“The painting isn't about the starfish. It's about the girl who wants to venture out into the ocean, away from the starfish, so she can feel like she matters.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“But if I could fix myself and turn off the anxiety long enough to feel normal, I would have a long time ago.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“We all have to dream our own dreams. We only get one life to live--live it for yourself, not anyone else. Because when you're on your deathbed, you're going to be wishing you had. When everyone else is on theirs, I guarantee they aren't going to be thinking about your life.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“Normal people don’t need to prepare for social interactions. Normal people don’t panic at the sight of strangers. Normal people don’t want to cry because the plan they’ve processed in their head is suddenly not the plan that’s going to happen.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“And I decide, right there and then, that I don't care if I'm not someone's idea of pretty. I don't care if my name might disappoint someone, or if my face might disappoint someone's parents. Because that says so much more about them than it does about me.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“The mother I've always wanted isn't real; she's a dream. And not every dream comes true.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“I feel like I'm the one made out of paper.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“Jamie steps closer to me, his face falling back into kindness. "That's good Kiko. Say what you want to say. Say everything. I;ll listen to it, and I won't fight with you. Because I love you, and because I know this is what you need. So tell me you're angry. Tell me how terrible I've been. Tell me I made the wrong choice. And the, Kiko, forgive me. Because I'm sorry. I'm sorry, and I love you.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“There’s so much earth everywhere. It’s like all the people migrated to these pockets of lights and noise, and they left all these miles and miles of nature completely untouched.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“If I can’t figure out how to live on my own一how to do things on my own一how am I supposed to live at all?”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“I need to figure out where my life is going. I need something that is mine. Otherwise . . .’ Otherwise I’ll never fully break away from what my life has always been. I’ll always be attached to it, like a branch that’s growing farther and farther away but it doesn’t matter because its roots are a part of the tree’s roots. I need to be my own tree.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“If you don't know where to look for her, you might not see her at all.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“I'm too busy crying myself, thinking of how it must feel to be loved so wholly, so unconditionally.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish

“trying to think of a way to change my future so it stops feeling like an empty hallway that stretches forever and ever.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Starfish