The Girl in Apartment 9 Quotes

“when you put that blanket over her, you suffocate the rest of her being. The detail and clarity of every moment of her life are covered by the veil of suffering.”
― A.J. Rivers, The Girl in Apartment 9

“less because of them, and they learn to live with them in the same way that every person has to learn to live with the mind and body they were given.”
― A.J. Rivers, The Girl in Apartment 9

“People with mental illness didn’t cause those conditions, they aren’t”
― A.J. Rivers, The Girl in Apartment 9

“It’s no different than someone who has allergies, or a heart defect, or hearing loss.”
― A.J. Rivers, The Girl in Apartment 9

“There is a prevalent fear and widely accepted prejudice that comes with mental illness. People hear that another person has depression, or anxiety, or bipolar disorder, and it becomes their label. From then on, it’s the subtitle of their name.”
― A.J. Rivers, The Girl in Apartment 9

“She may have struggled, and she may even suffer sometimes, but just having a mental illness doesn’t automatically mean a person spends their lives suffering. It doesn’t define her.”
― A.J. Rivers, The Girl in Apartment 9

“She’s been living with mental illness,”
― A.J. Rivers, The Girl in Apartment 9

“Living with. She’s been living with mental illness, Emma. Not suffering from it. She may have struggled, and she may even suffer sometimes, but just having a mental illness doesn’t automatically mean a person spends their lives suffering. It doesn’t define her. It’s a part of her and something she likely has to acknowledge and find ways to cope with every day, but it’s not who she is. It doesn’t overshadow everything else that creates her.”
― A.J. Rivers, The Girl in Apartment 9

“Take a step back. Take a moment. Take a breath. Take back control.”
― A.J. Rivers, The Girl in Apartment 9

“There used to be light ahead of me.  When I thought about the future… there was one.  I wanted to do things. I wanted to be things. And I believed I could. That’s not there anymore. The light is gone.  Sometimes I wonder if it was really ever there to begin with. Maybe it was nothing but an illusion. M says I’m right. The light, the aspirations, the beliefs. They were there only because I was told they were.  I believed what I was told to believe.”
― A.J. Rivers, The Girl in Apartment 9