Keele Burgin > Quotes

“I had known tears of pain, tears of denial, and tears of fear. These were different: they were tears of release, and they were running down my face more impertinently than any other tears before. These simple drops touched my skin with forgiveness. Only now they could give me worth instead of emptiness, power from survival, and connection instead of dark separation. I gave myself permission to be me. Whoever that would be, I promised to live by my essence instead of my past. For the first time, I loved myself.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“Maybe, if I could say all of it out loud, then somehow, I wouldn't be afraid of myself anymore. I wouldn't need to run so hard. I wouldn't need the adrenaline. I would love me. I would fill me. I would connect myself to the rest of the world, even it it was with pain as the common denominator amongst us all. I would connect to people at their core because I would be connected to myself.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“I had taught myself to move, not think. Be defiant when I was afraid, BUt there was nowhere to go, and I couldn't find a shred of adrenaline to keep my mind at bay.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“No one has power over you anymore. You are in charge of your life." "I have been buried alive all my life. All I could do was keep digging," I said.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“Other memories came camouflaged, and I couldn't see through to the middle. But I could feel their weight; it was my worthlessness.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“I didn't know I wanted to die until I almost did. But I didn't want to live either.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“My life was a contradiction. I wanted the love he poured on me, but I didn't want to let him in.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“She had taught me to put down my angry facade and actually be angry. She had taught me that tears have a place in my life-- that they could help me understand myself better and cleanse my shame.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“I waited as the waves once again became my confidants. I watched long enough to be sure my sadness would be safe. I wanted the waves to tell me that I belonged and give me the rope I needed to stay alive. I pulled my knees up to my chest, wrapped my arms around them, and allowed the tears to run steadily down my face.”
― Keele Burgin

“She endured this family and the world around us, keeping her mouth shut and her gratitude meter high while she slowly died inside.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“I wrote this book because I want all women to tell their stories. The story, with all the truth, vulnerability, guilt, shame, and knowing, that occupies every life. I want to hear the ones that spill from the deepest places inside, the places that haven’t been given a voice yet, the things they don’t want to say out loud. In the end, when mine was finally written, it washed me with self-love, worthiness, and acceptance of my passage thus far. I am proud of my journey and all the scars that came with it. I want to pay that feeling forward in every way I am able, for as long as I am here.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“Give in, look at the pain you're in, and ask what you're supposed to learn from it. Live in the questions for a time. Don't look for the answers right now.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“I was suspended in the air above the earth, and my special power was peace.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“Her eyes were a deep well of pain and acceptance and love.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“No one in my family ever got hit but me; I told myself it was because I was the strongest, but my smile wavered as I tried to believe that story.”
― Keele Burgin

“Stop running from yourself. Take the time you need to learn who you are. Embrace the silence, the stillness. You are here for a reason.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“My body hurt from not having moved, and it tingled as it came out of numbness. I was grateful for the pain; I wanted more of it.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“instant. We all were. Plus my dad’s prayer for”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“You wanted to find yourself--- who you are without the fear."
I looked in her eyes, and I could feel something, a lightness. I felt hope.
"That is all any of us want. To know who we are and to act without fear.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“Oh, Shirley, you know I think that all black people should be sent back to Africa, but you can stay,”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir

“I gave myself permission to be me. Whoever that would be, I promised to live by my essence instead of my past.
For the first time, I loved myself.”
― Keele Burgin, Wholly Unraveled: A Memoir