Aswathy Vijayakumar

“Who knows why people are different? We are born with a certain nature, I think. And then the world takes its swings at us.”
― Elizabeth Strout, Lucy by the Sea

“Looking deep within myself is always difficult. Especially when I’m in the throes of negative emotion. How shall I describe it? It’s like I know everything is fine, but I can’t stop myself from endlessly checking to make sure it really is fine, and in the process I make myself miserable. Today was like that. I just felt like whining. And leaning on someone, and being sad. To me, sadness is the path of least resistance, the most familiar and close-at-hand emotion I have. A habit that has encrusted itself onto my everyday.”
― Baek Se-hee, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki

“All those moments, those years, were his now. To remember or to forget. That’s what Ulysses said. So I choose to remember. The best man ever. And everything about him is vivid. And he is young. And he is laughing.”
― Sarah Winman, Still Life

“Psychiatrist: If you make yourself anxious to gain attention, someone will give you attention. Then you get comfortable, and the other person will as well. But after that, you feel despair again. Despite your intentions, you start thinking, If I’m happy then this person will stop paying attention to me, which naturally leads to you trying to avoid becoming happy at all costs.”
― Baek Se-hee, I Want to Die But I Want to Eat Tteokpokki