Jasmin

“...I had nothing to do but survive the feeling that some pain is for no reason at all. It became clearer than ever that life is not a series of choices. So often the experiences that define us are the ones that we didn't pick. Cancer. Betrayal. Miscarriage. Job loss. Mental illness. A novel coronavirus.”
― Kate Bowler, No Cure for Being Human: And Other Truths I Need to Hear

“There are a few years when you make almost all of your important memories. And then you spend the next few decades reliving them.”
― Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown

“Androgyny doesn't look a certain way, though gender is ingrained in society such that liberal readings are applied to everyone, sprinkling gender on everything from haircuts to careers to alcoholic beverages. In this way, presentation, when considered for the purpose of legibility feels futile... As long as I am subjected to this unconsented reading of my body, I will desire nothing more than facelessness”
― Sachiko Ragosta, It Came from the Closet: Queer Reflections on Horror

“When you're physically sick, you recognize that something isn't right and needs to be cured. When you're mentally sick, it just seems like reality. Depression doesn't feel like something you have. I truly believed that my heart and my soul and spirit no longer wanted or enjoyed anything. I thought that's just how my life would be from now on. It didn't even make me sad to think about. I didn't long for my past self, who wanted to go to every country and learn every dance. I didn't long for anything. Perhaps this shutting down of longing was a defense mechanism against the distrust I had developed toward my body.”
― Mari Andrew