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“When you’re a weird kid, you learn to put guardrails around the things you love. You keep them hidden heart-deep, lest someone try to take them, mock them, or co-opt them out of cruelty or just plain clumsiness.”
― Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power
― Waking the Witch: Reflections on Women, Magic, and Power
“Perfectionism is the unparalleled defense for emotionally abandoned children. The existential unattainability of perfection saves the child from giving up, unless or until, scant success forces him to retreat into the depression of a dissociative disorder, or launches him hyperactively into an incipient conduct disorder. Perfectionism also provides a sense of meaning and direction for the powerless and unsupported child. In the guise of self-control, striving to be perfect offers a simulacrum of a sense of control. Self-control is also safer to pursue because abandoning parents typically reserve their severest punishment for children who are vocal about their negligence.”
―
―
“Trauma is a memory hog,
It gobbles up all available space
in the brain,
leaves little room to mark
daily happenstances,
or even routine injuries
which are less than
life-threatening.”
― Ordinary Hazards
It gobbles up all available space
in the brain,
leaves little room to mark
daily happenstances,
or even routine injuries
which are less than
life-threatening.”
― Ordinary Hazards
“TRAUMA STEALS YOUR VOICE
People get so tired of asking you what's wrong and you've run out of nothings to tell them.
You've tried and they've tried, but the words just turn to ashes every time they try to leave your mouth.
They start as fire in the pit of your stomach, but come out in a puff of smoke.
You are not you anymore.
And you don't know how to fix this.
The worst part is...you don't even know how to try.”
―
People get so tired of asking you what's wrong and you've run out of nothings to tell them.
You've tried and they've tried, but the words just turn to ashes every time they try to leave your mouth.
They start as fire in the pit of your stomach, but come out in a puff of smoke.
You are not you anymore.
And you don't know how to fix this.
The worst part is...you don't even know how to try.”
―
“I survived because I remained soft, because I listened, because I wrote. Because I huddled close to my truth, protected it like a tiny flame in a terrible storm. Hold up your head when the tears come, when you are mocked, insulted, questioned, threatened, when they tell you you are nothing, when your body is reduced to openings. The journey will be longer than you imagined, trauma will find you again and again. Do not become the ones who hurt you. Stay tender with your power. Never fight to injure, fight to uplift. Fight because you know that in this life, you deserve safety, joy, and freedom. Fight because it is your life. Not anyone else’s. I did it, I am here. Looking back, all the ones who doubted or hurt or nearly conquered me faded away, and I am the only one standing. So now, the time has come. I dust myself off, and go on.”
― Know My Name: A Memoir
― Know My Name: A Memoir
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Mel’s 2025 Year in Books
Take a look at Mel’s Year in Books, including some fun facts about their reading.
2,917 books
|
225 friends
438 books
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136 friends
7,509 books
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3,647 friends
2,428 books
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547 friends
4,551 books
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118 friends
2,905 books
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697 friends
2,510 books
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1,273 friends
800 books
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153 friends
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Favorite Genres
Biography, Chick-lit, Children's, Classics, Contemporary, Crime, Fantasy, Fiction, Gay and Lesbian, Historical fiction, History, Horror, Humor and Comedy, Memoir, Music, Mystery, Non-fiction, Paranormal, Psychology, Romance, Science, Science fiction, Suspense, Spirituality, Thriller, Travel, and Young-adult
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