Rachel Walker

“I’ve realised that by far the most valuable friends are the kind ones. They may not be the most sparkling guests at the dinner table or the most memorable makers of wedding speeches. But my god, they are the ones you want to sit with you at the worst of times. They are the ones who know the right things to say and do, because their hearts are empathetic. I’ve come to believe that amongst all the good human qualities, there is none greater than kindness.”
― Leigh Sales, Any Ordinary Day

“Males always have something pathetic about them, at every age. A fragile arrogance, a frightened audacity. I no longer know, today, if they ever aroused in me love or only an affectionate sympathy for their weaknesses.”
― Elena Ferrante, The Lost Daughter

“You have a substance to your life if you’ve felt pain. You’ve got understanding, that’s where compassion is. It makes you a deeper, richer human being.”
― Leigh Sales, Any Ordinary Day

“Traditionally, psychologists have studied the negative impacts of trauma and bereavement, the ways in which people are left broken and troubled, and the focus has been on how to return to so-called ‘normal’ functioning. In the past three decades, though, researchers have asked, What if people don’t return to normal, what if they develop enhanced functioning instead? The term ‘posttraumatic growth’ was coined by two American academics, Lawrence Calhoun and Richard Tedeschi, who defined it as the aspects of positive, personal change a person may experience alongside intense suffering after a major life trauma.”
― Leigh Sales, Any Ordinary Day