Simant Verma

“I don't know. It kind of sucks not knowing for sure, because when I explain it to people, they just look at me like I'm making it up. But if someone has a diagnosis and medication? Then it's 'legitimate'. And don't get me wrong, those things are super important for a lot of people. But I feel like associating legitimacy with a formal diagnosis sometimes leaves people behind--people like me, whose families really frown on anything to do with therapy and meds, or people who have found their own ways of coping with it, or people who can't afford it. It doesn't mean they don't still feel what they feel--they just don't have the privilege of being told by someone with a degree what they're allowed to call it. Shouldn't the focus be on what we're feeling rather than what box we can neatly fit ourselves into?”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Harley in the Sky

“I only wish my parents could see what this means to me.
What it would mean to hold a dream in my palm, press it tight against my heart, and never let it go.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Harley in the Sky

“Sometimes I feel like that too--like a balloon with too much air, or a spring with too much tension. I need to pop--to release everything I'm feeling--which usually just sends me in the opposite direction until the same thing happens again.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Harley in the Sky

“I don't want to be perfect. I want to be vulnerable and messy and free and wild. I want to experience all the crooked edges in the world, and make mistakes, and grow from them. I want twisty roads and dark corners and big, wide bends.
And I know my parents won't ever agree, but I wish they could at least see my version of the world as a possibility.”
― Akemi Dawn Bowman, Harley in the Sky