Vanessa

“I didn't want to have to pour concrete around my heart in an attempt to shield me from the blast.”
― Jill Duggar, Counting the Cost

“When Audre Lorde wrote that oft-instagrammed quote: 'Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare,' she didn't mean that self-care should be selfish or a form of self-flagellation, that it should be an overpriced moisturizer or a painful procedure. Self-care, in reality, is supposed to coincide with community care. It means taking time for yourself so that you can better support those around you - resting so that you can be a part of the revolution, helping other women with child-care, prepping meals for those in need or providing a voice for the voiceless. We, as women, win and lose together. Sorority is self-care.”
― Ellen Atlanta, Pixel Flesh: How Toxic Beauty Culture Harms Women

“Her muscles had locked and released, seized and spasmed and twisted, Her organs had become a frightened mouse, her body the powerful snake digesting it.”
― Samara Breger, A Long Time Dead

“That it’s “just a show” is exactly the problem, I howled. How can a TV show have taken on such outsized significance in my life? Because there’s nothing else to compete with it, that’s why! What had my life become? I wailed. There was nothing that was my own. All I had was Benedict Cumberbatch!”
― Tabitha Carvan, This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something--Anything--Like Your Life Depends On It