Hemlyn

“People don’t just happen. We sacrifice former versions of ourselves. We sacrifice the people who dared to raise us. The “I” it seems doesn’t exist until we are able to say, “I am no longer yours.”
― Saeed Jones, How We Fight For Our Lives

“backmasking
n. the instinctive tendency to see someone as you knew them in their youth, a burned-in image of grass-stained knees, graffitied backpacks or handfuls of birthday cake superimposed on an adult with a degree, an illusion formed when someone opens the door to your emotional darkroom while the memory is still developing.”
― John Koenig, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

“liberosis
n. the desire to care less about things—to loosen your grip on your life, to stop glancing behind you every few steps, afraid that someone will snatch it from you before you reach the end zone—rather to hold your life loosely and playfully, like a volleyball, keeping it in the air, with only quick fleeting interventions, bouncing freely in the hands of trusted friends, always in play.”
― John Koenig, The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

“Pain cannot be kept intact, it needs to be “processed,” converted into humor.”
― Annie Ernaux, I Remain in Darkness