Ainun

“I guess that's part of growing up, too--saying goodbye to the things you used to love.”
― Jenny Han, Always and Forever, Lara Jean

“We cannot define success as beating death because death cannot be beaten. The undeniable fact of death remains, imposing and impending regardless of our temporary victories. How we care for each other during life is the true restoration—the definition of agency. That is the win, the success we must look for and mark and define ourselves by. Our ability to be present with each other through our suffering is what we are meant to do. It is what feeds us when the darkness inevitably looms. We cannot avoid the darkness, just as we cannot evade suffering. Loving each other through the darkness is the thing to look for and to mark. It’s there, in the shadows, where we find meaning and purpose.”
― Rana Awdish, In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope

“It is entirely possible to feel someone’s pain, acknowledge their suffering, hold it in our hands and support them with our presence without depleting ourselves, without clouding our judgment. But only if we are honest about our own feelings.”
― Rana Awdish, In Shock: My Journey from Death to Recovery and the Redemptive Power of Hope

“Perhaps this was why as one grew older one broke down and cried for oneself less, because tears for oneself could only come when one ignored the suffering of everybody else, or pretended at least that it was not significant. As you got older the suffering of others became more difficult to ignore, as you saw more of life and became more a part of the world it became harder to imagine that the pain you faced was unique and in need of special attention, and as a result crying for yourself felt indulgent unless you could pretend that nobody else existed, or that your own pain was different and more exceptional, and to do this perhaps it was easier if you found somewhere to be completely alone.”
― Anuk Arudpragasam, The Story of a Brief Marriage