Natalie Austin

“The common magical idea when you are young is that the world is your oyster. Quite why the dreams of youth are tied up with the existence of a saltwater clam is a mystery to me. Perhaps it has something to do with oysters’ status in some lands as a delicacy. It can’t be anything to do with their adventurous spirit, as to the best of my knowledge they spend most of their time ‘asleep’. The thing is, though, society doesn’t tell you that as you get older you’re going to get absolutely battered again and again and again. And again. We accumulate damage.”
― Scarlett Curtis, It's Not OK to Feel Blue (and other lies): Inspirational people open up about their mental health

“Sure, you’ve trusted your inside voice before, but she got you into trouble: you were impulsive, selfish, indecisive. She created an upheaval and it was scary. Anxiety shrieked so loudly at the same time that you don’t remember she was also insightful and perceptive, and that you were quietly right.”
― Scarlett Curtis, It's Not OK to Feel Blue (and other lies): Inspirational people open up about their mental health

“But you are not ungrateful, you never have been. Always, you could see the whirling constellation of wonders that makes up your life. God, there is just so much to love. Dust motes lit up by stage lights, the creak of a book’s binding when it’s opened for the first time, the ache in the back of your throat from singing too loud, the whirring noise of a light bulb as it’s flicked on, a warm blanket in a cold room, a kiss when you didn’t know you needed one, dark pencils, the wet snuffle of a dog’s nose, strangers who say ‘Bless you’ when you sneeze, mahogany, the dusty silk of flower petals, good lines in bad poems, the watercolour mess of sunset, snow, liquid-ink pens and more. So much more.”
― Scarlett Curtis, It's Not OK to Feel Blue (and other lies): Inspirational people open up about their mental health

“Your bones do not feel quite alive enough; they are stacked and locked in the wrong order. There is no fun, femininity, sex, sparkle or that angry, electrifying grace. Grace. That’s what you’re missing. That grace of hair and rolling hips and damp thighs and scuffed soles and clacking teeth hiding sharp tongues and straining necks and trembling hands.”
― Scarlett Curtis, It's Not OK to Feel Blue (and other lies): Inspirational people open up about their mental health