Status Updates From If I'd Known Then: Women in...

Being treated as a dork will color who you are forever. You’ll know that you are a survivor. You’ll fear fewer things. You’ll have a greater dose of humility, and you’ll understand vulnerability-which will be crucial to the creative person you will become.

Some days, it is as if you’ve been to war together, and maybe all families are like that, but one thing you will learn is that all families don’t come out the other side holding onto each other. It is hard to hold on to one another while slipping and teetering, your own balance being so strong. The easier thing to do is fall away.

It’s a hard thing to understand, this kind of loss where people don’t really go anywhere.

The thing that you don’t know that I do is that popular teen extroverts turn into loud, pushy adults. Loud pushy adults are not as popular as popular teen extroverts.

She clearly has had a ringside seat to New York’s circus of excess.

Adjusting to the expectations of other will never give you your truth. Enslavement appears in different forms. There is mental bondage and there is physical bondage. You are lucky not to be physically enslaved. So don’t allow anybody to mentally enslave you. That is you responsibility and yours alone.

I was a call girl in the sense that I knew what I needed to do in order to please everybody.

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I remember inferring things about myself that were not true. I became a liar- all just trying to find my place.

But adulthood is not about being inflexible and I afraid. ...
Being “responsible” is really about being a consciously present, self-accountable adult:

The more you try to take the wild king you are- the less wonderful your life will be.

But try not to grow up too much. Always notice the magic in everyday life.

It sound too embarrassing to ask for anything, especially when you know you can do everything on your own. But think of this: Sometimes asking for help from someone who can give it, is a gift to them, not an imposition.

As an adult you will be too strong sometimes....I wish you'd find yourself an adult who will give you some of what you need. Your aunt. A teacher. You need to be able to lean on someone, if only to know that it can be done. It's ever child's birthright to be loved and cared for- including yours.

There is a world of hurt in that hate. A world that you will plumb in your art.