My freshman year college roommate was an avid reader. She collected quotes on everything she loved, which I found to be so odd. Until one day, I’m stopped in my tracks and realize that the quotes she was collected spoke to so many things: how she saw the world, her innermost thoughts, what fascinates her, what she wants to learn from the world.
I, happily share these quotes to any curious reader, but I ask: what quotes have you collected? If you haven’t jotted any down, I would encourage you to do so.
“It’s about having the compassion to break your own heart.
You have to realize what you thought kept you safe, didn’t.
Who you thought you were, wasn’t.
And you have to grieve that,
every iteration of yourself.
And it’s only through that pain and that discomfort
can you catalyze meaningful transformation..”
― Alok Vaid-Menon, Author, podcast appearance on Adulting with Michelle Buteau and Jordan Carlos
“…We are in the midst of a conversation that is not always very comfortable. And it’s good that it’s not comfortable because sometimes in order to get to the truth of the thing we have to make ourselves uncomfortable.”
— Kelly Barnhill, Author, NPR interview 2018
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” —James Baldwin, New York Times Interview, 1962
“You are an animal whose needs are not being met. You need to have a community. You need to have meaningful values. You need to have meaningful work. You need the natural world. You need to feel you are respected. You need a secure future. You need connections to all these things.” —Johann Hari, https://www.bing-amp.com/c/amp.abc.net.au/article/9461590
“If you’re doing something unique; if you’re doing something wonderful, people will find out about it.” –Matt Preston -Judge, Chef’s Table, Season 1 Episode 5, , 2013 World’s 50 Best Restaurants
“For it is said that humans are never satisfied, that you give them one thing and they want something more.” -John Steinbeck, The Pearl
“It would be ignorant of me to assume that my way is the right way” -Unknown
“My rage has history. My rage has ancestry.” -Cathy Park Hong, Author
“Show me your friends and I’ll show you your future.” –Anon
“But, ineffably, psychotherapy heals. It makes some sense of the confusion, reins in the terrifying thoughts and feelings, returns some control and hope and possibility of learning from it all. Pills cannot, do not, ease one back into reality; they only bring one back headlong, careening, and faster than can be endured at times. Psychotherapy is a sanctuary; it is a battleground; it is a place I have been psychotic, neurotic, elated, confused, and despairing beyond belief. But, always, it is where I have believed–or have learned to believe–that I might someday be able to contend with all of this.
No pill can help me deal with the problem of not wanting to take pills; likewise, no amount of psychotherapy alone can prevent my manias and depressions. I need both. It is an odd thing, owing life to pills, one’s own quirks and tenacities, and this unique, strange, and ultimately profound relationship called psychotherapy.”
— Kay Redfield Jamison, An Unquiet Mind: A Memoir of Moods and Madness
“A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” -English Idiom
Caitlin Saunders, LICSW 