Consumer culture promises us that we can buy our way out of pain — that the reason we're sad and angry is not that being human hurts; it's because we… - Glennon Doyle

I did not know that I was supposed to feel everything. I thought I was supposed to feel happy.

Human qualities are not gendered. What is gendered is permission to express certain traits. Why? Why would our culture prescribe such strict gender roles? And why would it be so important for our culture to label all tenderness and mercy as feminine?

I know that when the pain and the waiting are here, the rising is on its way. I hope the pain will pass soon, but I'll wait it out because I've tested pain enough to trust it. And because who I will become tomorrow is so unforeseeable and specific that I'll need every bit of today's lessons to become her.