You don't have to get a job that makes others feel comfortable about what they perceive as your success. You don't have to explain what you plan to d… - Cheryl Strayed

You don’t have to justify your education by demonstrating its financial rewards. You don’t have to maintain an impeccable credit score. Anyone who expects you to do any of those things has no sense of history or economics or science or the arts.

You don't have to justify your education by demonstrating its financial rewards. Anyone who expects you to has no sense of the arts.

Uncertain as I was as I pushed forward, I felt right in my pushing, as if the effort itself meant something.

They opened my mind to realities I didn’t know existed. They forced me to be resilient, to sacrifice, to see how little I knew, and also how much.

Most things will be okay eventually, but not everything will be. Sometimes you'll put up a good fight and lose. Sometimes you'll hold on really hard and realize there is no choice but to let go. Acceptance is a small, quiet room.