"...I had so many variations on the theme of low self-esteem, with conceitedness marbled in, the classic egomaniac with an inferiority complex. Or...the piece of shit around which the world revolves."
and
"Every time I say yes when I mean no, I am abandoning myself, and I end up feeling used or resentful or frantic. But when i say no when I mean no, it's so sane and healthy that it creates a little glade around me in which I can get the nourishment I need. Then I help and serve people from a place of real abundance and health, instead of from this martyred mentally ill position, this open space in a forest about a mile north of Chernobyl."
and, finally:
"I have had a lot of men do stuff to me over the years, and I sanctioned it, but I did not want it. I have listened so attentively to the most boring, narcissistic men so they would like me or need me. I'd sit there with my head cocked sweetly like the puppy on the RCA logo... It was like these men held me hostage. I'd think about chewing my arm off to get out of the trap so I could rush home and hang myself, but at the same time I'd need them to think well of me. Now I all but say, Oh, I'm so sorry, but I'm on this new shit-free diet."
from Operating Instructions, 1993
I think, the next bullshitty guy I meet in a bar who spends six hours trying to get me to take him home with me, maybe I'll try that line on him. "Gosh, I would love to take you home with me, but I'm on this new shit-free diet, so it's just not possible."
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