I Want to Die but I Want to Eat Tteokbokki

I’d like you not to give too much credit to what people say about you. The moment you set out to be more empathic is the moment it becomes a chore. That would result in your empathy decreasing, if anything. It’s good not to fake interest in things you’re not interested in

How awful it must’ve been for people in the past who suffered from it but didn’t realise.

Psychiatrist: Do you really have to worry about these hypothetical people?

Me: Is it wrong to?

Psychiatrist: There’s no right or wrong here. It’s just notable. Because there’s really no end to worrying once you set your mind to it. If you shift your perspective from their past to your present, you can start perceiving your personal experiences in a more positive manner. From ‘How sad they didn’t realise this’ to ‘How lucky it is that I realise this.’ In the past, you didn’t know how to label your symptoms, but now you know. That’s a reason for relief, not for more suffering.

If we have a habit of judging people from a simplistic perspective, that perspective will eventually turn against ourselves.

Sometimes the best thing to do with people who would never listen to you in the first place is to avoid them altogether. To right every wrong you come across in the world would be an impossible endeavour for any one person. You’re just one person, and you’re putting too much of the weight of the world on yourself.

But everything was so love-hate with her; I hated her, but I was scared she would get mad at me and abandon me.

I wasn’t deathly depressed, but I wasn’t happy either, floating instead in some feeling between the two.

Why are we so bad at being honest about our feelings? Is it because we’re so exhausted from living that we don’t have the time to share them?

My desire to speak freely of my mental suffering was matched by my desire to hide myself from it all.

‘If you want to be happy, you mustn’t fear the following truths but confront them head-on: one, that we are always unhappy, and that our sadness, suffering and fear have good reasons for existing. Two, that there is no real way to separate these feelings completely from ourselves.’

Think of yourself as entering a sea change in life, and choose things you haven’t chosen before – try to enter situations, even ones you know will end in failure, just to experience failure.