“It doesn't have to be some big conspiracy. It doesn't have to be special. It can be just bad.”
―
Monica Heisey,
Really Good, Actually
“One day,” she said, “and it will surprise you how soon this day will come, but one day you will wake up and feel good. It won’t last long, but then you’ll have another day where you barely remember this abjection, and another, and another, until that’s just your life. But for now, it will be hard. This is the part that’s hard.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“When you say that you feel you’ll never find another person willing to be in a long-term relationship with you, that makes me feel very personally sad. I wonder if we might ask whether you are willing to be in a long-term relationship with yourself?” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“you don’t have to say everything you think and feel to everyone around you all the time. Even if you want to. You can keep it to yourself. Sometimes, that feels better.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“No adult starts a hobby from a good place.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“finding joy in the mundanity of life.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“You’ll like dating, everyone eats ass now.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“One day and it will surprise you how soon this day will come, but one day you will wake up and feel good. It won’t last long, but then you’ll have another day where you barely remember this abjection, and another, and another, until that’s just your life. But for now, it will be hard. This is the part that’s hard.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“I know what I want long term, but sometimes in the moment you really need to know someone has never seen anything better than your ass.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“the divorce she made a noise that sounded like an empathy orgasm, then pulled me to her chest and cradled my head like a child’s. ‘You must be devastated,’ she said, petting my hair in a way that was not unenjoyable but was not the romp I had hoped for, from the glint. ‘This must be such a dark time for you. I’m a Highly Sensitive Person, so you don’t need to tell me, I get it.’ I did not think it required a person to be highly sensitive to know that divorce was painful, but more than that, I did not want to talk about it with Tamara. I kissed her for a minute or two, and it was going well until she made the noise again, then pulled away and said, ‘Poor little bird.’ I told her I was okay, mostly, that I knew nothing worthwhile came easy and was taking it one day at a time. In reality, life since my mom’s house had felt very dark indeed, more or less blurring into one long nap punctuated by cereal and episodes of Housewives; but I did not share this, because I did not want to be this woman’s bird. She poured us each a glass of water and told me a lengthy anecdote about her friend’s bike accident, labouring particularly hard over the doctor’s instruction that – should this friend ever find herself hurtling over her handlebars on Roncesvalles Avenue again – she not brace for impact. ‘You have to go limp and let it happen,’ she said softly. ‘You can’t fight it, or you’ll break every bone in your body.’ She was rocking me back and forth at this point, but getting a cab at that hour, on New Year’s, would have been impossible, so when she slid her hand under my shirt, I pretended to be asleep. The next morning we lay around in her bed, where, to avoid further cycling metaphors, I asked her to tell me the twist endings” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“Lydia was an ideal companion, a peaceful being whose only interests in this life were being fed and scratched on the head—I related.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“Even if we handle it as well as possible, I thought, it’s still going to be terrible.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“(What was it about me that attracted this type of person? Why was it so hard to just go home with a stranger and get railed?)” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“It seemed impossible that I was supposed to keep loving - even revering - my body as it decomposed in slow motion. Why not give in and have low self-esteem? Maybe I could slay in that way instead.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“The snow and the salt stains and the sweating on the-subway of it all loses its festive tinge every January.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually: A Novel
“One day,” she said, “and it will surprise you how soon this day will come, but one day you will wake up and feel good. It won’t last long, but then you’ll have another day where you barely remember this abjection, and another, and another, until that’s just your life. But for now, it will be hard. This is the part that’s hard.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“When you say that you feel you’ll never find another person willing to be in a long-term relationship with you, that makes me feel very personally sad. I wonder if we might ask whether you are willing to be in a long-term relationship with yourself?” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“you don’t have to say everything you think and feel to everyone around you all the time. Even if you want to. You can keep it to yourself. Sometimes, that feels better.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“No adult starts a hobby from a good place.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“finding joy in the mundanity of life.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“You’ll like dating, everyone eats ass now.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“One day and it will surprise you how soon this day will come, but one day you will wake up and feel good. It won’t last long, but then you’ll have another day where you barely remember this abjection, and another, and another, until that’s just your life. But for now, it will be hard. This is the part that’s hard.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“I know what I want long term, but sometimes in the moment you really need to know someone has never seen anything better than your ass.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“the divorce she made a noise that sounded like an empathy orgasm, then pulled me to her chest and cradled my head like a child’s. ‘You must be devastated,’ she said, petting my hair in a way that was not unenjoyable but was not the romp I had hoped for, from the glint. ‘This must be such a dark time for you. I’m a Highly Sensitive Person, so you don’t need to tell me, I get it.’ I did not think it required a person to be highly sensitive to know that divorce was painful, but more than that, I did not want to talk about it with Tamara. I kissed her for a minute or two, and it was going well until she made the noise again, then pulled away and said, ‘Poor little bird.’ I told her I was okay, mostly, that I knew nothing worthwhile came easy and was taking it one day at a time. In reality, life since my mom’s house had felt very dark indeed, more or less blurring into one long nap punctuated by cereal and episodes of Housewives; but I did not share this, because I did not want to be this woman’s bird. She poured us each a glass of water and told me a lengthy anecdote about her friend’s bike accident, labouring particularly hard over the doctor’s instruction that – should this friend ever find herself hurtling over her handlebars on Roncesvalles Avenue again – she not brace for impact. ‘You have to go limp and let it happen,’ she said softly. ‘You can’t fight it, or you’ll break every bone in your body.’ She was rocking me back and forth at this point, but getting a cab at that hour, on New Year’s, would have been impossible, so when she slid her hand under my shirt, I pretended to be asleep. The next morning we lay around in her bed, where, to avoid further cycling metaphors, I asked her to tell me the twist endings” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“Lydia was an ideal companion, a peaceful being whose only interests in this life were being fed and scratched on the head—I related.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“Even if we handle it as well as possible, I thought, it’s still going to be terrible.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“(What was it about me that attracted this type of person? Why was it so hard to just go home with a stranger and get railed?)” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“It seemed impossible that I was supposed to keep loving - even revering - my body as it decomposed in slow motion. Why not give in and have low self-esteem? Maybe I could slay in that way instead.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually
“The snow and the salt stains and the sweating on the-subway of it all loses its festive tinge every January.” ― Monica Heisey, Really Good, Actually: A Novel
