American - Writer | 1980 -
If mothers are our first teachers, then having a narcissistic one teaches us that human closeness is terrifying, and the world is a heartless, inconsistent place.
Koren Zailckas
WorldPlaceTeachersHumanFirstUs
I think statistics go in one ear and out the other. All of us respond to stories more than numbers.
ThinkStatisticsNumbersGoMoreUs
What makes a narcissistic mother so scary? Her absolute power and controlling influence. A narcissistic mother is your only 'friend,' at least until you're old enough to go to school.
FriendMotherPowerSchoolInfluence
I don't know where the idea originated that memoir writing is cathartic. For me, it's always felt like playing my own neurosurgeon, sans anesthesia.
MeWritingKnowMy OwnAlwaysOwn
I don't know where the idea originated that memoir writing is cathartic. For me, it's always felt like playing my own neurosurgeon, sans anesthesia. As a memoirist, you have to crack your head open and examine every uncomfortable thing in there.
MeWritingUncomfortableYouKnow
I grew up in a family that despised displays of strong emotion, rage in particular. We stewed. We sulked. When arguments did occur, they were full-scale conniptions, and we regarded them as family failings.
FamilyStrongEmotionRageUpDid
I think when you're 14 years old, I think you're sort of looking for markers that prove you're an adult and you're independent of your parents.
ParentsLookingThinkYouProveOld
I have been a ballerina, a cheerleader and a sorority girl. I was the girliest girl alive.
GirlAliveBeenBallerina
Reading Poe was like a near-death experience, the kind that makes you feel fragile and free in its wake. I felt almost as though I'd scared myself alive.
MyselfExperienceFreeReadingYou
My short stature may have something to do with my tendency to shout when enraged. How else is anyone going to hear me way down here?
MeShortDownWayMayGoing
In my early to mid-20s, a fear of confrontation made it difficult for me to end relationships in a mature or even quasi-sane way. Instead, I would hang on resentfully, praying that my doomed beau would end things first and spare me the displeasure. To add hindrance to hang-up, the men I chose were usually just as stoic as I was.
FearMenMeEndEarlyRelationships
I grew up in a family that despised displays of strong emotion, rage in particular. We stewed. We sulked. When arguments did occur, they were full-scale conniptions, and we regarded them as family failings. Afterward, we withdrew from one another and tried our best to strike the event from our memories.
FamilyMemoriesBestStrongEmotion
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