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Disease is an impediment to the body, but not to the will, unless the will itself chooses. Add this reflection on the occasion of everything that happens; for you will find it an impediment to something else, but not to yourself.
— The Enchiridion, Epictetus
You can be invincible, if you enter into a contest in which it is not in your power to conquer. If the nature of good is in our power, neither envy nor jealousy will have a place in us.— The Enchiridion, Epictetus
Depression & Other Magic Tricks by Sabrina Benaim
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My heart has developed a kind of amnesia, where it remembers everything but itself.— Depression & Other Magic Tricks, Sabrina Benaim(excerpt from what i told the doctor)
TRIGGER WARNING: depression
Sabrina Benaim puts beauty and art into thoughts and feelings that many of us feel and cannot express ourselves. With themes surrounding depression, loneliness, heartache, and many more that plague our hearts during times of sorrow (whatever the occasion), Depression & Other Magic Tricks is a poetry book that hopes to empathize with its readers. Even if we feel as though we are alone in our misery, the pieces in this book are here to remind us that no, we are not truly alone. Other people have been where we are. Other people have felt what we now feel, and thus it only stands to reason that we are not alone in our sadness.
Nobody is in love with me but everybody loves me. Everybody loves me because I am good at making people feel good. I’m good at making people feel good because I have had a lot of practice on myself. Practice on myself because I feel sad a lot.— Depression & Other Magic Tricks, Sabrina Benaim(excerpt from the loneliest sweet potato)
Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
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You forget the reason I drive you so hard and give you so much shit is because I love you. If I don't punish you, the world will punish you even worse. The world doesn’t love you. If the police get you, the police don’t love you. When I beat you, I’m trying to save you. When they beat you, they’re trying to kill you.— Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, Trevor Noah(Patricia Noah to Trevor Noah)
TRIGGER WARNING: foul language
Trevor Noah may be known as a comedic figure by the public, and the book’s overall tone does indeed carry consistent comedic energy, but beyond the jokes and the laughs there lies some uncomfortable truths in the part of society that he’s lived in—most of which are still prevalent in several parts of the world to this day. With the disguise of his comedy, he delivers anecdotes from his childhood with newfound realizations brought by his maturing age which urge us to think deeper about some things we may have missed in our childhoods ourselves. His realizations on how the world works, combined with his perception of how the world could work (for better, or for worse), gives us ample material to explore several themes and social issues such as racism, poverty, and more.
Because there were some parents who’d actually do that — the ultimate tough love. But it doesn’t always work, because you’re giving the kid tough love when maybe he just needs love. You’re trying to teach him a lesson, and now that lesson is the rest of his life.— Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood, Trevor Noah
How Not to Fall Apart by Maggy van Eijk
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Self-love is a term everyone throws around like it’s fluffy and easy, but it’s actually one of the hardest things you can do — to go through something and accept it rather than work it out on the battlefield of your body.— How Not to Fall Apart: Lessons Learned on the Road from Self-Harm to Self-Care, Maggy van Eijk
TRIGGER WARNINGS: Self-Harm, Suicidal thoughts/ideation
In this age where mental health continues to be a topic of deep conversation, Maggy van Eijk shares her personal stories and raw anecdotes on how it feels to be on the combative end of mental illness. She gives us her lived experiences without the pretty packaging nor the misguided aestheticism that comes with several mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety disorder. More than that, she shows us her own concrete ways of coping with the issues she went through, with enough material and space for anyone to try out her methods. Giving helpful guides according to circumstances, the book is equally emotionally moving as it is legitimately helpful to those who might be struggling with the same circumstances that Maggy van Eijk used to (and still do—as we come to discover that recovery is not a simple linear process), as not only does it shed light to real conditions of the mind, but it also pairs it with tools that one may use to combat it.
It’s important to give yourself space while also giving yourself permission to be happy again, because isolation as a form of self-punishment is dangerous… It’s important I make sure my solitude doesn’t become an act of self-destruction like it used to.
— How Not to Fall Apart: Lessons Learned on the Road from Self-Harm to Self-Care, Maggy van Eijk
The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris
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Nothing happened to me, Officer Starling. I happened. You can’t reduce me to a set of influences. You’ve given up good and evil for behaviorism, Officer Starling. You’ve got everyone in moral dignity pants — nothing is ever anybody’s fault. Look at me, Officer Starling. Can you stand to say I’m evil? Am I evil, Officer Starling?— The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris(Hannibal Lecter to Clarice Starling)
Perhaps the title is more recognizable because of the movie adaptation, but for those who didn’t know, The Silence of the Lambs was initially a novel (the second book from a series, actually) written by Thomas Harris. As one Clarice Starling goes out to investigate and solve a series of murders being committed by the so-called Buffalo Bill, this book goes on to explore the more dark, baser parts of our humanity, as Clarice continues to chase after Buffalo Bill by analyzing his psyche, and moreover in the mere portrayal of Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s complex character. Playing into philosophical inquisitions, this piece doesn’t merely engage its reader in a superbly written fictional thrill and suspense, it also stimulates its readers to analyze their own characters while reading. And in the readers’ own study of the self, engaged by the propositions presented by the characters within the story, they might just discover something new, darker, about their own character.
Evil’s just destructive? Then storms are evil, if it’s that simple. And we have fire, and then there’s hail. Underwriters lump it all under “Acts of God”.— The Silence of the Lambs, Thomas Harris(Hannibal Lecter to Clarice Starling)
No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai
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I am convinced that human life is filled with many pure, happy, serene examples of insincerity, truly splendid of their kind—of people deceiving one another without (strangely enough) any wounds being inflicted, of people who seem unaware even that they are deceiving one another. But I have no special interest in instances of mutual deception.— No Longer Human, Osamu Dazai
TRIGGER WARNINGS: depression, portrayals of impostor syndrome, suicide
A much darker piece compared to the other ones on this list, No Longer Human provides an unfiltered perspective in a life lived through complete cynicism and an unchecked sense of self-isolation. Seen as a semi-autobiography, Osamu Dazai writes about a man, Oba Yozo, who has lived his entire life feeling as though he doesn’t nor can’t belong in society; having immense problems trying to understand his family and peers, and not being able to grasp how social relations work, Yozo continues to live his life feeling as though he’s merely playing a part in a play to avoid becoming a total outcast and an exile from society. The themes present in the piece are feelings some of us might have experienced at one point or another, only presented in a much higher caliber and perpetuated in a much more dangerous light. And only beyond the heavy, emotional weight of Yozo’s words, can readers find a new perspective in life that might alter how they understand their relationships and their standings in it as well.
It is curious, but the cathedrals of melancholy are not necessarily demolished if one can replace the vulgar “What a messy business it is to be fallen for” by the more literary “What uneasiness lies in being loved.”— No Longer Human, Osamu Dazai
The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
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There is no greater sorrow than thinking back upon a happy time in misery.— The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (from Inferno)(Francesca to Dante)
Justice of God! Who has amassed as many strange tortures and travails as I have seen? Why do we let our guilt consume us so?— The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri (from Inferno)
