From the archive

Be a monster

This is where it gets interesting. Because your misfortune has already secured a permanent role in your life. It's how people understand you. It's how you get attention. It explains why you're standing still. And if you start finding your way out, you'll have to give up some of those explanations. You won't be able to blame every outcome in advance on what happened to you once. You'll have to find out who you are now. What you can do. Where you're lying to yourself. Where you really need help, and where it's long past time to do the unpleasant thing you've been putting off. Sometimes people cling to their tragedy partly because they haven't imagined themselves outside it in years.