As we grow up, we wait for that definitive moment—or at least that encroaching feeling—of reaching adulthood. Surprise! It never comes.
Instead, we just get moments like these.Late-20s, she/her
Style blog at Clothing Authentically
The funniest thing about this situation is that Elon Musk is so pissed off at not getting to do something illegal and get away with it by being a billionaire for once in his life that he has been -and I’m 100% serious here- making photo edits of our Supreme Court minister dressed as fucking Voldemort. Literal little kid taping a picture of someone they don’t like to a dartboard kind of behavior.
this is your random reminder to CHECK IF YOU'RE STILL HAVING FUN
are you enjoying scrolling tumblr? watching youtube? reading that book? playing that game? drawing that art? doing that activity? if not,
YOU CAN STOP AND DO SOMETHING ELSE
you don't have to stick to something that you are doing for fun if it isn't fun for you anymore. You can come back! If you've loved it before you are likely to love it again! but you can stop!
Don't get stuck in a loop of doing something that you think should be fun when it isn't! You can put it down for a bit! Maybe that's the very thing that will make it fun again later!
funniest thing so far about owning a bright yellow car has been someone politely being like “oh, you… WANTED this color?” like. yes i willingly picked this. Genuinely. do you hate happiness
if you spend your life bitching and complaining about the fact people are 'expected' to engage in the dreaded pointless banal '''small talk''' instead of learning to trade pleasantries with the people around you, you will never know the true and heady joy of doing a dumb bit with a complete stranger and as a result your soul will remain small
autism is living by vampire rules. light sensitivity. eating the wrong food makes you want to die. need to be explicitly invited places. weird sleep schedule. eating the same thing every time. specific rituals and routines. burst into flames at the sight of a crucifix. etc.
I wasn’t on tumblr when you were bullied off of tumblr (due to being in a bad place in my life) but I think you’re cool as shit. I read The Fault in Our Stars when I was a teenager, and all I remember is being shaken by it. Read Turtles All the Way Down, same feeling.
As an adult, I understand better what you were doing in your novels for kids like me. Teenagers struggling to process emotions in an environment where they are feeling these huge feelings every day—“my world is ending”—“I will never love again”—“I’m too happy to function”—the emotions are so intense at that age. Especially if you’re a teen with mental health issues. Even caring adults seem so distant when you’re trapped in that vortex.
Your novels recreated that feeling for me, allowing me to read about someone like me who was grappling with every emotion and sensation. I genuinely didn’t know how to cope with that stuff. You showed that teens like me could feel everything from devastation to euphoria to bewilderment…and still be here.
When I watched Turtles All the Way Down recently, I cried seeing thought spirals portrayed so accurately and seeing Aza find hope. Seeing her people finally connect with her through the mindfog. That shit is powerful. I wish teenage me could have seen that movie.
All this to say: you’ve done a lot of good. I hope you know that you’ve helped people who are going through deep shit. From one grownup person to another, thank you for what you did for teenage me. I hope you can be as kind to yourself as you have been to us. You deserve to be happy. You deserve to just be. 🫂
Thanks.
This Ken's job is allowing people to read someone grappling with every emotion and sensation, and it's nice to know he did an okay job with those books.
I hope you like the new one, even though instead of being a novel it is a history of tuberculosis.