“It is easier to live through someone else than to complete yourself. The freedom to lead and plan your own life is frightening if you have never faced it before. It is frightening when a woman finally realizes that there is no answer to the question ‘who am I’ except the voice inside herself.”
― Betty Friedan
What have you learned about yourself by paying attention to the voice inside you?
There’s much to be said for “going with the flow” or “not pushing the river.” But history is generally made by people who have a goal—a destination they are headed towards—and a vast determination not to stop.
What is your most urgent long-term goal?
“All the books we own, both read and unread, are the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal. … But with each passing year, and with each whimsical purchase, our libraries become more and more able to articulate who we are, whether we read the books or not.”
― Nick Hornby
What would someone know about you from looking at your books?
Our best friends are the people who can be honest with us, who we can trust to both know and tell the truth about us. But isn’t it wonderful when people—maybe even those same friends—can overlook our flaws and failings and just celebrate the best of who we are?
When you just look at the best of yourself, what do you see?
“Never be bullied into silence. Never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life, but define yourself.”
― Harvey Fierstein
Who have you had to defy in order to define yourself?
