Julien Baker covers No Children by the Mountain Goats + an introduction from John Darnielle

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Maron: In general.

Darnielle: Well, no, with those–––just my vision, my ability to think about that time and how far I’ve come. I lived in Iowa at the time––

Maron: Do you think that some impact was that, you know, the abuser was dead?

Darnielle: Absolutely…I ask survivors when they come up to me at the merch line, “has your abuser died yet?” And they will say, “no” and I will say, “I want you to be ready, cause it is, I hate to say this (I don’t wish death on anybody), it is wonderful when your abuser dies. It’s wonderful, it’s like nothing in the world. It’s like you are free.” There’s a feeling that you will never be free of what you were, you know, there’s that…But to know that the person who used to hurt you no longer can is very very very deep. It’s unbelievable.

Maron: Do you forgive him?

Legitimately self-compassion is the biggest mental health life hack of all time. I'm NOT talking about self-esteem. You do NOT have to like yourself one bit. You don't have to believe that you're a good person who deserves good things. You just have to believe that you're a person who deserves the things all people deserve.

You can't get from "I'm the Worst" to "I'm a worthy and lovable person" without passing through "I'm just a regular fuckup like everybody else."

children of any species are very good at being annoying and very cute while doing that

a sphinx child based on this post