Angeline

How beautiful!

It seems to me that I only begin to live after the sun has gone down and the stars have come out.

- Eleanor Brownn

I love this quote by Eleanor Brownn. It doesn’t ask for any heroics. It just gently reminds me that I’m allowed to protect myself, however that looks.

Her writing gives quiet permission to rest and to heal – and stop burning ourselves up just to make others comfortable.

Wanting something requires dopamine signaling, but liking something doesn’t.

If you have a mental illness/disorder that affects dopamine, you might feel that you don’t want to do the things that you like. You do still like them. You will appreciate having done them.

Let your likes guide you.

(If you want to read more, here’s one experimental paper about it. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5171207/ This theory called the incentive-sensitization theory was originally created to explain behaviors in addiction but can be applied elsewhere as well)