Anne Clendening

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve woken up in a cold sweat thinking I’m being chased by a grunting, disfigured…

— Anne Clendening

“We've all felt a little incompetent, insufficient, overexposed, helpless, unlovable, terrified, defective, unfit and unsung at times. And deep down, for whatever…

— Anne Clendening

“I'm still trying to wrap my head around the absurdity of the fact that the day before she was here, and now,…

— Anne Clendening

“One minute, I'm a tragically average, fair and freckled eighth-grader with algebra homework. The next, I'm one who has swallowed liquor. I'm…

— Anne Clendening

“Take a moment in between breaths to let yourself see what's left to be seen, all the places you've been. Your old…

— Anne Clendening

“Addiction, at its worst, is akin to having Stockholm Syndrome. You're like a hostage who has developed an irrational affection for your…

— Anne Clendening

“I’ve always felt safer at night. You can be much more forgiving of yourself, not to mention the world and everyone in…

— Anne Clendening

“Fact: You are part Shakespeare. You are part Jack the Ripper. You are part dinosaur. You are part of a star that…

— Anne Clendening

“Rise up and lift your sword, peaceful warrior. Keep it strong and steady. You've already lived and fought a thousand battles, and…

— Anne Clendening

“I lead a double life. I'm John Wayne Gacy. I present myself in potentially awkward social situations as a laughing, colorful clown…

— Anne Clendening

“When you're in the clutches of a drinking problem you don't really sit around thinking, I should really knock this shit off…

— Anne Clendening

“I'd much rather spend all day on the Santa Monica pier playing Asteroids than delve into the murk and analyze myself. And…

— Anne Clendening

“The panic was there, staring me down in the face, all the time, like I had a hoodie on backwards and I…

— Anne Clendening

“I want to belong. Belonging makes things okay, and I want to be okay. I just want to be okay.”

— Anne Clendening

“It's amazing how fearless you can be when you want something bad enough, the lengths to which you'll go, the grit you'll…

— Anne Clendening

“I'm in hell. I'm separate from everyone and everything. I'm John Travolta in The Boy in the Plastic Bubble.”

— Anne Clendening

“An addict newly separated from their thing, whether it's drinking, drugs, throwing up ten times a day or anything else is like…

— Anne Clendening

“Two things there will always be in life: Beauty and pain. Mostly beauty.”

— Anne Clendening

“Fear is a bastard. Fear is an attention whore. I want to ask fear if it has mommy issues, because that’s the…

— Anne Clendening

“Hospice care? No, you must mean Frisbee game. Because there's no way my brother and I aren't outside right now playing Frisbee…

— Anne Clendening

“I needed a time machine. I needed to run around the past and gather up all the old, unbroken parts of me…

— Anne Clendening

“Love is a lady. Lust is a tramp.”

— Anne Clendening

“Who knows the meaning of life, death, or anything else quasi-important. Maybe the starving poets on street corners and oceanside piers. I'd…

— Anne Clendening

“One of the hardest things you'll ever do is give yourself permission to be in pain of any kind. There's a reason…

— Anne Clendening

“Sometimes, you can learn something completely mind-blowing in yoga and then totally forget about it the minute you need it the most.…

— Anne Clendening