Breya M. Johnson: Sometimes we have big emotional needs in our lives that we just want met and we project those needs onto people who never consented to meeting them… Now you’re looking at that person with anger and disappointment that’s not actually about them.

We want people to hold all our stuff so badly. We get upset with people for not performing well in roles we silently assigned to them.

And I don’t know how many of us need to hear this but a person not meeting your needs is not inherently malicious. Every unmet need does not have to translate to ill intent.

be a human around other humans

Doing those deeply unfashionable things—slowing down, letting your spare time expand, getting enough sleep, resting—is a radical act now, but it is essential. This is a crossroads we all know, a moment when you need to shed a skin. If you do, you’ll expose all those painful nerve endings and feel so raw that you’ll need to take care of yourself for a while. If you don’t, then that skin will harden around you.

| Katherine May, Wintering: The Power of Rest and Retreat in Difficult Times