"I read Chuck Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters in college (because, of course), and there's a passage in it that really molded the way I think about my past and future: 'All you can talk about is trash that's already happened. You can't base your life on the past or the present . . . You are going to tell me your story like you just did. Write it all down. Tell that story over and over . . . When you understand that what you're telling is just a story. It isn't happening anymore. When you realise the story you're telling is just words, when you can crumble it up and throw your past in the trashcan, then we'll figure out who you're going to be.'
It was a reminder that everyone has mistakes in their past, but if you dwell on them, you're going to doom your future. Every time I get caught in an anxiety spiral, I imagine crumpling up those negative thoughts and throwing them in the trashcan." — Maggie Panos, editor, Voices and SEO