Regardless of who you are, where you're from, or what you have been through in life, you can take advantage of reading Sue Krupa's debut memoir, I Just Looked Up. Sue goes on the heart-wrenching journey of her childhood, enabling you to experience firsthand all her hardships and heartbreaks: becoming an adult with a mother suffering from bipolar disorder, divorce ripping her family apart and estranging her from her siblings, recurring tragedy and loss. You watch her transform from a frightened and lonely young girl to a loving and forgiving woman, despite all of the misfortunes she faced and pain she was caused. She gives you a deeper look into the mind of somebody suffering from mental illness and consistently proves how important it's to live a life filled with love and empathy.
Below are some inspirational one-liners from Sue Krupa's memoir:
“You need to fall apart to see exactly what you're made of.”
“I had come to be aware of damaging memories were just that-memories. Memories are created to be left behind for cherishing, gaining knowledge from, redefining, as we make brand new ones by living in the moment. My past is not my identity.”
“There are no true arrivals, just continuous journeys. I'd become believing that I was supposed to arrive at some perfect destination and have all the answers to the enigmatic questions posed by life. But what I kept smacking up against was the fact that there is no arrival point, just an unceasing journey to repeatedly become more.”
“Our wounds often speak for us. Most of the time we are unconscious of what messages we are sending to each other.”
“A broken piece of glass can always be put back together. Though it seems to be different once it is mended, it's still the same glass. The cracks and lines add significant character towards the depth of what once was perfectly clear and whole. Now, the facets join together to inform a new story.”
“That's the saddest a part of mental illness, though, is no one gets to control its powerful grip or if this appears.”
“Solemn recognition of pain may be the gift that ties us together within the human experience.”
“We choose what we should do with our memories. We either allow the gloomy ones destroy us or walk us into bitter dispositions, or we elect to sift through them, grow from them, study them, and permit them to rock us ever so gently, granting us new perceptions of compassion and love. There's a reason that we have a past tense. It's there we need to leave our heartache behind, allowing time to wash us clean of yesterday's calamities. Staying contained in the moment is integral to emotional well-being. The here and now buoys the soul through distressful immersions.”
“Every soul you meet supplies a reflection for you to learn and grow from. Be willing to see yourself in everyone and everything. Our humanity is life's greatest mirror.”
“When life gets hard and absolutely nothing makes sense, it is time to stop, reevaluate, making well thought-out plans to change it all. We get to write the endings to the story-and they are meant to be beautiful, no matter what we have come from.”
“I know 100 % that I would not have the depth, character, compassion, love, patience, or desire to discontinue legacies for my own children with no sad part of my individual journey.”
“Without the experience of darkness, light is not as powerful or bright. Without light, we can't truly see all that there's right in front of us.”
“We are not here to fix each other; we are here to like each other.”
“Should you really want to converge with another soul in this lifetime then you must get the skill of bestowing empathy. Empathy is really a distinct characteristic that drives us to talk about others' feelings and project our understanding to their experience. Empathy compels us to relate and gracefully connect to others as we step into their world, reminding them they matter and are seen and heard. Empathy moves us not only to want to share our sentiments and sympathies, but it motivates us to validate, commune, and fix as we do, bringing humanity alive.”
“Expression is an unbounded art- This is the gift all of us receive from storytelling: connection.”
“You need to get working on changing the things that threaten to limit your successes. Whenever you meet the bravery inside of you, there isn't any turning back. Courage urges us to save ourselves from ourselves.”
Sue's memoir reminds you that you are not alone in your suffering, regardless of what kind of pain you are experiencing. Whether you are suffering from a mental illness or living amongst one, Sue's insightful message is what you need to hear to pick yourself up and going.
