{"author":"Shannon Mullen","author_id":"Shannon+Mullen","total_quotes":38,"quotes":[{"text":"The west coast is a mecca for wild hearts, wild minds, wild spirits and I’m a WMD—I’ve got so much energy I’m about to explode.","author":"Shannon Mullen","tags":["bipolar-disorder","energy","mania","mental-illness","west","wild-hearts","wilderness","wilderness"],"id":18782,"author_id":"Shannon+Mullen"},{"text":"How can any of us even know what to believe anymore? Our culture’s full of so much phoniness and deception. Companies advertise products to make us believe that we will be more beautiful, more healthy, or live longer by consuming their products. We are seduced by lovers who feed their porn addictions when we’re asleep. We’re taught to believe that if we work hard and take risks, that we can achieve our dreams, yet youth unemployment is the highest it’s been in decades. Fairytales tell us that true love exists, but half of all marriages end in divorce.","author":"Shannon Mullen","tags":["culture","deceptions-in-life","disappointment","disillusionment","dreams","fairytales","relationships"],"id":28998,"author_id":"Shannon+Mullen"},{"text":"A bus drives past and I’m nauseated by a whiff of exhaust. Then rotting fish. The rancid stench of sewage. Is it garbage day? I’m trapped in the pungent fog, in the dreary suburban-style shops, the rat race of city life. The city, even on the west coast, has the power to beat us down, to suck us of passion, to crush our dreams.","author":"Shannon Mullen","tags":["city","imprisonment","rat-race","soul-crushing","vancouver","wild"],"id":40242,"author_id":"Shannon+Mullen"},{"text":"That’s what mountains do, they taunt you, lure you to the freedom of the wilderness, and it is fucking exhilarating.","author":"Shannon Mullen","tags":["bipolar-disorder","bipolar","escape","freedom","mania","mental-illness","mountains","wilderness","wilderness"],"id":47091,"author_id":"Shannon+Mullen"},{"text":"The idea to go West just fell into my lap from the sky. Go west, young man. That’s how the best ideas happen. Just out of nowhere. When you’re not even thinking. Like they’ve been created for you and you just have to reach out and grab them before someone else does.","author":"Shannon Mullen","tags":["bipolar","grandiosity","ideas","mania","mental-illness"],"id":53261,"author_id":"Shannon+Mullen"},{"text":"Maybe the truth doesn’t exist if you look the other way.","author":"Shannon Mullen","tags":["illusions","life-lessons","reality","truth"],"id":70944,"author_id":"Shannon+Mullen"},{"text":"Just as I’m about to continue walking along the shoreline, the left third of the iceberg breaks off suddenly and crashes violently, like a high-rise apartment building imploding in the heart of the city. Tears roll down my face uncontrollably as I watch the two distinct halves of the iceberg drift further and further apart from each other. It’s devastating to watch something that seems so strong and unbreakable crumble in an instant. Even more devastating is the feeling that there’s nothing I can do about it.","author":"Shannon Mullen","tags":["acceptance","arctic","forgiveness","forgiveness","iceberg","letting-go","love","mental-illness","relationships"],"id":84213,"author_id":"Shannon+Mullen"},{"text":"Is there such a thing as being too happy?","author":"Shannon Mullen","tags":["happiness","life","life-lessons","mental-health"],"id":89928,"author_id":"Shannon+Mullen"},{"text":"Can I Tinder swipe for cat cuddles?","author":"Shannon Mullen","tags":["cat","cats","loneliness","loneliness","love","relationships","tinder"],"id":119551,"author_id":"Shannon+Mullen"},{"text":"It is not the darkness of shadows: one that follows you, haunts you, terrifies you. Instead, it consumes you, becomes you, weighs you down. It IS you. It is comforting. Familiar. I have walked with it. Eaten with it. Loved with it. Smiled with it. Yet I feel it destroying me.Like cancer.But I can’t remove it. It stays inside of me, taunting me to kill it, myself, but it does not realize that this seduction keeps me alive.","author":"Shannon Mullen","tags":["depression","depression","mental-health","mental-illness"],"id":156796,"author_id":"Shannon+Mullen"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":38,"pages":4,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}