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Don't tell me that [broken heartstrings] hurt less than a broken bone, that an ingrown life is something surgeons can cut away, that there's no way for it to metastasize - it does.
Shane Koyczan
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Interpretation

What this quote means

The pain of emotional wounds can be more profound than physical injuries, and they often linger and spread in ways we cannot ignore.

In this quote, Shane Koyczan emphasizes the deep and often invisible pain that can accompany emotional trauma, comparing it to physical injuries. He highlights that emotional suffering, such as heartache, is profound and impactful, often dismissed by those who do not understand that these wounds can be long-lasting and far-reaching, similar to how a broken bone can affect overall health.

Themes

Emotional PainBroken HeartHeartstringsLoveTrauma

In practice

Example use cases

During a therapy session discussing coping mechanisms for heartbreak.

More from Shane Koyczan

I've been told that people in the army do more by 7:00 am than I do in an entire day But if I wake at 6:59 am and turn to you to trace the outline of your lips with mine I will have done enough and killed no one in the process.
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I don't want to turn any of this into poetry / but / you're so beautiful / flowers turn their heads to smell you
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Don't tell me you're not beautiful. You're the kind of beautiful the blind would see if we could figure out some way to give them three seconds of sight.
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Bullying, to me, starts very small around the kindergarten age where the first thing we learn is to call each other names. Something so small can be so long lasting in someone's life.
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Having seen TED from a distance, I always thought if ever there was a place for someone like me, the outcasts, people who maintained who they are despite being told what they were, it was TED.
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That’s what we were told—stand up for yourself. But that’s hard to do if you don’t know who you are.
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