I am not your justification for existence.
Interpretation
This quote emphasizes the importance of self-worth and independence in relationships.
Margaret Atwood's quote highlights that an individual should not rely on another person to validate their existence or self-worth. It promotes the idea that self-acceptance and fulfillment should come from within, rather than being contingent upon others’ approval or presence in one's life.
In practice
During a motivational speech about self-acceptance and independence.
If I am good enough and quiet enough, perhaps after all they will let me go; but it’s not easy being quiet and good, it’s like hanging on to the edge of a bridge when you’ve already fallen over; you don’t seem to be moving, just dangling there, and yet it is taking all your strength.
I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.
What else can I do? Once you've gone this far you aren't fit for anything else. Something happens to your mind. You're overqualified, overspecialized, and everybody knows it. Nobody in any other game would be crazy enough to hire me. I wouldn't even make a good ditch-digger, I'd start tearing apart the sewer-system, trying to pick-axe and unearth all those chthonic symbols - pipes, valves, cloacal conduits... No, no. I'll have to be a slave in the paper-mines for all time.
We love each other, that’s true whatever it means, but we aren’t good at it; for some it’s a talent, for others only an addiction.
I've learned quite a lot, over the years, by avoiding what I was supposed to be learning.
Knowing too much about other people puts you in their power, they have a claim on you, you are forced to understand their reasons for doing things and then you are weakened.
Cultivating a close, warmhearted feeling for others automatically puts the mind at ease.
I'm re-energized by being around people who mean a lot to me.
Forgive, forget. Bear with the faults of others as you would have them bear with yours.
Look to be treated by others as you have treated others.
Expressing our vulnerability can help resolve conflicts.
I was tired of pretending that I was someone else just to get along with people, just for the sake of having friendships.
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