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Nathaniel closes his eyes and jumps, his arms glued to his sides like that fly's. He doesn't try to break his fall, just hits hard, because it hurts less than everything else.
Jodi Picoult
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Interpretation

What this quote means

This quote illustrates the idea of facing pain directly rather than avoiding it.

In this quote, Nathaniel's act of jumping without attempting to break his fall symbolizes the courage to confront one's pain head-on. Instead of resisting the inevitable hurt that life brings, he chooses to embrace it, suggesting that facing hardship can sometimes feel less burdensome than the emotional struggles we might evade.

Themes

PainCourageStruggleAcceptanceResilience

In practice

Example use cases

During a motivational speech about overcoming life's challenges, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of facing hardships.

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when you [lose someone], it feels like the hole in your gum when a tooth falls out. You can chew, you can eat, you have plenty of other teeth, but your tongue keeps going back to that empty place, where all nerves are still a little raw
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