We rip out so much of ourselves to be cured of things faster than we should that we go bankrupt by the age of thirty and have less to offer each time we start with someone new. But to feel nothing so as not to feel anything – what a waste!
André Aciman, Call Me by Your Name: A Novel
I know that if I allowed myself the space and energy to honor all of my feelings, I’d never get anything else done.
Arguably the most powerful moment in either the novel or its film adaptation, this exchange between Elio and his father provides CMBYN with its emotional and philosophical core. It also begs the question: is it possible to live authentically without eventually becoming jaded? How do we honor our feelings without suppressing them and still carry on with the daily grind of life? I know that if I allowed myself the space and energy to honor all of my feelings, I’d never get anything else done.
Life, after all, is not just one singular experience or expression of selfhood. It is so many different things, sometimes all at once.
These are naturally questions without easy answers. Perhaps there is no answer. Life, after all, is not just one singular experience or expression of selfhood. It is so many different things, sometimes all at once. The truth, it seems, must lie somewhere in the middle. What do you think?
Further Reading
The Arrival of Timothée Chalamet by Daniel Riley, in GQ March 2018 (cover below)
Super Bonus: Timmy Edit Because I Feel Like It
God, what a stylish man….anyway, see you next time!
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