Mark Phillips' Pages: Workbook: 4/1/11: These behaviors are so exhausting.

Jacob Lawrence, "The Lovers," 1946 — Jacob Lawrence, *The Lovers* (1946)

April 1, 2011:

These behaviors are so exhausting. You have to be permanently on guard: the wrong tone of voice sets her off.

Soon as I ended it, explosion of creativity and productivity and joy, latent all that time, stifled by stress.

Simple lesson, but core. You can't let other people hold you back, no matter how much you love them. If they're holding you back their love for you is selfish. And the relationship is helplessly doomed.