"Sometimes you have to live in precarious and temporary places. Unsuitable places. Wrong places. Sometimes the safe place won't help you.
    Why did I leave home when I was sixteen? It was one of those important choices that will change the rest of your life. When I look back it feels like I was at the borders of common sense, and the sensible thing to do would have been to keep quiet, keep going, learn to lie better and leave later.
    I have noticed that doing the sensible thing is only a good idea when the decision is quite small. For the life-changing things, you must risk it.
    And here is the shock – when you risk it, when you do the right thing, when you arrive at the borders of common sense and cross into unknown territory, leaving behind you all the familiar smells and lights, then you do not experience great joy and huge energy.
    You are unhappy. Things get worse.
    It is a time of mourning. Loss. Fear. We bullet through ourselves with questions. And then we feel shot and wounded.
    And then all the cowards come out and say, 'See, I told you so.'
    In fact, they told you nothing."

- Jeanette Winterson, Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal (page 63-64)