In my version of paradise, the air was always cold and the rivers ran with candy. Amanda Lindhout More Quotes by Amanda Lindhout More Quotes From Amanda Lindhout Every day I have many choices to make about who I want to be. Amanda Lindhout choices want I think it's the human spirit inside of all of us that has an enormous capacity to survive. Amanda Lindhout capacity spirit thinking The road to recovery will not always be easy, but I will take it one day at a time, focusing on the moments I've dreamed about for so long. Amanda Lindhout one-day-at-a-time recovery long Forgiving is not an easy thing to do. Amanda Lindhout things-to-do forgiving easy I've realized that the world is, in essence, full of banana peels - loaded with things that may unwittingly trip an internal wire in my mind, opening a floodgate of fears without warning. Amanda Lindhout wire essence mind The same men who are placing all these outrageous restrictions on women’s freedoms in southern Somalia – that type of mentality – that’s what I had to deal with in captivity. Amanda Lindhout captivity southern men I swung from one place to the next, sometimes backward, sometimes forward, capitalizing on my own momentum, knowing that at some point my arms—or, more accurately, my quivering bank balance, accessed through foreign ATMs—would give out, and I’d fall to the ground. Amanda Lindhout knowing giving fall We all waited on an afterlife. Only I planned to be alive for mine. Amanda Lindhout afterlife mines alive I have watched lives change. I have seen women gain confidence. Amanda Lindhout gaining-confidence life-changing gains After being in captivity for so long, I can't begin to describe how wonderful it feels to be home in Canada. Amanda Lindhout captivity home long Friendships that don't fit my life anymore have faded away, and new ones have come in. Amanda Lindhout faded fit Because that’s the thing about the exact moment when you get somewhere that has required effort: There’s a freeze-frame instant of total fulfillment, when every expectation has been met and the world is perfect. Amanda Lindhout effort expectations perfect I, too, was carrying around my own fate. All the things I couldn't know sat somewhere inside, embroidered into me-maybe not quite fixed to the point of inevitability but waiting, in any event, for a chance to unspool. Amanda Lindhout fate events waiting I don't only long for the thrill of being in the middle of a war, I must understand it; I must make other people understand. Amanda Lindhout war long people Contemplating Christmas when you are isolated and far from home brings its own unique pain. Amanda Lindhout pain unique home I know firsthand how critical support systems are. Amanda Lindhout support-systems critical support I'm afraid of elevators, because they are an enclosed space, but I get in. Amanda Lindhout elevators space I'm not afraid of IED's, bullets, mortars. Amanda Lindhout mortar not-afraid bullets Getting on a plane is hard for me, but I do it, because travel is vital to me. Amanda Lindhout planes hard Being in the dark, there's a real weight to it. It's heavy. Amanda Lindhout weight real dark
