Everything is True All At Once

Last week I saw a post from a LinkedIn connection where she expressed that it had been a both challenging year AND she felt gratitude.

I sensed the authenticity her emotions as I read the post. She wasn't putting on a fake gratitude smile. She really was grateful - and it had been a hard year.

Her words struck me with a deep truth that I thought you might resonate with as well. Maybe it's especially true for you in this holiday season - or maybe you feel it all the time.

Life is rarely black and white, all or nothing.

Instead, it is a both/and. YOU are a both/and.

You can feel deep grief and deep joy in the same season of your life.

You can be totally confident in one area and completely breaking down, questioning, and doubting yourself in another area.

You can be grateful for your job or relationship or anything else in your life - and know you need a change.

You can be full of anxiety about the unknown future one day and full of excitement about the unknown possibilities the next day.

You can be both grounded and wild

It's all true, all at once.

Being a human is complex. You have many layers and truths. You can experience contradicting emotions in the exact same moment.

And you can hold all these truths and contradictions together, allowing them to gently take up space within you.

You are whole, complete, complex, and contradictory all at the same time.

And so is the person next to you, another whole, complete, complex, and contradictory human.

It's all true, all at once.

So have compassion for yourself as you hold it all. And compassion for others who are holding their own set of complexities.

Be your both/and - and give others permission to do the same.