Two Things Can Be True at Once (And Your Brain Won’t Explode)

Life isn’t a courtroom drama where everything has to be right or wrong, good or bad. Surprise: two (or even ten) things can be true at the same time! You can love your job and want to chuck your laptop into the nearest lake by Friday. You can feel grateful for your kids and fantasize about running away to a spa for six months. You can have multiple best friends without needing to assign anyone a glittery "Bestie #1" sash, you can be a “Daddy’s Girl” and still think your Mom is a kick ass BFF. It's not betrayal; it’s being a full, messy, beautiful human.

My son gave me a gift when he spoke this to me after my rant to him about some drama – he said “Mom, 2 or more things can be true at once”... and it hit me like a blast of fresh air! I was breathless – wait, what?? It doesn’t have to be good/bad, right/wrong, yes/no. This is new territory, and I am here for it!

The problem is, our brains love putting things into neat little boxes—right, wrong, success, failure. But real life? It’s a very messy closet where your favorite memories and your biggest regrets are tangled up together like socks in the dryer. The magic happens when we let go of the need to judge every feeling or situation and just let it be. You don’t have to pick a side. You don’t have to "fix" how you feel. You can just nod and say, “Yep, this is weird and beautiful and both things are true.”

If you want to flex that "multiple truths" muscle, start small. When you catch yourself in all-or-nothing thinking, pause and ask: “What else might also be true?” Maybe you're feeling angry at a friend and still love them dearly. Maybe you’re scared of change and excited by it. Write it down, sit with it, and give yourself permission to live in that complicated middle ground. Welcome to emotional adulthood, my friends—there are no gold stars, but there is way more freedom.

For a deeper dive into this beautiful complexity, check out Emily Nagoski’s TED Talk, “The Truth About Burnout”. She does a brilliant job of explaining how emotions, realities, and needs can all exist at once without canceling each other out.

Spoiler: You’re not broken for feeling all the things—you’re just fully alive.

- Kim