Swimming in the gray

Maybe, just maybe, it is okay to not be this or that.

From day one, I was the girl who had a lot of opinions. Reading to learn, reflecting to form an opinion are all a part of my natural process. Though standing on those set opinions never were.

My opinions change, very frequently. As a creative, my mind finds pleasure in wandering between and across lines. Sure, it is a little contradictory but an opinionated person can also be a free thinker and open minded.

The more I travel and create different experiences, the harder it has become to clarify right and wrong, black or white. Yet, I recognize the societal pressure to define myself in one or the other is growing.

Even simple getting to know you questions feel like binaries. Are you left or right, conservative or liberal? Are you toxic or healthy in relationships? Are you gay or straight? Are you religious or atheist?

The brain automatically wants to place itself in a category to simplify understanding. Social media algorithms provide a narrow path of extremities to confirm, extend, and satisfy biases. The feeling is like the world needs everyone to choose one side and ride or die with it forever.

Brit Barron reminded me lately that I can be one, or both, or none of anything at any given time and that means nothing other than I am human. In her book, Do You Still Talk to Grandma? , she mentions her struggles through navigating a polarizing world. It was refreshing to learn from a more experienced person that two (or three, or four) things can be true at once.

Staying in the gray, is like staying in discomfort. It is confusing, maybe scary but that is where growth happens. I smile at the opportunity for growth and I invite you to do the same. Have a conversation with someone who has a different perspective. Search up opposing arguments to something you fundamentally believe. The more I do this, the more I realize my minds ability to swim in the gray is what makes it great.

Light and Love,

Kadaysha