every part of you is right.

 

{Love note and salt rocks still hanging out after #operationselfcarelikewhoa.)

 I am always saying, “There is a part of me that _____ but there’s another part of me that ____.” Always the parts, many parts, usually at least two or three or four strung along into that sentence, punctuated by buts.

There is a part of me that wants to but  

there is a part of me that doesn’t want to but 

there is a part of me that doesn’t care. 

There is a part of me that feels like I should but  

there is a part of me that worries what everyone else will think but 

there is a part of me that just wants to say fuck it.

Stop, she tells me. Try saying“and” instead of “but.” There is a part of you that wants to AND there is a part of you that doesn’t.

I think about that. I sit in silence for a few beats and realize that yes, I am allowed to have different parts of me feeling differently. There is no but. 

There’s a part of me that wants to just go for it, and 

there’s a part of me that’s scared shitless, and 

there’s a part of me that thinks I should do things the respectable way.

No buts. Just ands. We can embrace all these aspects of our selves, these multiple facets all clamoring for their voices to be heard and seen and accepted. 

These don’t need to be opposing. You are not a contradiction. Every part of you is right.