“When you embrace the both/and, your narrative can be more beautiful than you imagine.” – Susannah Kate Plaisted
Susannah shared a deeply personal story about her identity growing up as an adopted child, and then the journey to finding her Colombian bio mum.
I cannot begin to imagine the gamut of the many conflicting emotions she experienced on this very intense roller coaster, but the key message is poignant, and so true.❤
🍩 I can be angry that I lost my job, but happy that I am no longer stressed from being in a toxic environment.☠
🍩 I can be proud that I’m a great role model as a working mum 👩🏻💼, but feel guilty that I am not more of a baking, cooking maternal figure. 👩🏻🍳
🍩 I can grieve for the loss of a loved one 💔, but feel guilty for wanting the day to come so that they may no longer be in pain. ⛅
👉🏻👈🏻Opposing things can be true at the same time.
I met loads of amazing people and had wonderful conversations in at Midwest Dreamin’ and WITness Success, but Susannah’s closing keynote really struck a chord with me.
From an emotional health point of view, this is a healthy way of being, and understanding that we’re messy, clumsy, awkward and very very human.
Sometimes we have to accept that we feel opposite things all at the same time, and that it’s ok.
We have to lean into those feelings.
Sit in it.
Introspect.
And figure out what they mean.
After that, we can look at where we go from here.
But maybe for now, feeling conflicted is an OK feeling.
Thank you Susannah, for being so vulnerable and sharing your story.
I know it resonated with so many people ❤
