Choose your truths. Then own them.

Truth’s a hell of a creature.

Malleable. Omnipotent. Ubiquitous. Contradicting.

It’s widely available. Easily accessible. Brutally honest, yet neither benevolent nor malevolent. Devoid of opinions. Divorced from taking sides. Embued with meaning by us.

Truth is a gumbo of facts, perspectives, results, and realities sprinkled with interpretation - all part of a larger order and actuality. It recounts the past and informs the future. There’s no monopoly on truth, and our belief in it isn’t required for it to be valid. 

You can go three weeks without food, three days without water, and three minutes without air - whether or not you believe any of that.

The other day, a buddy of mine reminded me that: “there’s what she said, what he said, and then there’s the truth.” We were referring to a break-up, so you already know there are competing narratives, but taken to its extreme, this logic can be applied to any instance involving one or more parties.

Vantage points sculpt our interpretations of events, though we all have blind spots. Our singular perspectives don’t reflect the totality of any story - they’re yellows and blues on a Rubic’s Cube.

I love objective truths for being present even in and despite the absence of faith. The downside is, try as we may, we can’t fathom all realities at once since we’re not omniscient. So I think we have to choose and own our truths carefully and intentionally.

My wins in life and business happen when I invest deeply in the truths that uplift me to serve ideals and contribute freely. Basic notions we’ve all heard before like:

“I am capable.”

“I have talent.”

“I possess power.”

“I am worthy and therefore have value.”

Every time I focus on equally-viable truths that exhaust and demotivate me, I feel less capable. Less talented. Less powerful. Less worthy. Less valued. Even though these are non-truths.

The past 18 months have opened my eyes to some (objective) truths that are extremely hard for me to swallow and bear. I got lost in darkness for a minute. I became cynical and enraged, lacking the emotional intelligence to process it all without spiraling into depression. I felt weak and alone, hyper-sensitive and offended by these new frequencies I was tuning into.

Climbing my way out of this abyss meant plunging deep into my soul. To get out, I had to go in. I found clarity after creating some space and centering myself. Only then could I see the most vital truth of them all and get back in the driver’s seat.

I concluded that truths travel on a multi-lane, multi-layered expressway. It’s full of overpasses, bridges, and off-ramps. Traffic’s always congested and moves in every possible direction across all axes 24/7. Even the birds looking down at us from the skies and the fish looking up from the seas only see parts of this grand design. 

If this is the case, then the total objective truth for all events across all time and space exists inside a tesseract. Only a 5-dimensional being can see the entirety of the prism. We are but purveyors and surveyors of truths, tethered to the laws of gravity, forever unable to grasp the absolution of any given moment of a world constantly in flux. 

I choose and own the singular truth that business is very personal - especially when you’re compelled to hire yourself to solve a problem. Personal in that I’m the one steering it and in terms of the specific audience I’m serving. This truth guides my abilities to sell ideas, advice, insights, and occasionally, graphics. Still, I recognize that this truth is always evolving - and it isn’t my only truth.

Your professional truths may differ from mine, though that doesn’t mean they can’t coexist, and it doesn’t mean my truth is any less credible than yours. Singling out one truth doesn’t have to be at the expense of discounting another. After all, it’s just one inherently narrow truth amongst many.

Beliefs are gospel to us, but what if we developed them into truths through corroboration and testing - like how we learned way back in science class? This way, we can say unbiased data back our truths. Even then, we must be mindful of our convictions and respect that facts can and do change based on new insights.

There are many truths you or I could focus on today. Few are altruistic. Some are helpful. Many are indigestible. I learned the hard way that my capacity to be dramatically influenced by what I uncover goes both ways. This is why I need bulletproof hustle to counteract my sensitivities and shortcomings.

Truths are like all those convos taking place in the school’s cafeteria. We can only listen to one at a time, so we must prioritize and consider the context. Otherwise, it all sounds like gibberish, and we become apathetic. That said, just because somebody’s dropping a gem you don’t like doesn’t mean it lacks merit or doesn’t warrant your awareness. 

Inconveniences challenge us; however, isn’t that where growth starts? Walking on two feet feels foreign to a child used to getting around on all fours until they realize there’s a better way to test your patience.

One of my ultimate challenges involves emphasizing the truths that define who I am and what I do. Ones that empower me. Truths that I can affect and influence into different truths. 

Can we find and own the truths to devote our lives, time, and energy to - without devaluing all other truths in existence?

I believe so, for it’s only impossible until it’s done. But hey, what do I know?