Demi Lovato's latest 4D with Demi Lovato podcast episode features best-selling author Glennon Doyle. The two discussed coming out, addiction, and the concept of happiness.
The singer shared an intimate internal monologue that they once told themself, that they would never be truly happy. Addiction-related struggles caused that false self-narrative and opened up a raw conversation on the matter.
Perception Of Happiness
"I said look, being happy is just not in the cards for me," the Dancing with the Devil artist admitted, "I'm always going to have some form of addiction, some form of mental illness. Depression, anxiety, whatever it is."
Today, the performer who recently came out as non-binary has come to a peaceful conclusion that the ability to feel complex emotions has allowed them to experience content happiness.
"That's cool because it allows me to feel happy at times. But also, I get to feel fear. I get to feel sadness. I get to feel anger when I'm upset."
It's a complicated concept, that deep, and sometimes dark, emotions don't cheapen happiness. They can coexist within the entirety that is the human experience. The up-and-down number of years that Lovato's had given way to revelations like this one.
They went on to say that once they allowed themselves to feel, it was both freeing and terrifying. Doyle poignantly told Lovato how excited she is for them, that they can feel everything because they're alive.
No Pressure To Identify
The two mental health advocates also covered the acceptance to abandon the expectation to identify one way or the other. Lovato said that they embrace their gender fluidity at this moment, but their identity could look completely different 10 years from now.
Doyle agreed and mentioned her own frustration with herself when discovering her sexual identity. She said that she would sit in the kitchen with her wife Abby Wambach and take Buzzfeed quizzes to find out how she identifies.
The finale thought? It's okay to release the pressure to announce a solid identity. While some people are comfortable in labeling themselves as lesbian or bisexual, she doesn't feel the need to pinpoint that part of herself anymore.
Lovato added, "It's not about where you land. it's where you learn to fly."