"Sometimes the only way through is to tell the truth about where you are"
About this Quote
The key move is “where you are,” not “who you are.” That shift sidesteps identity as destiny and frames hardship as circumstance you can name, measure, and navigate. It’s also a quiet rebuke to performative resilience culture: the pressure to narrate your life as an inspiring arc while you’re still in the messy middle. Truth-telling becomes a form of logistics, not catharsis. If you can’t say “I’m overwhelmed,” “I’m stuck,” “I’m grieving,” you can’t ask for the right help or make the right decision. The subtext is that denial is not bravery; it’s a delay.
Context matters here: Bush Hager’s public persona is built on empathetic interviewing, book-club intimacy, and a post-White House adulthood defined by soft authority rather than political muscle. In that lane, “truth” isn’t grand whistleblowing. It’s the smaller, more culturally legible courage of admitting the uncurated present. The intent is permission-giving: to trade polish for precision, and to treat honesty as the first actionable step rather than a moral victory lap.
Quote Details
| Topic | Honesty & Integrity |
|---|---|
| Source | Everything Beautiful in Its Time: Seasons of Love and Loss (2020) by Jenna Bush Hager |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Hager, Jenna Bush. (n.d.). Sometimes the only way through is to tell the truth about where you are. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/sometimes-the-only-way-through-is-to-tell-the-184588/
Chicago Style
Hager, Jenna Bush. "Sometimes the only way through is to tell the truth about where you are." FixQuotes. Accessed February 3, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/sometimes-the-only-way-through-is-to-tell-the-184588/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Sometimes the only way through is to tell the truth about where you are." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/sometimes-the-only-way-through-is-to-tell-the-184588/. Accessed 3 Feb. 2026.











