We Need to Learn to "Accept"

I’ve always been slow to process things. When my girls go shopping with me, and ask me if I like something, I pause. They are quick to think I mean, “no,” and that I don’t like the item. But really, I’m pondering and digesting.  

Then I know what I think.

I’m just built that way.

When someone I love deeply passes away, it takes me many, many months to grieve their loss.

When I get dealt bad news, (like having to wear my splint for 3 months post-jaw surgery, instead of 6 weeks), it can take me many hours to overcome the disappointment.

But the point is, I do come to that point. I do overcome.

I do accept. I just need the right time to come to terms with things.

We all have different timeframes built inside of us - that are the right timeframes for us to come to terms with things. There is no “set” time period that fits all of us.

But for some of us, we can live there in that moment far past the moment of acceptance. We stay in denial, rejection, or fear.  And it holds us back.

You can’t truly be free until you accept something.

For me, it was humbling to have to go out in public and talk weird and slurred with a splint in my mouth. But once I overcame the “humiliation” aspect of it all, it was easier to accept. It was temporary. It was for a greater good. And anyone who loved me, didn’t care. They knew I’d been through a big surgery and was still healing.

Perspective.

Acceptance is about moving forward. It’s about refusing to let something make you “lesser” of a person. It’s about deciding to be strong, instead of weak.

And let’s face it, we have a world full of people who refuse to accept. They refuse to accept a President. Refuse to accept that something was an accident. Refuse to accept someone’s “I’m sorry.”  And they live there. 

And it weakens them.

I know there are things in life that are truly injustices. And there are many battles we should wage and fight for. Moral battles and fights. But most things? Most things are just life. And life is all about ups and downs. Good and bad. 

And we need to accept that.

We can never be the people we truly desire to be, deep down, if we don’t learn to accept the losses in our lives. 

I want that for you. And I want it for me.

So, even if it takes you awhile to process something… like it does for me… process. Then move on. Lift your chin up. And step forward.

Stronger. Wiser. Humbler. 

Better.