By Jacob Lopez
Being a graduate student studying clinical mental health, you’d think that I would have acceptance concurred. Well, that’s far from the truth. I simply don’t. No matter who we are or what we have learned or studied, anyone can struggle with acceptance. Even sitting here writing this, I still have a hard time understanding it fully and accepting things within my life that I cannot change. But then again I am just fighting against it and wasting my time and energy.
In order to start making a change within our lives and self. One must first accept.
We have been taught that acceptance can be mistaken for simply giving up or weak. Don’t make that mistake because for one to fully accept things for what it is or how it will be takes great courage to accept the situation one cannot change. Hopefully we learn and find ways to cope with the fact that we have to accept things that we cannot change, but in all reality we have the power to make our lives as we want it. But are you willing to do it?
No matter what it is we are trying to accept or what we find displeasing in life. There are many ways we can learn to accept things or change things. One way I have learned through grad school is by staying mindful and by doing staying the present called the here and now. Am I perfect at it? No, but I am actively working towards it.
Eckhart Tolle (2012) once said, “Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options: remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally. If you want to take responsibility for your life, you must choose one of those three options, and you must choose now. Then accept the consequences.”
Our peace of mind is so precious to us, but yet If we are not able to let go of worries, anger, resentment, or grudges how are we really living? We are wasting our time that we have to be alive. Accepting reality doesn’t mean the everything is going to glitter and sunshine, but it means we can finally breathe because we are no longer fighting. Even if the problem still exists, we have a choice on whether we want to change our beliefs and that can have a lasting positive impact.