Acceptance

                   "Some people confuse acceptance with apathy but there's

all the difference in the world.  Apathy fails to distinguish

what can and cannot be helped; acceptance makes the

distinction.  Apathy paralyzes the will-to-action;

acceptance frees it by relieving it of impossible burdens."

-  Arthur Gordon

Acceptance is recognizing a process or condition (often a negative or uncomfortable situation) without attempting to change it, protest, or exit. It is a response to anything occurring in any moment of life. There, strength, peace and serenity are available when one stops struggling to resist, or hang on tightly to what is so in any given moment.

Apathy is lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation and/or passion.


Sometimes life brings us curve balls that we can't dodge from. Now of course if we had a time machine maybe we could go back and do something differently. But as far as I know there is no time machine. And would we really want one if it did exist? This is life. People get hurt, sick, die and most of the time for an unknown reason. Things aren't really fair or even make since. People who get sick didn't do anything wrong most often to be put in that situation. It just happens.

I think this is why acceptance is so important. It will help us to make the life we have the happiest life we can. Really if you think about it our life doesn't have to be long to be great. It doesn't have to be full to be meaningful.

I definitely know what its like to struggle, to accept life for what it is. For how it is. I feel its about creating a balance between determination to never give up and acceptance. I think we can have them both at the same time. Just because you accept this moment for how it is doesn't mean you are not going to continue to move forward in your life. I also don't think of acceptance as giving up. Because giving up and doing nothing will not only keep you from moving forward in your life but it will always push you further back.

I know when I went to my doctors appointment yesterday he really said something that clicked with me. When I told him I refused to give up hope that things can be better he said that was good because if you give up hope you won't even try to get better anymore which means you will actually get worse. So just say you try to get better but you end up maintaining it still seems like a much better quality of life then getting worse. If you don't like your situation now you certainly won't like it then. If I sit at home on the couch and take pain pills my health will deteriorate. That is a fact. But if I keep pushing obviously within limits and those limits will be a learning lesson but if keep pushing I will continue to improve the quality of my life and happiness.

Just remember we all struggle, we all fall down and you are not alone. Remember things can be better even if it is just accepting in our mind that it is so.