Accepting What Is, To Create What Could Be

The makeup of your life to-date is the sum of the material you’ve been given. Your experiences, your setbacks, who your family is or isn’t, your abilities—the lot we’ve been assigned is out of our control, but what we do with and how we respond to it is.

To understand what acceptance is and looks like, we must understand what it is not. Acceptance is not apathy, laziness, or idle helplessness. It’s not the status quo or refusing to push yourself. Acceptance is coming to terms with what is real (read: irrefutably, irrevocably true). It has nothing to do with whether you’re happy about said reality, and has everything to do with a peaceful acknowledgement of that thing—that concrete thing—being true.

Acceptance is saying, I care deeply and while this is not preferred, I acknowledge that this is my reality—my responsibility lies in how I bear it.

Our thriving demands a graceful acceptance of our realities, subsequently opening up the space necessary to creatively navigate next steps. It’s the simple declaration of, “This is my life. Now how do I make something of it? How does this not look hopeless? What does my reality require me to do?”

When it comes to our lot in life, we either overcome it, or accommodate it. Accommodate doesn’t mean giving in or giving up. It means designing a lifestyle that enables you to not be destroyed by that thing.

May we accept what is, to create what's next.

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