What’s So Great About Acceptance?

A few questions to crack the hard nut of “acceptance”

Tatyana Sussex
2 min readApr 22, 2021
Photo by author.

If I could just accept myself for who I am. If I could just accept him/her/they for who they are.

Oh, the longing to be someone better — but consider:

What do we really want from a state of acceptance?

What does not accepting give us that is so hard to let go of?

What does “acceptance” mean to you, beyond its dictionary definition; beyond what you have come to think of as “acceptance?”

We’re told that accepting others starts with self-acceptance. Before I can accept you for who and what and where you are, I have to begin here. What if this isn’t true? “Accepting myself,” whatever the hell that is, is just another hoop to jump through.

Is something more true?

Is there a word you like better than acceptance? For example, I sometimes replace the general state of “love” with “goodwill.” I can see it.

What if acceptance is like a color, and you look for it, the way some people are on the lookout for bluejays. Not a seeking, but a watching — a witnessing. When the bluejay appears, you observe. You get curious about it, you stare it down until you see something new about it.

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Tatyana Sussex

Writer, coach, swimmer, late-marrier. Guide, companion, and explorer at the trailhead of Everyday Creative Coaching: www.everydaycreative.net