Day 13 - Acceptance - 30 Days of Inspiration

Welcome to Day 13 of  my "30 days of inspiration".  In my last blog post I shared how humour inspires me and has helped me to accept situations by shining a postive light on them.  This led me to think about acceptance and how it continues to inspire me.  Like forgiveness (to be discussed in a future blog post) its a tough one to get a handle on.  For me, as many of us, self acceptance and acceptance of life circumstance and other people's choices or behaviour etc is an ongoing life project.

I want to focus on self acceptance today though as its currently to the forefront of my mind.  I have come to a point in my life after 42 years on the planet of starting to accept myself more.  However, its still a challenge.  The most challenging thing I am trying to make peace with is my health - especially since becoming self employed and all that entails.  I was diagnosed with ME 2 years ago, however I'd had progressively worsening symptoms of the illness for severl years prior to that and I feel the seeds of the illness began bakc in early childhood. Two years ago I could barely get out of bed some days and spent most of them housebound.  Yet through learning how to manage my energy and doing lots of work on my health and wellbeing - here I am doing what I always dreamed of doing  - making an income from my creativity and having the job title of 'Artist'.  The contrast to this wonderful personal achievement being that I have entered a whole new arena of challenge to my self acceptance of who and where I am with myself.  So I'm choosing to see it as an opportunity to shape and form my own paradigm of how I can be in the world of business.

Its easy to become overwhelmed.  I look around me and see people who seem to be power houses of energy, brimming with wonderful and seemingly ceaseless media campaigns and a permanent and omnipresent fixture on social media.  We all make comparisons with others its human nature. I used to have non stop energy before I burnt out. My mum used to say I ran around like a "headless chicken".  In my twenties following University I used my fiery determination to get some work experience with a Film and Television production company.  Went back to study two evenings a week at Chelsea College of Art and Design to learn set design for film and televison whilst holding down a full time job and evening work experience in the art department for TV shows.  Ultimately, I found that I was trying to mould myself into a career that was soul destroying and was surrounded by many people who were cut throat ambitious to the point of ugliness. It didn't suit my sensitive and gentle  nature, so it served in a learning curve (which I went on for several years and is still ongoing) of who I was in the world.  At first I cursed myself for not being 'thick-skinned' enough to see it through, not having this qualification or that experience.  In the end I saw it as a lucky escape and if I'd stuck on that road I probably would have burnt out much sooner.

I am now starting my journey into embracing my unique qualities and the contrast (read Abraham Hicks) in my life.  Having M.E., on the whole, I see now as a blessing (I still have my days when I curse it I'm only human).  Instead of running wild "like a headless chicken" and expelling energy in every which way it is teaching me to focus and to live a gentler and kinder to myself life. I can't match those with "powerhouse" energy so I'm not going to try. That means doing things my way to fit my current life situation as a single parent of 2 children (one of whom required extra care due to additional needs) with ME.  I am learning to accept that I have to live gently and simply and I'm learning to trust that the clients and audience for my business will be attracted to a "gentler" business model.

Here are some of the things I get frustrated with and I'm trying to learn to accept:

Being a single parent
Having a limited energy for XYZ
Having limited time for XYZ
My weight, looks, ageing, hair etc you name it!

Now I think of some positive words or "affirmations" I can associate with those:

I am brave, courageous and a wise and loving parent.
I am being kinder to myself and cherish my own unique way of being in the world.
I am enjoying the moment; there is plenty of time.
I am beautiful inside and out.

The serenity prayer helps me in times when I need a reminder of the need to accept:

God grant me the Serenity
To accept the things I cannot change
Courage to change the things I can
And Wisdom to know the difference.

If you like do this exercise for yourself with by turning something you find difficult accepting into a postive sentence or "affirmation".

Have a great day.  See you tomorrow :-)