Facing Life Challenges—Accepting Them or Changing Them
Do you
sometimes feel that your life is going in the wrong direction and it is out of
control? You know that things are happening you have no control over. When we
face these types of situation, we have two choices. We can either accept that
there are things in our life we cannot change, and there are things in life we
can.
When
there are things in our life we can change, then we must not wait for things to
change, but we must work at changing them. Many people know what needs to be done to
change a situation but for reasons sometimes known only to them they
procrastinate doing the things that can change their situation and improve it.
Other
things in our life we cannot change and these are the things that often cause
us pain and distress. They often create a feeling of hopelessness and if we let
them, they can control our life. Francis of Assisi once asked for the “courage
to change the things that can be changed and to accept the things that can’t be
changed and the ability to tell the difference.”
Sometimes
when things are happening in our life we can’t change, we need to deal with
them by accepting them and learning to live with them with patience and not
just surviving but thriving as we accept them.
The
prayer of Francis asked for the ability to tell the difference between the
things we can change and the things we can’t change and for many people this is
the first step towards finding the solution to a bad situation. We need to ask
if the situation can change and if it can, what practical steps do we need to
take to bring about the change.
Sometimes
we can answer this question our self, sometimes we need the help of a
professional counselor or advisor. Having determined the answer to that question
we need to put steps into place to help us make the change, and the counselor
may be able to help us give us advice in the best way to make the change.
If we
decide the change can’t be made, we need to try to see the situation in the
bigger picture so we don’t focus on it. We need to accept the problem is here
to stay and our goals must be on how to relegate the problem to the background
and value the life we have apart from the problem.
This
maybe the more difficult path of the two choices, but which ever path we
choose, we have taken steps that will ensure us a better life and personal
growth.
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