Acceptance Or Resignation?

Many times we think we have accepted a situation, when in reality we have simply resigned ourselves to it. What is the difference ?

These are two distinct attitudes. Indeed, resignation makes us suffer, because we continue to hope that the situation will change and that it will not be as it is now. Sometimes we use all of our strength to change it.

However, the fact of accepting reality, without pretending to want to change it and without suffering from it, allows us to project ourselves in life, and to look for better options on our way.

When it’s not acceptance … it’s resignation

We think we have accepted a situation when we manage to “survive” it, and when we manage to forget it.

However, it turns out that we have resigned ourselves, meaning that we are no longer moving in the direction we wanted to take. We remain stuck in this situation to which we have resigned ourselves, feeling sorry for ourselves, and feeling victims of the situation.

However, we are not doing anything to change the situation, as we have told ourselves countless times that “things are the way they are, there is nothing I can do about it”.

This is how we become slaves to the situation, we submit, and we no longer move forward in our life, because we have got into the head that this was our destiny, and we do not seek a solution.

Acceptance is synonymous with happiness

On the contrary, when we accept a situation, even if it does not please us, it means that we are looking for another path that will lead us to happiness.

We know that what we are experiencing is not our way, and that we are not happy. Yet things are so for the moment.

We don’t hold back, we don’t tell ourselves that it will always be this way, but we choose to learn from this experience, and to keep moving forward.

Acceptance is not going against the grain, but taking advantage of each situation to learn about life. There will always be a way to redirect our life in a direction that works best for us.

Acceptance equals respect

Acceptance also breeds respect, because when we accept a person for who they are, the desire to change them disappears, and we then respect them deeply.

We can then decide whether our relationship with that person is right for us or not, and whether or not we feel respected by that person.

Resignation prevents overcoming grief

For example, when we resign ourselves to the death of a loved one, we expose ourselves to even more suffering, we are angry with life and with the whole world, we do not accept this disappearance and we want to change the situation.

This is a normal part of the grieving process, but sometimes it turns into a lasting one in the life of that person who cannot come to terms with the loss of a loved one.

To accept the death of someone means to recover from the bereavement. To accept the death means to stop suffering, to stop being angry, and to get on with your life, because life still has a lot to offer us.

In this case, acceptance is the final step in the healthy grieving process.

Accept or resign?

To accept or to resign are like two sides of the same coin. We need to “turn the page and forget” what happened, because we have to go on living.

If we accept whatever happens to us, we will become the masters of our life, overcoming all obstacles and finding happiness on the way.

On the contrary, if we resign ourselves, pain and suffering will become our most faithful companions.