Acceptance

Acceptance means many things to many people.

As I grow older, I find myself understanding it in deeper and more layered ways than I ever have before. Acceptance is about making peace, with an ending, a change, a loss, or a reality we never asked for. It can mean coming to terms with the end of a relationship, a shift in our home or work, or even life-altering news that changes everything. We are constantly invited, sometimes unwillingly, to find acceptance in what is handed to us.

In end-of-life care, I see this truth unfold often. The person who has been given a diagnosis begins to look at life differently, with the weight of mortality pressing close. They think about time, not as something endless, but as something fragile and precious. Time, I have learned, is not a gift that can be bought; it must be cherished in the way it deserves. And when you are walking alongside someone through this, or living it yourself, finding acceptance is one of the hardest, and most necessary, things you can do.

I once read that acceptance is “the practice of embracing your current situation and the imperfections of yourself and others with love and non-judgment.” Another definition said it is “fully acknowledging the facts of a situation and not fixating on how it shouldn’t be that way.” Both feel true. Because the real work, I think, lies in learning not to fight what cannot be changed, not to deny the reality of it all, and to allow space for both grief and grace to coexist.

Perhaps acceptance isn’t about surrendering without emotion, but about making peace while still allowing ourselves to feel everything we need to feel. Maybe it’s about finding that delicate balance between understanding and patience, between pain and peace. Because when we reach that place, however briefly, it’s not just acceptance we find, it is a quiet kind of grace.

xo

Gabby