As Is Life

Are you feeling defeated? Do you feel defeated often? I know we are in the thick of winter, so it's easy to fall into the winter blues and that is difficult! Being I am at home most of the time due to chronic pain and illness, I fight with this in all seasons. Winter is the worst though, eh? It's amazing how one can train the mind though when given "tools".

But winter sure has something pretty to offer.

I feel like everywhere I look, my friends, or family and even strangers feel so defeated by life. Even myself this last couple of months. I was sick for four weeks and then my husband was also sick for one month. I am also having car troubles--and sunk $1300 into it just a few months ago, and now I have to put more money into it and it is currently broken down. My husbands 12 year old Mercedes (piece of crap--I mean, I love that car!!!), has NO heat. We live in Minnesota people. We also forked out $1400 for new carpet in our basement because we had a flood about 2 years ago, and our mortgage payment was deducted TWICE in our bank account! Does any of this sound familiar?? I can guarantee you, it does, huh? The list goes on and on and on and on. And I only listed a few things that I was feeling defeated from.

As a Lay Counselor, we do this thing called Acceptance Therapy. It's all in recognizing that life is FULL of pain and problems. That is a given. So why do we wake up everyday thinking this is not the case??? (Insert palm to forehead). We live in a very fallen world that is not only full of sickness and disease and death but also everyday crap like car troubles, money troubles, stress from parenting, job issues, marriage issues....life just keeps comin at us full force. And I'm here to tell you, it always will. ALWAYS. We will never be free of, well the inevitable!



Don't you think if we can learn to accept ahead of time that life is a piece of work, and that our days will be "good" at best, and that each day will bring a hiccup of some sort, and that each day will bring an inconvenience, there will always be problems to solve. We will always sit in traffic. We will always burn our dinners. We will always get sick. We will forever deal with rude people. We will never be free from conflict, pain, frustration, clumsiness, or annoyances......that we could function a lot easier? 

These things will continually exist among us. But with a new way to think about it, I think our days can cause us less trouble. We can accept ahead of time that this is just life. This is life's way. It's reality. Now that we know this, how about bring our discomfort levels down and learn to navigate through on a less stressful and anxious spirit? I think we can learn to manage our level of discomfort and spirit of complaint if we accept this ahead of time. It's almost like we wake up every morning thinking--"Today is going to be different, nothing will get in my way and nothing is going to go wrong!!!"

I submit that is not the right way of thinking---how bout--"Today is a great day, a new day! I'm so thankful. And it will most likely cause me some level of stress or frustration--or most likely both--but I can handle it, I know and accept that this is the way of life, I just will handle it differently and my perspective will be different, and I'll be able to tolerate it, instead of acting like I'm dying or the world is coming to the end."

Regardless of what you might think, you are not alone. You are not the only one who deals with "crap". We all have issues, struggles, trials, annoyances. We all feel life is unfair--surprise surprise, life IS unfair!!! All of our journeys are different, but that does not mean each person isn't dealing with their own stuff. Woe is me is not an option!

Acceptance Therapy gives us a chance to lower our pain and stress levels by accepting that life is, well, life. And there is no real way around it. But there are ways to handle it in a more positive, manageable way. Accepting that your day may go hay-wire is a good thing!

xo

Comments

Unknown said…
Well said! You are wise beyond your years.
Courtney said…
Very well said my friend! Also, LOVE your new blog design. How fun! I haven't been reading many blogs lately so it has been a bit since I dropped in. Your writing is as beautiful as ever. :)
Natalie said…
Gina, this is probably one of my favorite posts yet! I found such encouragement in these words you've shared here! =)
Beautiful words...words I truly needed today. Thanks for the encouragement. I pray things start to pick up for you soon
Unknown said…
Hello Gina! I have finally had a chance to come and visit the post you mentioned to me a couple of weeks ago. Thank you for directing me to it. I had voiced my struggle with winter blues that day. The truth is, my winter blues are not so much about not handling the down falls of my days. Probably, because ever since strengthening my faith and relationship with Jesus, I have learned what you have expressed so eloquently... That life, is in fact unfair. That there will always be challenges to face and the truth is, I wake up with such a grateful heart each morning simply for being able to wake up! And you are so right...This acceptance thing... Helps ease us into the challenges when they do arise. It has made such a tremendous difference in my days since. My winter blues have more to do with the coldness of the air. The layering up that seems to weigh my spirit down and I tend to internalize more during the winter season. But I am trying to navigate through it and find ways to take notice to growth through it all. Love to you. Thank you for this beautiful share. So blessed to have connected with you on IG! xoxo
good stuff, as always. Defeat...we have all felt it and it is no fun!

Also, I love your new blog look!
Margaret said…
Wise words. Another very wise sister once told me that fertilizer (crap) makes all things grow. Maybe a beautiful spirit is developed through much crap. Not very eloquent words but I think we all can relate. Be blessed.
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Erin said…
Gina, I hopped over to your blog (for the first time ever) last night, via the link on your IG page. I read several posts, including this one. You made some really good points...but I didn't realize until this morning how STRONGLY I needed what you shared here about acceptance therapy. Things are going to go wrong. They are. It's futile (and silly) to hope they won't. Instead, go into your day *knowing* and anticipating that things will go wrong, frustrate you...and plan your responses, your perspective-shift ahead of time. I paraphrased, but you get the drift. Anywhoooo, that was a powerful lesson for me. Powerful. I've been SOOO incredibly defeated lately, full of anxiety and worry, and wondering WHY things keep going wrong!?!? This post, and the thought contained here--as sold as it is--gave me such a "lightbulb moment". I wake up everyday hoping for an "ideal" day...no interruptions, no messes, getting ALLL of my to-do list done (plus some), healthy meals cooked, exercise, work...and on and on and on. When I wake up with a *realistic* view of my day, anticipating the stumbles and trip-ups, it's so much easier to view those as *opportunities* to practice the fruit of the Spirit, rather than *obstacles* to my goal. Like i said, though, this was on a bit of a time delay...I read it last night and basically just skimmed over it. However, through the night and early this morning, the Holy Spirit used your words to do their work...and this REALLY, REALLY helped me. Like, life-changing helped me. Thank you, friend. xo
Erin said…
sorry, just spotted a typo in my comment...
This post, and the thought contained here, as SIMPLE as it is...

:)
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Dr Shah said…
Beautiful words...words I truly needed today. Thanks for the encouragement. I pray things start to pick up for you soon

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