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.