Acceptance: A Step Toward Healing and Understanding

After mapping out my latest project, I decided I wasn’t going to commit to the full 31 Days of Self-Love, but I wanted to share some of the posts that resonate with me now. Day 12 was about body image, which I might touch on another day, but not right now. So, I’m moving on to Day 13: Acceptance.

Acceptance has been a big theme for me lately. It’s such a difficult process, but it’s one that has brought me clarity and healing.

Here’s my original post:

Day 13: Acceptance

Acceptance is a big pill to swallow—at least, for me, it was.

Acceptance was harder than forgiveness.

Hate, anger, pain—so many mixed emotions. Confronting them was hard. I didn’t want to accept that I felt these emotions because the moment I did, I wouldn’t have any reason not to forgive.

I was watching an episode of Naruto the other day, and it made me realize how important accepting one’s self is—the good and the bad.

(For those of you who are into Japanese anime and are familiar with Naruto, you’ll know which episode I’m talking about.)

From a young age, people treated Naruto differently. He was an outcast, but that didn’t stop him from wanting people to accept him. As he got older, they did.

When you’ve been through a lot, pain turns into anger, anger turns into hate, and slowly you start to lose yourself.

I could use various characters in Naruto as examples, but I’m sure if you’re going through something similar or have been through this process before, you understand.

As I said before, we’re only human, so naturally, we will feel these emotions—even if you don’t think you have anger or hatred in your heart.

In this episode of Naruto, he was at the waterfall of truth, which revealed to him his inner self—all the pain, hatred, and anger he felt. Even though he was a good person, these feelings lived inside of him. Even if he wasn’t acting on them, they still existed.

He fought with his inner self but couldn’t win. He didn’t understand why. Why did these feelings exist? Why couldn’t he win?

Later, he realized that it wasn’t meant for him to fight these feelings but to accept them.

Just because bad things happen to us doesn’t mean we have to be bad people.

Naruto accepted his inner self. He understood why his inner self felt the way it did. Anger, pain, and hate are a part of us. Everything we’ve been through in life will make us feel these emotions. But can you accept them?

Can you accept all the bad things that have happened to you?

Naruto may be a fictional character, but within that episode, I learned a lot.

The reason acceptance was hard for me was that I realized the moment I accepted all the things I’d been through, it meant I no longer had the willpower to hate others. I no longer had the willpower to blame people because my life was hard.

Acceptance made it easier to forgive because I now had understanding.

I accepted myself and my life. I changed the things I didn’t like and accepted the things I couldn’t change.

Acceptance makes it easier to move on.

Once you have acceptance, you can understand yourself and others.

“Acceptance doesn’t mean resignation; it means understanding that something is what it is and that there’s got to be a way through it.” – Michael J. Fox

Update 2024:
Revisiting this post reminded me of how far I’ve come and how much work I still need to do. Acceptance isn’t easy—it’s uncomfortable, raw, and sometimes painful. But it’s necessary for healing.

Thinking about everything I’ve been through and how much anger I once carried, I can see how acceptance has freed me in so many ways. It doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten or excused the pain—it means I’ve chosen to stop letting it control me.

This reminder came at the right time, as I continue to navigate grief and new beginnings. Acceptance is a process, but it’s one that brings peace if you’re willing to embrace it.

Let’s continue to accept, understand, and move forward.

P.S. If you couldn’t tell by now, anime is life for me. Lol