Acceptance

You'll sometimes hear people talk about "acceptance" as a way to deal with situations that are out of our control. That idea can sound impossible or even offensive at first. How are you supposed to "accept" a completely unacceptable situation?

Here's the thing: acceptance doesn't mean being okay with everything that's happening.  It means understanding that, yes, this is really, really hard. This is a scary situation, and a lot of things are out of our control.

That can come with some hard feelings. Fear, anger, grief, and, if we choose, many small moments of connection and humanity – these will all be normal experiences in the weeks ahead. Part of acceptance is being gentle with yourself and others when hard feelings arise.