How Do I Accept Myself And Still Want to Improve?
Updated: May 18, 2020
I accept that I will never be a top-tier professional athlete. I accept that I won't be able to be a 265lbs bodybuilder. I accept that my eyes are a little closer together than I'd like. I accept that I am terrible at ice skating and my wife will be the ones to teach the kids. I accept that my grades in calculus (despite taking the course twice) weren't good enough to keep me in the pre-med program during college.
It's crucial to accept ourselves.
But it's not ok to use self-acceptance as an excuse for not trying.
No, I won't be a 265lbs bodybuilder and I'll never compete at the Mr. Olympia. I'm not a medical professional. My feet are pronate and I can't stand up straight on ice skates. But that does not give me permission to sit on my couch and eat Ben & Jerry's all day long. That does not give me permission to have an unhealthy diet, to give up on doing physical activities that keep my body and mind healthy and active.
I accept that I am who I am and I have limitations, but I do not and will not accept myself without giving the effort to be the best self I can.
Do not go gentle into that good night - Dylan Thomas
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right, Because their words had forked no lightning they Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay, Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
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