Lately, the concept of acceptance keeps coming up in my coaching sessions with clients, and for me personally. I’ve written several blog posts about acceptance as well.
What I have learned about acceptance is that you must embrace exactly who you are and learn to love yourself unconditionally. With your flaws, faults, strengths, and greatness. People are imperfect and that is what makes them so great. We strive for perfection and then get upset when we don’t achieve it. There is no such thing as perfection, so stop trying.
Accept who you are by getting to know who you are.
Who are you?
Every time I ask this question, or hear it asked, I immediately think of the caterpillar in the Disney movie “Alice in Wonderland”. The caterpillar keeps asking Alice who she is, and she is unable to respond to him. She even turns the question around on him. Alice spends much of the movie trying to figure out who she is, where she is (Wonderland), and how she got there.
Do you know who you are, or are you like Alice trying to figure it out?
For most of my life I was like Alice. I spent time getting to know and accepting who I am. It is not an easy thing to do. I would say most people do not know who they are. This gets in the way of their happiness because they are trying to follow influencers or celebrities and be like everyone else.
How Coaching Helps You Gain Acceptance
One of the tenets of coaching that makes it different from therapy or consulting is that coaches believe their clients are completely whole people who are experts in themselves. That does not mean that you know exactly who you are, but you do have to want to get to know yourself.
When you can answer the question “Who are you?”, you gain confidence. You gain independence. You are thinking for yourself, instead of following everyone else. You accept who you are. You assess and realize that if there is something about yourself that you do not like, you get to work on changing that.
Let go of your inner Alice. Learn the answer to the question “Who are you?”. Accept and embrace yourself.
Say hello to the uniquely wonderful and amazing person that is you.
