What It Means and Doesn't Mean to Accept Myself
As a human being who values my and others’ unique sense of individuality, I have always believed that acceptance is the best gift I can give myself and others. I am thus committed against imposing my values on others, and being easily swayed by others’ opinions, judgements and values I neither share nor believe in. Lately I have realised that the latter commitment is not as straightforward, as black and white, than I have thought. This is because to progress in my life and grow, openheartedness and open-mindedness are just as important, if not more. Indeed, the two values are some of the best contributions to cultivating self and other-acceptance – an endless and in my view, endlessly rewarding ride of self-discovery, or rather symphony of self-discoveries (symphony being the best collective noun for self-discoveries that I can think of). Upon reflecting long,, deep and hard on the term self-acceptance – which I have probably done all my life thanks to my introspective tendency – I