What does acceptance mean?

[Berabouman]

Hi all. I think my last post was rather long so after some thought I've broken it up into sections - at least that way it will be easier to read. :)

I've talked to my therapist about the obsessive thoughts I experience sometimes when I am overly stressed, and she suggested considering acceptance of them
rather than fighting them. Having tried the latter on multiple occasions (to cut a long story short) I am willing to consider acceptance as a viable
alternative.

But at the same time I also don't want to be at the same place with my worries forever, I would like to make progress. So I guess I could accept "this
will get better slowly" and "acknowledgement of the worries as worries" but not "I'm going to be like this for the foreseeable future".

Maybe I'm just reading things the wrong way? Acceptance is all well and good if it helps, but I think it should help you go forwards, not stay still or
go back. What does acceptance mean, truly?

What do you all think?

[Cuchculan]

When things hit us hard. Be it anxiety or whatever, we tend to fight it. Call it a body versus mind sort of fight. We make things worse. I think what your therapist is saying is not to fight in this sort of way. Accept what is happening. Let it happen. It is a bit like exposure theraphy. We let those things we have ran away for years come on. We don't run from them. Sort of like we are saying ' whatever will be, will be '. And by doing this they most times just vanish. We are no longer going to struggle with them. It can take time. The first times can be hard. As it is can be like a nightmare. All those things you have ever ran from. And you are told to let them come on. Accept they are they. Just let them do there thing. By not feeding them with our fears we are actually making them weaker. Over time we begin to not even notice them. If they do come out we can say ' just this again '. Like it is nothing at all. The body and mind would be used to them by the stage. They are all just bad feelings. Feeling come and they go. Just take your time with it. It can be done. Hard to begin with. But it does get easier.

[Berabouman]

I think I get what you are saying. By fighting it sometimes we make it worse, because that heightens the anxiety. Like not resting if we have a flu and trying to get things done.

Yeah it's easier said that done (like many things!) but it may be something I can think on and work towards slowly. Thank you for your kind words and advice.

[marc]

Acceptance is the key to many things, including HA and OCD. If you accept that you are the way you are and not perfect, you will
realize that things are not as bad as they appear.