One of the best things I've learned over the last year, mostly due to therapy, is self-acceptance.
I feel I have, in my adult life, always had a profound appreciation for human individuality, and I see beauty and fascination in people from different backgrounds, influences, experiences, values, and beliefs that somehow come together to form relationships with other people of different all-of-the-aboves. Yet, somehow, Myself has been someone I couldn't accept and appreciate. Or, Myself was someone I began to find fault with, when once a upon a time, I used to be appreciative of who I was. Back then, however, it felt more like a rebellion rather than an acceptance, and the rebellion felt gratifying, the way it feels gratifying when someone tells me that I'm intimidating. Something was off.
I realized almost all my neurotic problems started dissipating once I began accepting myself. I never knew what that meant-- to "accept yourself." But it's not just accepting, it's realizing your needs as a unique individual-- that of course are different from others' needs-- are valid, and imperative to be who you are, or to be who you want to be. It cannot be the same as others, and that's why I'm me.
