Acceptance is more than just an acknowledgment of an occurrence. It is an understanding of the impact on our lives. It is identifying the tumultuous emotions – the sadness, anger, pain, hopelessness – that threaten to consume us with such Darkness and despair that we question if there was ever anything but.
We all carry our share of unnecessary burdens: guilt, shame, desperate regrets that we could have made a different choice. Accepting what has occurred opens the door for us to then begin to deal with all that we must. And that, in time, leads us to the point in which we can finally shrug our shoulders of the great weight that we have carried for far too long — in the hopes that we can walk a bit lighter in the days to come. For in those days, we begin to believe in the possibility that the life that was can be once more.