The #1 Reason Why You Don’t Accept Yourself Yet

Photo by Cut in A Moment on Unsplash

My journey toward self-acceptance has been mired in hate.

When I was younger, I despised the fact that I was Black American. I couldn’t stand how I grew up. My parents were super religious. It felt like the whole world was judging me.

When I discovered that I was gay, the lack of self-acceptance got even worse.

By the time I went to college, I had many misconceptions about myself. I thought that I was dumb, that I’d never amount to much. My classes suffered. And eventually, I dropped out.

During this time I started to binge eat. Food was always a big part of growing up. So eating became my emotional blanket. Naturally, I began to gain weight. My energy levels were deplorable. I felt like a big, fat, miserable loser.

My food addiction came to a head when I almost got fired from my job (I had little energy to do the physically demanding work required).

Something had to change. And after much resistance, I went to a holistic doctor. After the first few visits, I got my diet under control. The excess weight started to fall off. And my energy levels skyrocketed.

But that was just the beginning.

Like many before me, initially, I improved my external Self. But my internal world was still in turmoil. So I started a meditation practice in order to battle depression. That’s when I noticed that my mind was running all kinds of negative programs. Name-calling was running on a loop. No wonder I felt so low despite my weight loss.

As the years went by, I slowly started to heal my internal world.

Fast-forward to present day, I still have much work to do. But I’ve learned one important lesson about self-acceptance:

All aspects of Self must be embodied in order to fully accept who you are.

What does this exactly mean?

Well, my interpretation is that even if you’re an alcoholic. Or struggle with porn. Or are addicted to your pain, these facts can’t be shut down or repressed.

Instead, shine your light on them.