Within my life there is the reality of things that must be done whether they are mundane tasks around the house or having to leave the house for things that provide supplementary income like work or the day program that supports me. It can be hard to have to face it because there are times when it can be difficult to accept it, but I must realize that it must be done and there is nothing that can be done otherwise.

There are moments when I can accept this better than others. But when it comes to the hard times when I know that I have to face it and there are challenges that present themselves making it difficult to do so, anxiety comes greatly into play and all I want to do is want to avoid it because I think it will be better to do that instead of facing the reality of the situation at hand.

The reality is that I must do what I must do if I want to have the life that I want. The way of the world today makes it extremely difficult to live independently on just my amount of benefits. I had 43 days off work after my mental health episode a few months ago and it was hard to live without that extra income coming in. Now that I have been back to work for over a month and things are finally starting to come together, I can see the fruits of my labor and be able to live the lifestyle that I did previously.

Yet, it can be challenging at times to accept the reality of having to do things like go to work or the day program that supports me because I may not be able to become an adult and accept the things that are unpleasant. I know that I must employ the necessary coping skills to get through challenging times, understanding that not everything is concrete and is subject to change, whether it may be familiar to me, or I may not understand.

Another reality is that I do not have to necessarily understand the logic behind why things are to be, that is not my place to make decisions when they are handed down. I must realize that I cannot make decisions that do not greatly affect me. I must understand that if my needs are met and I am safe, that is all that is required. It is not about pleasing me or always having things my way just because I think they should be a certain way. I am not the one that oversees making decisions that are not my place to make. This is when it comes to radical acceptance and the fact that I must employ coping strategies when things become difficult to accept.

I know there are alternatives to the situation, but they are not sound or good alternatives for me, and they would cause greater anxiety that would be further challenging than what it would be to go through the situation at hand now. So, why would I allow myself to greatly consume myself with things that are out of my control and think that I can control them, even though I know that I cannot. Well, that is the struggle and the old ways that my brain is built, thinking that things must go certain ways because I feel that I have a voice. But when I know that my basic needs are met and that voice is going to go disregarded because it is a situation that is met and I am asking too much or that it is something that doesn’t even need to be worried about, it is taking up unwanted space and time in my head and I need to refocus that energy on something more healthier than the small things that are mundane and trivial.

Sometimes, there are things that must be done whether we like it or not, but complaining about them or the way that they are done only makes the situation more challenging to understand or go through. It takes adulting or going through them to understand that it is better to work on what you can do to get through the challenging situations in the best way possible rather than continuing to fight an uphill battle that you cannot win, no matter how much you try whether it is in your head or elsewhere.