What is acceptance?

Imagine you are a bus driver following a road to a specific destination. The road you are driving along is curvy with deep potholes and bumps. Sometimes, you even have difficulties maintaining your view of the road. On the way, you get to know a wide variety of passengers. Some are rude and express their opinions loudly and aggressively, some sit back quietly and others intimidate you by yelling directions at you. Imagine this bus is your consciousness and you are the one trying to steer yourself straight amidst all this chaos. One of these passengers may be called loneliness, another may be called pedophilia or self-loathing. These guests are loud and persistent. They disturb you as you are trying to stay on the road. They give you advice or try to convince you to turn to the right or to the left. Others discourage you and tell you you will fail, no matter what you try. After a while, you may realize that you are so preoccupied with dealing with these guests that you miss a traffic sign or turn the wrong way. Perhaps you stop the bus, turn around and rebuke your guests, instead of concentrating on the road ahead. You do not move forward. Instead, you deal with things that have nothing to do with your destination.

It is your choice: Either you continue arguing and struggling with the passengers, or you let them be, take the wheel and concentrate on the road and the destination you are heading for. You will likely have to take the whole group along and will not be able get rid of them. However, it is your decision whether to concentrate on your journey or the shouting of your guests.

What exactly is acceptance?

Acceptance means…

… to face the truth.
… to stop fighting against reality.
… to acknowledge the current situation as it is.
… to stop trying to force impossible changes to happen

What now then?

We already became acquainted with the assumption that a sexual preference for gender, body age and proclivity presumably stays stable throughout one’s life.

Is it really that bad?

This might be a shock for some people, but this is in fact not a catastrophe.

Sexual preference is just one part of our personality. Our personality is comprised of a multitude of components. This includes our values and moral codes, our strengths and weaknesses, our personality traits and actual behaviour. All of these attributes and many more form our personality. Remember, only our behaviour determines others’ perception of us in social contexts. Sexual fantasies are not written on our foreheads.

Let’s sum it up

Acceptance of the sexual preference means…

… to recognize it as just one part of our personality.
… to understand ourselves as we are.
… to take responsibility for our actions.
… to work hard, which will pay off!