Acceptance is a word of many meanings. These days you can get a short summary of all of them from AI just typing the word into google:
“Acceptance is a broad term that can mean agreeing to or receiving something, like an offer or a gift. It also describes the state of being approved of or the act of assenting to a truth or situation.”
And in this first post in many months I want to focus on the last meaning of the word acceptance. Assenting to a truth or situation, in the meaning acknowledging a situation in a way that influence my actions going forward.
The huge project of the year
In many ways I think our big project of the year – building our new house – is the definition of assenting to a truth or situation. At the very least it’s a direct consequence of us accepting the fact that living in our current house no longer works. It’s the stairs. And the steep driveway. And the beautiful garden that needs a lot of tending to.
My belief was that we were ahead with accepting the fact that we needed to move, we were just thinking forward. But the other day my wife revealed that she saw things differently. According to her our acceptance, and the move, was long overdue. Making me understand that I’ve probably been holding on to an image of our situation as less challenging than it maybe is.
Anyway; us accepting that we need to move means we are getting really close to making it reality. And the new house is going to be such a game changer for us! I can’t wait for next summer and being able to roll out of bed and straight outside onto our deck. A few months of chaos from move in day February 1st is totally going to be worth it. And we will be able to fit all our stuff right? Even if we reduce our storage space by almost 60 m2?
I must admit that I don’t care about less space or longer commutes. I just look so much forward to everything being accessible and nature being so much closer than today. So I accept that we can’t “have it all”, and I’m 100% sure we will be happy with what we’ve chosen to prioritize.
Acceptance isn’t giving up
A lot has changed over the last couple of years. I’m more reliant on mobility aids, our dog Zelda passed, our oldest was diagnosed with both ADHD and ASD, and we’ve been truly drained of energy a lot of the time. Still I’ve wanted to hold on to who we are as a family and who I am as a person.
The fact that we are adapting to our situation through this house build does not mean we’ve given up on everything that is us. On the contrary. I feel we’re just making a better frame work for the lives we want to live. And I most certainly haven’t given up on everything that is me. I just do things a bit differently now. And I’ve accepted that that’s the way things have to be right now. This acceptance will lead to growth, I’m sure.
Sharing the ebbs and flows
At the start of this year I stated that this blog was going to be focused on documenting life this year. And it has been, even if posts have been far between. The main reason for my lack of posting has been that I hadn’t really accepted that I have to move away from the tutorial posts and the consistent photography content I started out sharing. Being a photographer is a huge part of my identity. Accepting that what I mainly want to share these days is the ebbs and flows of life has challenged the way I see myself.
But I’m there now. And I think accepting this will make it easier to create and share even more authentic content. Which really is where I find inspiration these days.
I hope you’re all living your best lives.
All the best,
Tonje
