Let me just state, first and foremost, I kind of … well, I don’t want to use ‘hate’ in light of my last post, so let’s instead say that my feathers are ruffled by the expression I used in my title. My distaste for it started on July 4th, 2009, when someone I was with that day had to have used the phrase about 100 times in the course of an afternoon.
And yet, I find myself coming back to it quite often these days. I’ve adopted a much more “living in the moment” stance on my life, and on my relationships with people, and it lands me in a place of acceptance for what is. A year ago, I was very much stuck in a rut of “I wish,” regarding my geographical location, my career-goals, my body, my family… and it really, really brought me down to a dark and difficult place. Through the help of my minister, my husband, and a monthly workshop with some newfound friends, I am learning to accept that what is, is.
There is a certain negative connotation to the phrase, though, which may (in addition to the repetition mentioned in my first paragraph) be part of what has turned me off from it. In a way, it felt to me like settling. “Well, I can’t have what I want, so… I’ll settle for what I’ve got.” It felt like blowing off one’s current circumstance and taking a “whatever,” sort of attitude. Now that I’m able to come at it from a point of acceptance of my own life situation, I can see its positive side as well.
It still is overused, though. I’m not conceding that point!
