Editorials

#YEAR12PROBLEMS

20 February 2017

By Lauren E. White

Acceptance

Happy Monday and happy half-term (to me, anyway…)!

This week’s column is about a funny little thing called acceptance – something many of us are grappling with in our teenage years but also something that I think is widely misunderstood.

To accept yourself is one thing. It’s usually the greatest thing you’ll ever do for yourself because once you’re happy with who you are, open to your flaws and your quirks equally, you’re indestructible. Some people are already at a point of self-acceptance; confident enough in themselves to dance in public, to sing on YouTube or sit safely in the knowledge that they’ll never be lonely because they like themselves.

To accept other people is a different thing. For me, that one came naturally whereas self-acceptance didn’t so much. Accepting other people is something we’re not doing very well at as a collective at the moment. We can barely accept refugees coming into the country as they escape from war-torn hell holes and we can’t accept that we need immigrants because they keep up our NHS and make this country more exciting.

Perhaps this serves as some food for thought next time you start to judge people (which we all do, by the way). I hope it does. But, most importantly, I hope it gives you some clarity on what type of people we should aim to be.

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