Can you accept exactly where you and others are at? Maybe for the next 5-minutes, an hour, or the entire day? You may be asking, what does being exactly where I am at mean?
It will mean different things to everyone, but to me, it means not overthinking or overanalyzing. It means not trying to dissect how I am doing or feeling or how someone else is doing or feeling.
I enjoy digging in and talking about feelings, emotions, and how I can grow, learn, and improve myself and my relationships. However, sometimes it can be exhausting. Not everything needs to be dissected and ‘figured out.’ Some things can just be.
Lately, I’ve felt I needed to remind myself of this. And I thought you might need a reminder as well. Being a highly sensitive person, I can take things too personally and then start to overthink – not a fun way to consume my energy.
It makes me think of the saying, ‘It is what it is.’ Which used to annoy me when I heard it. But when you think about it, saying ‘it is what it is’ reminds you to accept things how they are.
When you overthink, analyze, and feel the need to dissect everything that happens in your life, it can be a sign that you are resisting and not accepting how things or people are.
For example, let’s say there’s someone in your life that you will not cut out of your life, but they trigger you, annoy you, or say something that bothers you. Can you let it be? Can you accept it? Can you tell yourself it is what it is? Especially if it happens often.
I get it – sometimes, this will be easier said than done. But what if you did not let it affect you? Imagine how freeing it can be. We can choose not to let things get under our skin.
Next time you find yourself exhausted by going down the overthinking rabbit hole, set a timer for 3-5 minutes, take a deep breath, and repeat, ‘It is what it is’ to yourself.
It will take practice, but over time, you can increase the time and eventually get to a place where you can catch yourself before you start going down the overthinking rabbit hole.
I know this won’t apply to every situation that arises, but I bet it will apply to most. At the end of the day, when you can get to a place of acceptance, you realize you are responsible for how you feel.
“Wherever you are, be there totally. If you find your here and now intolerable and it makes you unhappy, you have three options; remove yourself from the situation, change it, or accept it totally.” ~Eckhart Tolle
It Is What It Is
