Steps That Are Required to Gain Acceptance

Have you ever had a hard time “fitting in” somewhere. Whether it be at school or work, in a new group of friends, or even your own family, we can all relate to feeling unaccepted at one point or another. On the other hand, many of us can think of a time that we had trouble accepting someone else. All of these moments have a large impact on our life, and from these moments we are pushed to grow as people and except others are different from ourselves. Acceptance is the ability to see that others have a right to be their own unique people. We can do this by allowing everyone to be there own people, giving advice when needed, and not judging others.

The first step to accepting different from ourselves is allowing them to be there own people. If everyone looked the same, had the same personality, and the same interests we would lose interest in other people pretty quickly. Luckily, each of us has a specific set of qualities that make us unique. While we know these differences are for the better, with these differences we still feel uncomfortable. We either try to resist or disregard people who are different. This moves us to be less accepting to others which makes a negative impact on each other. This is why our first step should be accepting others and not pushing them away.

The second step is giving advice to your peers when needed. You will be better able to give constructive, meaningful advice when you learn to let others have their own feelings and encourage them to be unique.You should always answer in a way that makes you feel like you care and gave your 100%. To be empathetic, you have to learn to give advice in a way that matches with the emotions, behaviors and personalities of other people.

The final step is not judging others. This may be the hardest one of all the steps because it makes you put your personal judgment and feeling aside. Looking at others and pointing out their weaknesses is easy, this is why we must grow as people and it takes time to accomplish this step. Sometimes, without knowing it, we judge and criticize people based on opinions or past experiences. The more challenging and empathic response in each person would be to point out the good, and this is what we must grow closer to.