{"id":796,"date":"2017-03-27T14:12:20","date_gmt":"2017-03-27T14:12:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/?p=796"},"modified":"2017-03-27T14:12:20","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T14:12:20","slug":"stop-fighting-life-start-enjoying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2017\/03\/stop-fighting-life-start-enjoying.html","title":{"rendered":"Stop Fighting Life and Start Enjoying It"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"deer<\/a><\/p>\n

I live in a part of the country where we have woods, four seasons, and not surprisingly, deer. Like all of God\u2019s creatures, deer are a mixed bag.\u00a0 They are beautiful, elegant creatures.\u00a0 But they are also herbivores.\u00a0 So, you have to be careful what you plant in your yard.\u00a0 Otherwise, your flower garden becomes the deer\u2019s version of a large salad.<\/p>\n

This weekend, in an effort to keep the deer off his property, my neighbor erected a long, unsightly mesh fence in-between our yards. He is at war with the deer who are nibbling on some of his trees and bushes.\u00a0 The fence is ugly, and I am going to have to look at it all summer.<\/p>\n

The problem is that when you live in the woods, trying to keep the deer out of your yard is like trying to stop the sun from rising in the morning and setting in the evening. It is futile.\u00a0 All you can do is to enjoy their beauty and plant things that they don\u2019t like to eat.<\/p>\n

All of us operate like my neighbor in certain areas of our lives. We fight against reality, when it is futile.\u00a0 We do that in our relationships.\u00a0 For example, you may know someone who is selfish.\u00a0 Some people are simply selfish by nature. If you have to deal with a selfish person, you can choose to appreciate that person\u2019s other qualities and ignore their selfishness.\u00a0 Or you can choose to stop dealing with that person altogether.\u00a0 But fighting against that person\u2019s selfish nature is a waste of time.\u00a0 You can\u2019t fix<\/em> other people.<\/p>\n

We sometimes fight against reality with our employment. I once worked for a non-profit which was a textbook case of how not to manage an organization.\u00a0 The CEO would fall apart at the smallest problem and start swearing at the staff.\u00a0 The male CFO periodically would stop by my office and hold my hands.\u00a0 He claimed that he needed to check whether my hands were cold to see if the thermostat needed adjusting.\u00a0 And my boss continually came up with pointless, \u201cbig ideas\u201d for others to implement.\u00a0 It was a disaster.<\/p>\n

The whole time I worked for this non-profit, I would go home and complain that it was a mess. Some days, I was beyond aggravated.\u00a0 However, my attitude was silly.\u00a0 I should have accepted the fact that the place was run by goofballs.\u00a0 Then I would have been left with two choices: Accept the bad management and enjoy the job for its good parts (my staff and the opportunity to serve the poor).\u00a0 Or find another job.\u00a0 Instead I chose to fight reality.<\/p>\n

As parents, we may fight against reality with regard to our children. Our kids are who they are.\u00a0 You may have been an academic rock star, but nevertheless, you\u00a0can wind up with kids who struggle with school.\u00a0 Making your children feel badly about that is pointless.\u00a0 Worse yet, it diminishes their self-esteem.<\/p>\n

As a parent, your job isn\u2019t to rail against who your children are. It is to unearth their natural gifts and give them ways to develop their talents.\u00a0 Trying to turn your kids into what they are not is a waste of time.<\/p>\n

The times that I have been most unhappy in life have been when I\u2019ve fought against reality. Accepting people for who they are and situations for what they are is the first step in dealing with them effectively.\u00a0 Acceptance truly is the first step to getting on the path to enjoying your life.<\/p>\n

This week, consider the situations in your life that you find to be overwhelming or unresolvable. Have you accepted the situation for what it is?\u00a0 If you accept it, that frees you to make real decisions about your life.\u00a0 Take that first step.\u00a0 Stop fighting life.\u00a0 And then start enjoying it.<\/p>\n

(Photo courtesy of Pexels)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I live in a part of the country where we have woods, four seasons, and not surprisingly, deer. Like all of God\u2019s creatures, deer are a mixed bag.\u00a0 They are beautiful, elegant creatures.\u00a0 But they are also herbivores.\u00a0 So, you have to be careful what you plant in your yard.\u00a0 Otherwise, your flower garden becomes…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":593,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[51],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-acceptance"],"yoast_head":"\nStop Fighting Life and Start Enjoying It - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/yourmorningcupofinspiration\/2017\/03\/stop-fighting-life-start-enjoying.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Stop Fighting Life and Start Enjoying It - Your Morning Cup of Inspiration\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I live in a part of the country where we have woods, four seasons, and not surprisingly, deer. 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