Gotta Kill Captain Stupid/Self-Acceptance and the Attitude of Gratitude

A lot of people talk about acceptance these days, about cultivating self love and finding your centre. They talk about self care and connecting with your inner child.

Find your bliss.

What a bunch of crap. 

You know who's blissful? Junkies nodding out. Know what junkies are good at? Nothing.

You will never improve yourself or this junked-out world if you unconditionally love and accept yourself. Why? There's nothing like contentment to forestall action. When you convince yourself that everything is good enough, you're not motivated to change anything. Think about it. No one has ever said "I love my body just as it is. I'll lose ten pounds." People who go on diets start with a little bit of discontentment. "I look pretty good now, but I could be better."

The ones who really get under my skin are folks who go about cultivating acceptance in the face of horrible conditions. People in bad relationships, crap jobs or who face other kinds of hardships and decide they're going to put their energy into being grateful for what they have instead of trying to fix it. "All you have to do to be happy is adjust your attitude. It's a choice."

Sure it is. But I tell you what. I'd rather feel like shit than be full of shit, to quote one of my favourite punk bands of all time.

Everything is not fine. If it was, in 2013, the 13% of Americans taking antidepressants (Mayo Clinic study here) wouldn't have needed them. The 11% of Canadians on those drugs (Maclean's infographic) would have been happily going about their business.

Is our culture to blame? Our sense of being disconnected from nature, from other people? Well, yeah. But is cultivating an attitude of acceptance the solution? "My life sucks, but other people have it worse. I ought to be grateful for what I have."

If you're a sensitive person who's easily offended, you may want to stop reading here. I'm going to tell the truth.

IF YOUR LIFE SUCKS,

YOU SUCK

Yeah, you. You suck because you let it happen. You let it keep happening. You tell yourself this is the best things can be right now. That's stupid. Quit accepting things. Get off your ass and fight for yourself. That half hour you spent trying to find good things to put in your gratitude journal? Better spent sending resumes out to find a new job, or invested in learning a skill, or taking any solid step that will get you away from the shit you live with. 

You don't have to live this way. DO SOMETHING! Sad because you're lonely? Go make a damn friend- it's one of the things the internet is really good for. Stressed out because your finances are in a shambles? Make a budget, suck it up and call a credit repair agency, cut up your damn credit cards. DO SOMETHING! 

Don't try to change your inner landscape. You're unhappy because things in the world aren't right- that's not you. That's the world. Why should you change to accept the unacceptable? Get mad. Get out there and fight. For yourself, for the world. 

Yeah, it's gonna be rough. You're going to be scared and tired and pretty sure you're going to fail. Do it anyway. 

Then one day, you'll wake up and realize you made it. You changed your world. You maybe even changed the whole world for everyone. 

There's one simple practice to follow every day to achieve this:

Suck less.