Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Radical Acceptance

Ann Lamott says,
I have grown old enough to develop radical acceptance. I insist on the right to swim in warm water at every opportunity, no matter how I look, no matter how young and gorgeous the other people on the beach are. I don’t think that if I live to be eighty, I’m going to wish I’d spend more hours in the gym or kept my house a lot cleaner. I’m going to wish I had swum more unashamedly, made more mistakes, spaced out more, rested. On the day I die, I want to have had dessert. So this informs how I live now. (plan b, 174)

I’ve been thinking lately of what I want to do before I’m eighty. I won’t regret it if I don’t go to the gym more, but I go to the gym the way Lamott swims in warm water. It’s my way of enjoying and showing my appreciation for my body. When I’m eighty, I want to be through with resentment, anger and disappointment. How realistic is that?

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