Acceptance is a daily choice.

For the past 17 years, I have been taking more than 30 combinations of brands, dosages and classes of psychotropic medications.  From weight gain to cognitive difficulties to paralyzing bouts of anxiety, medication has created physical, mental and emotional trauma for me.  However, it has also fostered unique opportunities by decreasing my mood fluctuation and contributing to an overall sense of well-being.  Medication has served as an anchor and an obstacle, both grounding and disturbing.

Each day I take my medication, I make the choice of acceptance.  It reminds me about my condition and the need to manage it.  At times, the reminder fades into the background; however, when I miss a few dosages, and I am plagued by anxiety as a result, the reminder becomes loud and inescapable.

Medication is built into my daily routine, and currently, the side effects are minimal.  However, during the years of unanticipated reactions, the acceptance of my condition helped me to see things through.

I can only imagine some of the harsh effects of medications or regimens I refused, and these decisions do not reflect a lack of acceptance. However, using a medication or following a regimen does represent a choice of acceptance and humility, and one must often affirm both.

Some regimens or routines in our lives are needed to mitigate, manage or thrive with a medical illness, mental or physical, and they serve as reminders of our condition.  Each time, we choose to follow a doctor’s orders, we choose to accept that condition.  And that is one of the most important and powerful choices we can make on a daily basis.

What ways do you affirm your acceptance?