Should You Accept Yourself or Push Harder? - An Honest Freewrite about Self-Care, Struggle, and Growth

It seems like a never-ending question whether you're supposed to accept yourself and your life for the way it is or constantly try to better yourself and make the most of life.

The internet doesn't help answer this question either. While some suggest a more laid-back approach towards life and focus more on accepting reality, others are determined in their pursuit of trying to change it.

So who do we listen to? The answer, you saw it coming, isn't that simple. In a nutshell, it depends mainly on the kind of life you want for yourself.

Oftentimes, people tend to question their life choices and doubt if they are making the most out of it. We are so desperate in our desire for "making it count," that we refuse to believe how much our ambitions are hurting our lives.

We choose to disregard the fact that no matter how hard we try, there are going to be things that we won't be able to experience and won't get to keep and won't be able to solve. This includes yourself too.

This is the part where truly accepting yourself and your life can do wonders. At its essence, it means to let go of the person you are trying to become and making peace with the parts of you that you are not necessarily proud of.

But then how do we grow? If we're not constantly pushing ourselves, how can we ever get better? I thought about these questions for weeks and the best possible thing I could think of in relation to it was this:

"Don't use your ambitions as an excuse to not take care of yourself."

The more you think about it, the more sense it makes. I've seen many people (including myself) who use their ambitions as an excuse to postpone or completely disregard self-care.

I'm not saying that you shouldn't hustle and work hard. HELL NO. What I'm trying to say is to be mindful of your ambitions. If your ambitions make you burnout every day or two, then it's not ambition but the desire to feel like you are giving your all.

Work hard, surely, but understand the fact that a person can only hold a limited number of priorities. The more priority you give to your work, the less you'll be able to contribute to others.