Reverb 11, December Eighteenth

What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out?

I think the wisest decisions I've made all year had to do with accepting things as they are; specifically, accepting people and the things they say/do.


In my experience, that acceptance isn't always the wisest course. If a loved one does something that truly worries or upsets me, I consider intervening an act of honesty and of that love.

Regarding more distant acquaintances, shutting my mouth has been the best plan more than once this year.  Knowing that doesn't take much; doing it was considerably harder.  Doing it, and not spending the next few weeks stewing over it - that's wisdom, and it's a new skill.


See, I'm fully capable of shutting my mouth over stuff, even when it's hard.  But when I had to do that in the past, I turned my resentment inward and drove myself crazier than if I'd gone ahead and voiced my objections.  These days, I'm able to shut my mouth and find peace on the subject, through acceptance of things and people as they are.


That guy who said that thing about me that time?  He doesn't know me; all he has is his frame of reference and an injudicious tongue.  Maybe he'll change his mind if he gets to know me better, maybe not; I can't spend my days and nights worrying about it.

"Resentment," it is said, "is like taking a poison and expecting someone else to get sick."  I consider acceptance to be a sort of antidote; I take it as soon as possible.  Perhaps someday, I won't feel the resentment in the first place.