24-016 Acceptance

“a person’s assent to the reality of a situation without attempting to change it or protest it”

Today’s MotD can be a challenging one to “accept”. We tend to mistake it for condoning a situation. For me the idea of acceptance is a starting point because as long as we’re trying to change it, protest it, or deny it, the situation continues to exist and often times it actually gets worse.

The Friday before Christmas we learned that our 7.5 yo greyhound, Simon, has bone cancer. The options for trying to fix it would greatly diminish is quality of life and there was no guarantee of extending his life. We also know that bone cancer metastasizes quickly in greyhounds. Our compassionate vet left it to us to decided when we were ready to let him go…he would even come to our home to do take care of it here.

Except for a limp in is hind leg, he was our usual, jovial Simon self. How could we let him go when he seemed so happy to be here. So we kept putting it off while also making sure he was comfortable and didn’t over exert himself and break a bone. We figured we could make this work.

A couple of days ago he slipped and fell, making matters worse for his whole self, not just his leg. My husband began using a “thunder” vest to help Simon get around. Then yesterday, matters got worse. We had to accept the fact that it was time to let him go. No more denying, no more trying to make it work, no more trying to keep him here when he was obviously suffering.

Once we accepted it, we were able to move forward, as difficult as it was. We’ll be grieving him for a long while. He was a special boy who loved to be petted by everyone; and everyone who knew Simon loved himm.

How about you? Is acceptance a core value for you?

btw…here’s what it looked like before:

joyfully,

Maureen
The Mandala Lady

inspiring and encouraging creativity, curiosity, and play through the art of mandalas

About the 2024 Mandalas of the Day

Each day I will create and post a mandala inspired by one of 366 “value” words chosen randomly. The objective being to discover for myself which ones would best represent my core values…and by doing so, I hope it inspires you to determine your own.