One of the things that most prevents us from moving forward in life and causes us more suffering is the difference that sometimes exists between reality and how we think it should be. The greater this difference, the greater the false expectations, the more unhappy we are.
How much time do we spend idealizing things and how much energy do we often invest in trying to change situations or people around us! And how many disappointments this brings us.
There's a prayer that I really like, it's called the Serenity Prayer (it's like a mantra in Alcoholics Anonymous) and it goes like this: "Lord, grant us serenity to accept the things that we cannot change, courage to change those that we can, and wisdom to discern the difference". We are happier and we are calm when we accept what we have to live, we control what is in our hands and we invest energies in the areas that we can change and depend solely on us.
Keep in mind that accepting does not mean resigning. Resignation means taking a passive attitude towards what happens to us. But instead of regretting our luck or taking an attitude of resignation, we can ask ourselves what we have left and what we can do to restore balance in our lives. In fact, we can even spend our entire lives waiting for something better to discover in the end that we already had it and had not known how to see it. Helen Keller said that "When one door of happiness closes, another opens. However, we often stare at the closed door for so long that we don't see the one that just opened. ”
Remember that learning to accept is to stop suffering.