Ever dream of a life where you didn’t have to work so hard?

You would get through the holidays without worrying about whether you could handle your dysfunctional family, your finances, your weight. You could be yourself completely without concern about how you’ll be treated by an insensitive friend or relative. You could for once stop thinking about everyone else’s needs and for a moment just think of yourself. It would be a true holiday that never ends.

You’re not alone. It’s a wish we all dream about when the going gets tough. But we’re given the life we’re given. Once we learn to accept it, we might even find a few unexpected gifts in the process.

Perhaps dealing with your own difficulties has given you greater compassion for others. If that’s the case, you’ll love this week’s post on how you can help a loved one with an eating disorder get through the holidays. Or you’ll find that being super sensitive isn’t so bad after reading Zoë’s post on the upside of hypersensitivity. Maybe you’ll learn that being overly confident and insensitive are far from being strengths, but instead are weaknesses. And you might even realize that doing what’s hard (like swallowing your pride instead of always being right) may just be a good thing.

Sure it’s normal to dream of a perfect life. But since they don’t exist, the best thing we can do for ourselves and our loved ones is to learn to embrace the life we have. In doing so, we learn that an imperfect life is a well-lived one.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 10 Dec 2012
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.