Dallas Bragg explains radical acceptance as holding two truths at once: acknowledging reality as it is while knowing it can change. Fighting what's real creates suffering; accepting it frees you to actually change it. He contrasts this with avoidance, using addiction and trauma as examples of how survival mechanisms can be relearned.
Radical acceptance means holding 2 truths at once. One, this is where I am right now, and fighting against this current reality only creates more suffering before it gets better. And 2, this moment isn't permanent, and accepting where I am actually frees me to move forward. That's the point. Radical acceptance doesn't mean you stay where you are. So we, in recovery terms, radical acceptance says, my meth use was a response to deep pain and unmet needs. That's the truth of where I've been. Radical avoidance says, using meth is just who I am, and these behaviors that have got me here is just who I am, but somehow I'm gonna quit, Tina, anyway. Why try to change? Or radical acceptance says, my trauma responses kept me alive, and I can learn new ways To feel safe now. Radical avoidance says, or bypassing, I'm too traumatized to ever change. So I'll just accept being stuck. My parents fucked me up and I'll never survive. I'll never recover. Right? Here's the paradox. True acceptance of where you are is what makes change possible. The change part is the difference here. Accept where you are. Take responsibility. No matter what happened, it's yours now. Now you get, now you get to choose what to do with it.
