Apparently you can. In fact, some (including Brene) argue you need self acceptance to truly change for the better in a lasting and meaningful way.
This apparent paradox is something I’ve personally wrestled with for a long time. As a life long improver, I struggled to practice self acceptance for myself. I shared Tim Ferriss’ ‘old’ belief that self acceptance = complacency, until I didn’t. He describes his struggle and growing insight beautifully and humbly in this podcast with Brené Brown.
My breakthrough came when I realised self-acceptance wasn’t all or nothing. I could accept parts of myself, or even a lot about myself, but still work on certain aspects. Tim also explains this in this 7 minute clip.
As part of my work on confidence, I’ve read a lot about self-acceptance being the bedrock of confidence and in particular self-worth. I accepted it intellectually, but still found I couldn’t fully embrace it for myself. I’m still a work in progress honestly, but it is already making a difference. The six minute gratitude journal is also helping.
I go through phases with podcasts, but when I listened to the full version on the train up to Manchester last week I said “yes!” out loud, too loud! If you haven’t already had a listen, it’s a good one. Enjoy.
Fulfilling work 