Acceptance

This is hard for me. Practicing acceptance is so difficult some days. Today I was just plain angry, and frustrated!
They say the definition of acceptance is:
"Self-acceptance is defined as affirmation, or acceptance of self in spite of weaknesses or deficiencies."
or:
"The first line of the Serenity Prayer says, "God, GRANT me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change..." which indicates to me, that serenity is not something that comes from within, but something that has to be given to me.
For me, serenity began when I finally began to learn to distinguish between those things that I could change and those I could not. When I admitted that there were people, places, things, and situations over which I was totally powerless, those things began to lose their power over me."

Since I am very active in an al-anon program, acceptance has always been a great topic.
When it comes to me however,and my arthritis, I do sometimes poorly at it. Its not that I want to go back to before arthritis, its just that this darn pain is too, too, much to bear at times.I forget I can't do all. That I need to rest, that I can't lift heavy stuff, or even change shoes!!! If I change shoes, it throws everything off. My back hurts, hips hurt and knees hurt...Mind you that they are not even heels, just a different shoe..
So today, I am working on acceptance. This is what is going on now. Its o.k. and it could be so much worse. I also will work on gratitute. "When you are in a sincere state of gratitude your energy is one of acceptance and harmony."
Its hard today, but I will work on just accepting what is, and changing what I can. I have generalized osteoarthritis in most of my joints. Thats it! Its o.k. and tomorrow, I have a Dr's appt. and I will discuss my pain issues.

Do you have trouble some days with acceptance, and how do you personally handle it?

Cheers;
Dee