It Is What It Is While It Is

• One of my new favorite sayings is, "It is what it is." But I decided to add, "While it is." This is to say that you just need to accept the circumstance as it is and to accept that you might be in this circumstance for a while. Thus, "It is what it is WHILE it is."
  
  On the job, there is one guy and I who usually vent about the immaturity that goes on. We seem to be working hard doing multiple things, but other people seem to slack off...including the supervisors. We witness people working very slowly, taking long breaks (and taking multiple breaks), coming to work late without any obvious consequences, doing sloppy work, and leave work without cleaning up their section. The guy feels that he and I are always picking up the slack from those who don't care to work hard.
  
  But my thoughts are this: it is what it is while it is. I just accept WHAT IS, and I just accept that it WILL BE until things change. 
  
  For the most part, you can't change your situation right away. Don't me believe? Try losing 10 pounds in 24 hours in a healthy way. Can't do it, can you? Try fixing your broken marriage in 30 minutes. Try getting a good-paying job right now. See, you can't change your situation right away, which is why it's important to accept WHAT IS, and to be willing to live through it WHILE IT IS.

• Accept that you are short on money and that you will be short for a while.
• Accept that you've made plenty of bad decisions that ruined relationships and that it will take time to fix these relationships.
• Accept that you have an addiction problem and that it will take time to break it.
• Accept that things are just not going your way right now and that things may not go your way for a while.

Theologian Karl Paul Reinhold Niebuhr wrote a prayer called the "Serenity Prayer" back in the 1930s. The prayer was popular during the 1930s and 1940s, and was even adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous. The common form of the prayer goes like this: God, grant me the serenity (or peace) to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. That is, the wisdom to know what I can change and what I cannot change.

Notice that the first part of that prayer talks about acceptance of the things that you cannot change. There are plenty of things in life that you cannot change. No matter how hard you try, many things will be out of your control...at least for the time being. So accept WHAT IS (that is, your situation) and continue to accept it WHILE IT IS (that is, for the duration of your situation).

It gets frustrating when you think about a very non-ideal situation and how it's hard (or even impossible) to change it. You're tired of going through it. You're tired of having to deal with it day in and day out. When you get up in the morning and when you go to bed at night (or vice versa if you work third shift!), you're still in the same situation with no signs of improvement. Well, what are you going to do? Probably nothing...because there is nothing you could do to change it. So, accept what is while it is.

Does this mean you sit back and do nothing? Of course not. While you may not be able to change your situation (or at least not be able to change it right away), you could simply find out how to work with your situation. For instance, I've told overweight individuals that the main advantage of having so much fat is that they could use it as resistance for weight training. If you're 100 lbs over weight, you don't need extra weight to do squats. Your body weight alone provides enough resistance to get a good leg work out. So, I'd say to use this fat while you have the fat, because you could use it for good.

So, how could you work in your situation? You're going to be in it for a while, so start making plans to work with it. Always remember this: if you can't change it, work with it to your advantage.

Believe it or not, the reason I made our ZUMBA class donation-based is because I was going through financial trouble at the time. I knew what it was like to struggle with finances. We're going on four years of having this class twice a week for donations only with no signs of slowing down! Had I been financially well off, I most likely wouldn't be teaching this class for just donations. I'd be charging at least $5 per class and search for people who could pay it, PLUS I'd be using this class to help sell products. Instead of this class being an outreach effort, it would have simply been another business to make money -- to no advantage for those who cannot afford to pay for each class.

However, while the class isn't a big money-maker as I initially hoped for when I started it back in 2012, the donations our generous participants have given us has helped us provide for some of our needs. Plus, we get the satisfaction of helping those in need. Also, I get a great work out for myself. This class is one of the main ways I keep in shape. Financially, we're still not where we want to be (or anywhere near it), but we just learn to work with what we got while we got it.