How do you tackle questions like "when I feel accepted?"?

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johnjanssen
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17 May 2025, 5:25 am

I was told by a person to write something and answer questions like "When do I feel accepted?".
When I sat down to write something the first thing I did was asking what the question even refers to; feel acceptance? is that even like a feeling? should the question perhaps be "when do I experience acceptance?" but then I had to ask what acceptance even refers to. Does it simply mean approved (accepted) or something else?

How do you tackle questions like "when do I feel accepted?"?



babybird
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17 May 2025, 5:39 am

Oh I don't know
It's never really come up in my life

Do you have to answer it with examples of self acceptance or what

I'm with you man
I don't get it either


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Edna3362
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17 May 2025, 9:20 am

They could mean "affirmation of belonging".


I tend to try and slice them thinly myself whenever I got the patience to.
Because context is annoyingly layered, if I'm not really that patient, it'll always be the first thing I had in mind.


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nick007
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17 May 2025, 4:59 pm

It's possible you might never have felt you were very accepted which could make the question harder to answer. If that is the case you could try writting that. Were you asked this by a therapist type person :?:


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pokeystinker
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18 May 2025, 7:47 am

johnjanssen wrote:
I was told by a person to write something and answer questions like "When do I feel accepted?".
When I sat down to write something the first thing I did was asking what the question even refers to; feel acceptance? is that even like a feeling? should the question perhaps be "when do I experience acceptance?" but then I had to ask what acceptance even refers to. Does it simply mean approved (accepted) or something else?

How do you tackle questions like "when do I feel accepted?"?


No idea about other questions in that vein. But I can say I've never felt accepted by society, except by my parents perhaps. Many of us would've the same/broadly similar answer.


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belijojo
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18 May 2025, 8:03 am

I was recently reading Very Short Introductions (VSI), and it mentioned that one of the elements of happiness refers to being familiar with the environment. I think "being familiar with the environment" can answer this thread.
For me, "familiarity" is difficult to achieve. I can't understand other people's emotional needs, so I can't predict other people's reactions, and I can't understand the purpose of some regulations.
But I can be "familiar" with a few places, such as WP. I know there are PPR, The Haven, L&D, and I understand which thread should be placed in which section. So I feel accepted


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nick007
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18 May 2025, 4:29 pm

belijojo wrote:
I was recently reading Very Short Introductions (VSI), and it mentioned that one of the elements of happiness refers to being familiar with the environment. I think "being familiar with the environment" can answer this thread.
For me, "familiarity" is difficult to achieve. I can't understand other people's emotional needs, so I can't predict other people's reactions, and I can't understand the purpose of some regulations.
But I can be "familiar" with a few places, such as WP. I know there are PPR, The Haven, L&D, and I understand which thread should be placed in which section. So I feel accepted
I lived with my parents till I was 30 & I was familiar with my home since I spent most of my time there but I did not feel accepted there except when I was home by myself. I knew my mom was stressed about her job & was upset with me a lot due to her believing I wanted to be dependent on her for the rest of my life out of laziness & selfishness & that she threatened to kick me out of the house a lot when we had fights since I was teen. I knew what to expect from some of my schools as well but the school enviornment was not a good fit for me despite my ability to avoid trouble at the better schools so I did not feel majorly accepted there either. In order for me to feel accepted I need to be able to be myself & relax to do my own thimgs without others complaining or judging me. The only person who majorly makes me feel accepted in person is my current girlfriend & the only online community I felt majorly accepted at has been this one.


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johnjanssen
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19 May 2025, 11:13 am

I was asked by a person who works with people who have autism and/or adhd diagnoses; don't think about a therapy session although you might do the something similar in therapy sessions.

I might struggle with the question since you don't "feel" acceptance.
Isn't it more that you are accepted, accepts others and practice acceptance like in ACT?

I guess that she meant "when do you experience that you are yourself and that others let you be yourself?"

But then again that question can have different meanings!

Some person should use this and write a book about the question!

Why do people ask broad questions that are difficult to answer? Is this often stimulating to "neurotypicals" who enjoys questions that are very broad have at least 100 sub-questions?

I watched a video on the first meditation by St Francis de Sales and the leader in the video said that we should look at the questions from all possible angles. To me this requires lots of studying and discursive meditation.
The text of his first meditations:
"Preparation.
1. PLACE yourself in the Presence of God.
2. Ask Him to inspire your heart.
Considerations.
1. Consider that but a few years since you were not born into the world, and your soul was as yet non-existent. Where wert thou then, O my soul? the world was already old, and yet of thee there was no sign.
2. God brought you out of this nothingness, in order to make you what you are, not because He had any need of you, but solely out of His Goodness.
3. Consider the being which God has given you; for it is the foremost being of this visible world, adapted to live eternally, and to be perfectly united to God’s Divine Majesty.
Affections and Resolutions.
1. Humble yourself utterly before God, saying with the Psalmist, O Lord, I am nothing in respect of Thee—what am I, that Thou shouldst remember me? O my soul, thou wert yet lost in that abyss of nothingness, if God had not called thee forth, and what of thee in such a case?
2. Give God thanks. O Great and Good Creator, what do I not owe Thee, Who didst take me from out that nothingness, by Thy Mercy to make me what I am? How can I ever do enough worthily to praise Thy Holy Name, and render due thanks to Thy Goodness?
3. Confess your own shame. But alas, O my Creator, so far from uniting myself to Thee by a loving service, I have rebelled against Thee through my unruly affections, departing from Thee, and giving myself up to sin, and ignoring Thy Goodness, as though Thou hadst not created me."


Those questions cannot be answered in just a short session in which you just sit in silence.

I think many people, mostly neurotypicals, would be able to make them into simple meditations (if they had an interest in Catholic spirituality).

Tell me what your experiences are and what has been helpful for you.



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25 May 2025, 8:05 pm

I suppose I know what the question means - when do you feel a sense of belonging?" but I agree a good answer would be quite complicated. Feeling accepted isn't a simple yes or no thing, there are many shades of grey to it, so where do they expect you'd put the dividing line? For example, I felt accepted to some degree by my parents, but they didn't accept everything about me. As for the general case - do I feel overall accepted by my friends, family, and the world at large? - I don't feel particularly rejected but there's room for improvement in the acceptance department. I could write reams about different people and how well I feel that they accept me, but I don't think I'd be much closer to a definite answer. Best simple answer I have is that I suppose I'm somewhere in the middle, could be better, could be worse.