Accept Yourself Poem by Peter Strugnell

Today I have some difficulties, some scars still remain,
full of self doubt, through injury to the brain,
a brush with mortality, it's got to change a person,
it changes your view, and previous assertions,
it's like a rebirth, or even a second chance,
I thank my lucky stars, fate and circumstance.


Forced to re-learn, many forgotten skills,
I curse these accidents, and the neurones that they kill,
I'm slower in thought, but quicker in temper,
I'm quick to tire, and slow to remember,
I know damn well, that life can be rough,
but you can't tell me, that acceptance ain't tough.


You know that you've got plenty of ability,
and you're probably better than you think that you are,
and of course you'll have some difficulty,
but step by step you're gonna go far,
your own true value, you should accept,
coz you are you, no apologies, no regret,
no, no, no apologies and no regret!


There are things of course that I don't do brilliant,
sometimes weak, sometimes resilient,
it's the same for everyone, to some degree,
self pity is a handicap, it's my worst enemy,
like a warm embrace, from an old acquaintance,
I welcome him in, my old friend acceptance.


I didn't know then, I'd recover like i did,
I'm ashamed to say, I didn't want to live,
I shouldn't complain, but I often still do,
hardship is a teacher, of things I never knew,
acceptance you know, doesn't mean you give in,
not an end to it all, but a place to begin.