Although I am not in the exact situation you are, I am in one that is rather miserable too.

I don't know the trick to getting to acceptance. I have a little trick of my own that gets me through distress though. Don't know if it would help you or anyone else for that matter, but I'll share it as something that helps me.

I have little post-it notes all around on which this little message is written: "Could be worse but isn't worse, thank goodness." Since I am a "could be better but isn't better" kind of person, I need these notes to give me some peace of mind.

Ok, I don't really have what I want and am not in an enviable situation.

But I don't have stage 4 cancer. I don't go to bed every night hungry and wake up wondering where my next meal will be? I don't have the ebola virus.

I could be lazier, messier, dumber, uglier, and a worse person than I am , but I'm not.

My surroundings stink but they could be much worse and they're not. I'm not living in a bunch of cardboard boxes held together with duct tape with all my few belongings in a grocery store shopping cart.

Thinking along these lines gives me more peace of mind and more joy of living. And I often end up with gratitude instead of attitude, appreciation rather than bitterness.

Is that acceptance? I have no idea.

I've been trying to expand that view outwards too. People and things in my life could be worse but are not. There are no Hitler's in my life, thank goodness. And I'm no Hitler.

Things and events in the world could be worse too, but they are not worse. Try to think this way when I read the news.

Yeah, sometimes things really stink, but they could stink more but don't.

I can't call this "optimism" because optimism is about the future and this is about everything, past, present and future.

Maybe I am wrong about all this. I am often wrong about things, that's for sure.

I hope you find things that help you. And I really hope other members here will have better ideas than my poor ones! Best to you!