Let It Rain

by: kate stake, lmhc-a

Practicing Acceptance on National Rain Day

You can’t make it stop raining by wishing it would stop.

This seems obvious, but we spend enormous amounts of mental energy doing exactly that, not just with weather, but with everything we can’t control. The traffic. The diagnosis. The way others treat us. We pour our efforts into willing these things to change, as if sheer determination could alter reality. But it doesn’t.
Rain falls whether you like it or not. Your frustration won’t dry a single drop; your anger can’t chase away the storm. The rain simply is. And in that neutrality lies something important: the rain doesn’t care what you think.

So, what’s the alternative?

From Resistance to Recognition

Shifting from resistance to recognition is what we call acceptance; not passively surrendering or pretending things are fine, but actively facing reality as it is. Therapeutic acceptance involves seeing both your external circumstances and internal reactions without denial, distortion, or judgment.

“I accept that it’s raining. I also accept that I feel annoyed by the rain.”

Both realities coexist. Neither needs solving.

Acceptance doesn’t require your approval. You don’t need to feel good about what’s happening. But once you stop fighting reality, your internal bandwidth opens up. Denying rain is pointless. Resisting its existence is exhausting. Acknowledging reality creates space to act.
Maybe you stay inside. Maybe you grab an umbrella. Maybe you dance in it. Maybe you simply wait it out. These choices are not inherently “right” or “wrong.” They’re options made more apparent when you no longer resist what’s real.

When you accept reality, you reduce the tension between what is and what you wish it were. This reduction in friction frees up cognitive and emotional space to:

• Think clearly.
• Align with your values.
• Respond intentionally, not impulsively.

It gives you solid ground beneath your feet, creating conditions for movement, even if the situation itself remains unchanged.

Reclaiming Agency Through Acceptance

When you accept what’s happening, you reclaim agency. You stop being at the mercy of your circumstances and become someone who chooses responses deliberately. You don’t have to force optimism or manufacture a silver lining. Instead, you can pause, recognize what’s here, and allow that awareness to guide your next move.

The shift is subtle but profound:

• From: “I need to feel differently about this.”
• To: “This is how I feel right now—and that’s okay.”

Emotions Are Weather, Too

Sometimes accepting our internal experiences is even harder than accepting external realities. Anxiety that won’t quit. Grief that keeps arriving unannounced. Anger you believe should have passed by now.

Your mind attempts to manage these emotions, reasoning with them, trying to “fix” them. But emotions aren’t problems to be solved, they’re experiences to be felt. They move on their own timeline. They don’t respond to disapproval any more than rain responds to frustration.

You can’t outthink a storm. You wait. You move through it. You allow it to pass on its own terms. So too with emotions. Fighting your feelings is like throwing punches at a thundercloud:Dramatic, exhausting—and completely ineffective.

Acceptance isn’t resignation. It’s acknowledging the reality of what is and isn’t within your control. It’s loosening your grip just enough to shift your posture. To move. To breathe. To see the storm as one part of your experience, not the whole of it.

And still, that’s hard. It’s easy to say “the storm will pass” when you’re watching it on radar. It’s harder when you’re in the middle of it, soaked and scared and unsure how long it’ll last. That’s why acceptance is helpful; it gives you altitude—a moment of perspective. Acceptance gives you just enough distance to see that what feels endless isn’t. That this moment, however intense, is impermanent.

Okay, But How?

Acceptance is often mistaken for indifference or passivity. But it’s actually one of the most psychologically active stances you can take. Facing reality, especially unwanted reality, demands effort and courage.

Resistance sounds like:

• “I should be over this by now.”
• “I shouldn’t feel this way.”
• “I just need to stop thinking about it.”

Acceptance sounds like:

• “This is what I’m feeling right now.”
• “I don’t like this, but it’s what’s here.”
• “This is hard, and I can still choose how to respond.”

Acceptance is a skill. And like any skill, it takes practice, especially in moments when your nervous system wants to flee, fix, fight, or freeze.

Here are a few ways to build that skill:

• Name what’s here without exaggerating, minimizing, or trying to spin it.
• Tell yourself the truth: “This is what I’m feeling. I don’t have to like it to work with it.”
• Check your impulse. Ask: “Am I reacting to reality or my discomfort?”
• Make space for discomfort without making it the enemy.
• Reconnect with your values. What kind of action would reflect the person you want to bein this moment, even when everything is hard?

Returning to Reality

The rain hasn’t stopped. But neither has your life.

This moment is significant precisely because it’s happening, not despite the rain, but alongside it. Discomfort doesn’t disqualify the moment. The storm outside doesn’t lessen the value within.

So let it rain. Then choose how you’ll move through it.