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August 27, 2025 28 mins

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"The better you feel about yourself, the less you feel the need to show off." This profound truth sits at the heart of our exploration into self-acceptance—a journey that 85% of people worldwide struggle with daily.

What does it truly mean to accept yourself? It's not about ignoring your flaws or pretending everything is perfect. Rather, it's acknowledging both your strengths and weaknesses without judgment, while recognizing which aspects you can change and which are simply part of who you are. I share my own struggles with body image and how I've learned to love myself while still working toward healthier habits—because self-acceptance isn't complacency, it's the foundation for authentic growth.

Throughout this episode, you'll meet extraordinary individuals who embody radical self-acceptance. There's the man I met in Cabo Verde who, despite losing both hands in a tragic accident, radiates more joy and freedom than most people ever experience. And the deaf shop owner in Ghent, Belgium, who transformed potential barriers into unique expressions of self through his vibrant communication. These stories aren't just inspirational—they reveal how true self-acceptance transforms limitations into unexpected gifts.

The paradox of self-acceptance is beautiful: when you truly accept yourself, you no longer need to prove anything to anyone. You're free from the exhausting cycle of seeking external validation, allowing you to direct your energy toward what truly matters to you. Whether you're working on accepting changeable aspects of yourself or embracing unchangeable realities, this episode offers practical wisdom for your journey.

What part of yourself are you still struggling to accept? Share your thoughts in the comments and join our community of people committed to authentic living. Because when we embrace our complete selves—strengths, flaws, and all—we discover a freedom that no external achievement can provide.

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Fabio Posca | Journey to Success
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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
the better you feel about yourself, the less you
feel the need to show off.
By Robert Hunt.
This is a beautiful quote.
The quote is so real and true,and today we're going to talk
about the way you can acceptyourself all right.
The way you can accept yourselfall right.

(00:22):
First of all, according toPlatform Wellbeing, 85% of
people worldwide, in all theworld, struggle with low
self-esteem, which affects howthey feel about themselves,
their values and their abilities.

(00:43):
And that's a big number.
It's a huge number, guys.
But if you really think aboutit, can you honestly say that
you fully accept yourself everyday, fully?
There is always a part of usthat feel unaccepted for a lot
of reasons.
For example, I'm currentlystruggling with my weight.

(01:05):
I wouldn't say I'm fat, not atall.
I consider myself skinny, fat,I mean, with the right clothing.
You know, I may look thin oreven kind of muscular, but the
truth is I carry unnecessary fat.
Okay, so how do I feel aboutthis?

(01:27):
Well, first of all, I'm notjealous of the, let's say,
well-defined people around me,because I've developed a mindset
that allows me to believe inmyself and I understand that if
I have extra fat, it's becauseof my habits.
Okay, and it's up to me tochange.

(01:49):
However, I still don't feelgood about this part of myself,
so it's important to acknowledgethat.
Okay, right now, exactly rightnow, while I'm recording, I'm
sitting here and can feel thissmall belly wanting to go over

(02:11):
my pants, which I don't like it.
I hate it.
It makes me uncomfortable.
The good news is that the momentyou recognize an annoyance,
right, something that anno,moment you recognize an
annoyance, right, something thatannoys you, it is the moment
you can start to work onaccepting yourself more.
But what about aspects ofourselves that we cannot change,

(02:36):
which are part of who we are?
Well, we don't know yet, butwe'll figure it out today.
Hi guys, my name is Fabio fromJourney to Success, and welcome.
Today we're going to introducethe concept of self-acceptance
and why it is crucial forpersonal growth and happiness.

(02:57):
But before to go forward, asalways, please subscribe.
So I know this is the rightdirection to lead you guys, to
drive you, to guide you towardsyour journey to success, and
let's get started all right, asalways.
So, self-acceptance what isself-acceptance?

(03:17):
It's the ability to embraceboth your strengths and personal
imperfections, without judgment.
Megan Markham, chiefpsychologist at AMFM Healthcare,
describes in this way,describes in a very nice way and
it aligns with my thoughts aswell.

(03:38):
Before I use the example of mybelly guys, right, so I like to
acknowledge that I do have abelly, okay.
Accepting the fact that I havesomething I don't like allows me
to focus on improving mywell-being.
This includes, for example,eating less sugar, drinking more

(04:02):
water, exercising consistently,even a few times per week I
don't know, I still have tofigure it out a little bit.
Anyway, since I work from home,I know I need to incorporate
more movement into my routineand possibly eat a little less
than an average person who goesto an office or has a physically

(04:25):
demanding job okay, like awaiter, for example.
So, generally, building healthyhabits is when you start to
cultivate resilience.
So how do I know this?
Because I do most of the thingsin my life in this way.
I acknowledge what I can adjustto transform myself.

(04:46):
So I recognize strengths that Imay not have considered before
and that I work to develop them,which are essential for my
growth.
So it's important to acceptmyself while working towards my
goal and making the rightcorrections.
Guys, I love myself honestly,with or without the extra weight

(05:08):
.
Okay, of course, the weight isjust an example, just my
personal example.
Okay, in my case it can be theweight, for you it can be
anything else.
Anyway, I will say I lovemyself, with or without the
extra weight, but I acknowledgethat wearing a slim, fitting
t-shirt might not be the bestflattering choice for my body

(05:29):
and for my eyes.
And it is not body shaming,it's just true.
Right, it's real, that's it.
I remember looking at somephotos just a week ago and
realizing how many extra layersof fat I had.
However, I didn't make a bigdeal out of it.
I still enjoyed who I am.

(05:51):
I've accepted myself and I'mhere to talk openly with you
because I want you to understandthat there is nothing wrong
discussing this with all mylisteners, and by doing so,
that's the most important thing.
I hope to encourage some of youto act the same way with others
talking about your lack,deficits and defects as I do,

(06:17):
because, at the end of the story, guys, opening up to others is,
in my opinion, of course, themost excellent tool to accept
who you are, who we are.
Okay.
Now, accepting myself doesn'tmean being blind or pretending
that everything is okay when Idon't feel good about myself.

(06:37):
So neglecting these facts.
So neglecting the fact that Ihave a small fat prevents me
from improving, and we don'twant that.
This is a journey to success,okay, not a journey to neglect
stuff, but also what feels rightfor my feelings doesn't

(07:00):
necessarily mean it is right foryou, and vice versa.
Still, keeping the example ofthe weights, all right, I see
people who are comfortable intheir bodies, regardless of
their size, and they expressthemselves in a confident way.
However, I'm referring to theaspects of ourselves that don't
feel aligned with who we are andthat we all want to change and

(07:24):
improve.
Okay, so for me it can be thethought, for you can be anything
else.
So it's important to recognizethat what is right or wrong for
one person may not be the samefor another, and also, there
isn't really a concept of rightand wrong.
In this case, it's more aboutaligning your soul with a
certain type of existence,whether physical or mental.

(07:48):
To become the best version ofyourself, guys, you must be
willing to accept yourself whilealso seeking to improve,
especially if your soul is notcomfortable with your being okay
.
But what about when we cannotchange anything about ourselves?
We just need to accept it.

(08:09):
Maybe you were born with adeficit, or maybe you enjoy too
much on New Year Eve and youlost a couple of fingers or a
hand.
You know what about in thiscase.
So let's go with the flow today.
In my opinion, there are twotypes of people.
The first type of peoplemiserably accept themselves,

(08:35):
okay, seeking pity from othersbecause of their social deficit
and I would like to highlightthe term, the word social
aspects of how people perceiveothers, because the term social
in this contest is veryimportant.
It's how we think peopleperceive us when we talk about

(08:59):
deficits.
Anyway, this is the first group.
So we're talking aboutgenerally, we're talking about
people who miserably acceptthemselves, all right.
The second group, the secondscenario, is about the second
type.
So the second type of people isabout people who accept

(09:21):
themselves partially and becomescreative in their approach.
They think like, okay, okay,accept this part of myself, I
really do, but now how can Iimprove it from now on?
I'm going to make an examplefor you.
For decades I struggled with mysmile because one of my front

(09:45):
teeth is crooked.
It was strange because I felt Ihad a nice smile, but yet I
rarely smiled or only smiledwith my mouth closed.
I know my mother influenced mein this.
I mean, everyone has their ownpath and I'm not angry with her,
but I don't think it was righteither, of course.

(10:07):
And this insecurity started asa seed, first in my mind and
grew over time.
Okay, so I also reached thepoint where I want to show more
of myself on social media, likein videos, you know, or on
YouTube.
But I thought, okay, first Ineed to fix my teeth and then

(10:27):
I'll do it.
I'll do later.
So when you lack self-acceptance, like in this case, it creates
a situation where you find itchallenging to become the best
version of yourself.
So you cannot even improve.
So you constantly seekperfection, which causes you to
spend a lot of time ensuringthat others see you as a

(10:51):
socially perfect individual.
You know this term.
Socially again.
However, the energy and timeyou invest in this plan is
immense.
It's huge, leaving you withless focus for your projects,
you know, for your dreams, witha big amount of suffering,
leading eventually to depression.
Also, I understood that in theend, we cannot focus on things

(11:17):
we cannot control.
Doing so only drains yourenergy on something unworthy.
Guys, it's like when you starta car in a small room with no
exit right, like a garage.
Let's pretend that the garageis locked, okay, the gate, so
you consume all the gas andended up feeling suffocated.

(11:39):
Okay, I think this is a verygood example.
Another personal example now.
I've always struggled tounderstand things quickly.
I often made more mistakes thanothers before I could truly
understand something.
So eventually I realized thatmany other people had the same
experience, maybe thousands oreven millions of people and this

(12:05):
understanding inspired me tostart something focused on
self-growth.
So I tried various approaches,including social media, youtube,
before landing on the idea of apodcast.
So for a while it was fromfailure to success, because
literally it was what I wasdoing.
You know, consistently I wasjust failing, all right.

(12:27):
But I soon recognized that theword failure doesn't resonate in
a positive way with most people.
So instead I started to view itas a journey, which led me to
rename it Journey to Success.
So I have accepted that Istrangle and suffer at times,

(12:47):
and I may not learn as quicklyas others, but I've come to
realize that I'm trulypassionate about what I love,
okay, about what I do, and whenthis happens, I learn very
quickly, especially when itinvolves something I genuinely
care about.
So, in my experience.
When you accept yourself, guys,you understand more and more

(13:10):
yourself, okay.
And when you understand moreand more yourself, you know what
to do better in your life.
So this distinction betweenself-acceptance for your limits
and weaknesses and theacceptance of your entire being

(13:32):
is crucial.
Because in the first case so inthe case we talk about
acceptance only for your limitsand weaknesses, okay.
So in the first case, you focusonly on the factual aspects of
yourself, but in the second caseso when you accept your entire
being, you also embrace yourpossibilities and the growth

(13:55):
potential, as well as the newskills you can develop, guys.
So just because you may nothave certain skills, I mean,
doesn't mean you can't developnew ones.
Probably, you can develop evenbetter skills than a medium,
average person, especiallybecause your motivation is
stronger if you lack something,physically or mentally, okay,

(14:18):
it's a little bit like becominga spiritual cyborg.
I don't know I came up with thisidea today.
I don't know if you understandwhat I mean.
I understand that spirit andtechnology may seem
contradictory, right, but theycan coexist in this case,

(14:39):
especially since we're talkingabout developing new skills,
right, skills to save your brainin your memory, ready for use
when needed.
You know what I mean.
Lifeguys presents us withvarious ingredients and it's up
to you to create beautifulthings from them.
If life doesn't provide youwith apple, anyway, can you

(15:03):
still make an apple cake?
Absolutely not right.
But instead of being upset thatapples are not longer available
in this world, you could chooseto make a pear cake.
You can choose to makethousands of cakes, okay.
So just because you lacksomething or just because you're

(15:27):
deficient in something right,it doesn't mean, I mean, we have
so many skills that we cancreate, we can develop.
It doesn't mean that you cannotcreate something beautiful from
the other skills that you mayor may not have yet.

(15:47):
I want to say another story.
During my vacation in CaboVerde this year, we went on a
boat and swam with turtles guys.
It was a beautiful experience,beautiful and natural experience
.
So the turtles are in this openbay, allowing them to go freely
in the ocean, and they've alsobecome familiar with the people
involved, you know, in a seaprotection research group that

(16:11):
studies their behavior, andduring the season, this group
attached as well GPS devices tothe turtles to monitor their
lives.
You know, very beautiful, verybeautiful.
The group provides food for theanimals and there is this
beautiful lives, you know, verybeautiful, very beautiful.
The group provides food for theanimals and there is this
beautiful relationship, you know, between them.
And occasionally they allowtourists like us to swim with

(16:36):
the turtles.
And one of the most memorablemoments, guys, from the trip,
from this experience especially,was meeting a man on the boat
who guided us to this turtleexperience.
Right, and the thing is that hehad lost both of his hands and

(17:00):
part of his arms.
So, despite this, he remainedcalm and skilled in managing the
boat as we enjoyed the stunningsunrise.
He always smiled, but it wasalso more than just a smile, it
was radiance.
With this guy, honestly, andwith his arms, like literally,

(17:20):
with his arms, he pushed theboat from the sands to the sea.
Guys without hands, only withhis strength.
Also, in this case, I think youreally need to be strong, you
know.
And then we were on the open seabefore swimming with the

(17:41):
turtles, and he shared that oneday he had participated in a
running competition in Spain and, unfortunately, during a sea
excursion in their free time, hewas still close to the boat in

(18:02):
the sea while the captainwrongly activated the fan.
So, since they were stillswimming, activate the fun, okay
, so since they were stillswimming, this caused an
incident that resulted in himlosing his hands and part of his
arms.
That's literally the story.
So my mother-in-law asked himwhat made him so happy, despite

(18:26):
everything he had been through.
Okay, and he replied that sincethat day he had learned to
appreciate life more.
So he realized how beautiful itis to live the life we have and
he was grateful to have asecond chance.
That's it.
Powerful message, very powerfulmessage, but simple, very

(18:52):
simple, maybe discounted, right,but powerful, so powerful.
So this man has become a trueicon of the island.
And you know, not even just afew days later then, we saw him
participate in a major sportcompetition as well, in Cape

(19:12):
Verde, running, as he alwayssaid, regardless of his deficit.
You know, now, generallyspeaking, can we truly talk
about the deficit here?
Yes, of course he lost bothhands, but he gained a new
perspective on life, a dreammany people can only inspire to

(19:35):
the freedom, the real freedom,like mental freedom, this peace
that he had.
It was unbelievable.
So this sense of peace comesfrom a great self-acceptance,
guys.
He views the world with a senseof freedom, acceptance guys.
He views the world with a senseof freedom and, even though he

(19:56):
lost two hands, he has developeda deeper vision that many of us
lack, including myself at thisstage of my life.
I hope I'll get in the futurejust like he did, because the
man truly looked incredibly free, he was truly radiant, and here

(20:17):
is the power of trueself-acceptance, guys, truly.
Another experience I had duringmy trip to Ghent, belgium, in
July so not even a few weeks agowas at a place that sells
amazing Spanish soup.
So the owner, a man probably inhis 60s, I guess, had opened a

(20:44):
natural soap shop, and when wewent inside, right, my fiancé
asked what to order and theowner explained everything using
sign language, without makingany sounds.
Okay, because his death andmute.
I knew that, of course, but myfiance didn't know, so it turned
out to be a unique experience,as imagine.

(21:06):
He communicated with her in atruly remarkable way, and the
restaurant was fascinating.
There were pictures of signlanguage on the walls and books
with stories about people whoare mute.
In the bathroom, in the toilet,there was a description of an

(21:28):
interview that he had, I guess,on local TV, and the owner was
radiant too, was very radiant.
He also ensured that when weleft, we greeted each other and
his smile was so contagious.
Also here, self-acceptance thatshapes towards something
beautiful, genuine.
This truly shows the power ofself-acceptance.

(21:50):
Okay, that's whatself-acceptance can do.
So, again, we have twoscenarios here.
The first scenario if you areuncomfortable with your current
situation and recognize anopportunity for change such as
my experience with weight loss,for example it's important to be

(22:13):
resilient and take action.
Okay, ensuring that your soulfeels at ease in your new, uh,
human form.
Okay, it's, it's it.
It's essential to to make youfeel um, to make you feel uh, to
make sure your soul feels goodin your body.

(22:36):
Okay, there is nothing wrongwith knowing what you don't want
to accept about yourself.
If change is possible, nothingwrong, even if it's important
not to make a big deal out of it.
You know, like in my case, for,for example, I love and accept
myself anyway.
It's not that I make a big dealabout the fact that I have, uh,

(22:58):
this fat around me, you know,around my belly.
I wrote this episode, guys,while enjoying a double cheap
chocolate cookie.
That's okay, kind of.
I mean, I shouldn, I shouldn'tcomplain then I storage fat, but
the point is I still acceptmyself all right, barely and all

(23:20):
.
However, since I feel thediscomfort, I would prefer to
work on improving myself, tobecome a better version of
myself.
Okay, there is nothing wrongwith that.
Actually, it's the opposite youversion of myself.
Okay, there is nothing wrongwith that, actually, it's the
opposite.
You improve your being.
Okay, it's very beautiful.
Second scenario In cases wherechange is not possible, you can

(23:44):
still find powerful ways toexpress yourself and embrace
self-acceptance.
Okay, much like the twoincredible individuals I met
during my trips to Cabo andGhent in Belgium.
Also, there are other storiesto consider.
Example there have beenindividuals with Down syndrome
who have raised their childrenwonderfully, whether those

(24:06):
children share the samediagnosis or not.
Okay, and an example Nick Ithink the name is Nick Vuzicic
is a motivational speaker bornwithout arms or legs.
Or same Andrea Bocelli, theItalian singer who is blind, as
was Ray Charles during hiscareers, you know, as pianist

(24:27):
and, but generally, people whoparticipate in para sports often
show 10 times more resilienceand motivation than most people,
guys.
So all these individualsembrace who they are and in
doing so, they becomeextraordinary.

(24:48):
They're true champions,monsters in their way to
approach their life.
Okay, now, before wrapping up,what did we talk about today.
Today, we explored the journeytowards self-acceptance and why

(25:09):
it is essential for living ahappier, more fulfilled life.
I share how I'm learning toaccept the part of myself I'm
not fully comfortable with, likemy weight, while still working
toward the change I want to make.
We looked at the differencebetween what we can change and
what we can't, and how trueself-acceptance means embracing

(25:32):
both.
I told you also about inspiringpeople I've met, like the man
in Cabo Verde who lost bothhands but lived with joy, and
the soup shop owner in Ghent whocommunicates entirely through
sign language.
Their life's guides prove thatacceptance can become a source
of strength, strength, freedomand even inspiration for others.

(25:56):
And remember, the better youfeel about yourself, the less
you need to prove anything toanyone.
Guys, okay, now, as always, Iwant to hear from you what is
one thing about yourself youhave learned to fully accept and

(26:17):
what is one thing you are stillworking on, whether it's
changeable or not.
So drop your thoughts in thecomments.
Let's open up an honestconversation about
self-acceptance, growth and whatit really means for you to feel
good in your own skin.
If this episode resonated withyou, guys, as always, share it

(26:37):
with someone who might need thisreminder today as well, someone
who is on their own journey oflearning to love and accept who
they are.
Okay, following is great, asalways, follow, follow, follow.
But sharing is what keeps thiscommunity alive and connected.
Together, we're building aspace where success is not just
about achievement, but aboutembracing our full selves,

(27:00):
strength flows and and and all.
Because when you truly acceptyourself, guys, you don't need
to prove anything.
Okay, you just need to becheers.
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