Vol 11: Leading with acceptance

It’s been about a year since I started noticing strange things happening with my heart. Not the metaphorical center of my emotions—the muscle in the middle of my body. Is it wise to write about a health problem on the internet? I guess I’m about to find out.

It started with my heart racing when it shouldn’t have, like when I was just sitting around or standing. I also began to notice my heart pounding, along with chest pain. I went to the emergency room twice, because all the guidance out there around chest pains is basically “it could be nothing, or you could be dying, so go to a hospital.”

That kicked off a lot of tests, and months of waiting to hear back about what was going on. Eventually, I was diagnosed with a heart arrhythmia that the doctors considered most likely harmless, but explained could also cause me to develop heart disease, or in really rare cases die suddenly without warning. They told me to try to relax, cut down on stress, and try not to be so anxious about my heart because it’s not good for my heart (super helpful). I got medication, which improved things, but the problem keeps coming and going. Sometimes it’s worse, sometimes it’s better.

If I look at what was happening in my life at the time, I notice large amounts of stress, both personal and professional. Since then, I’ve done my best to follow that advice from my doctors. I’ve started practicing Yoga, learned about deep breathing, found ways to reduce the stress I was feeling, tried to be more proactive about my relationships, did a lot of personal work in therapy, and taken the meds. When things started to get better, I even thought this problem might go away. That I could be healed. Maybe that will happen someday, but it hasn’t yet.

And so, I’ve been thinking about how to accept this.

If I keep living my life expecting this to go away completely, it sets me up for failure. It’s a perfectionistic mindset, that would cause me to be disappointed in myself each time it happens.

My journey toward acceptance has meant:

• Understanding that I don’t know what progress will look like or even if this will get better over time

• Embracing my own mortality, along with the fear and uncertainty that comes along with it

• Being compassionate toward myself given what I’ve been through, not judging myself for failing to fix this or having the problem in the first place

• Focusing on how I want to live in this new reality and who I want to be

When I look at this list, I realize it’s relevant to a lot more situations than just personal health.

In our professional lives, acceptance is important when we are working with tough personalities, looking for career progression in systems that don’t support it, or going through layoffs. It’s not easy, but it helps. When you lead with acceptance it helps the people around you too.



Acceptance doesn’t mean inaction. You can accept something while still working to change it. The difference is in how you’ll experience that change, and how you can show kindness to yourself and others along the way.

What are some of the ways you experience acceptance? Have you ever had to accept something hard? What does acceptance mean in your relationships? I’d love to hear from you.

Real leaders: Johnny Taboada

In my newsletters, I regularly ask leaders in my own life to share who they are and what leadership means to them.

Johnny describes himself as curiously creative, husband, friend.

Here's how Johnny thinks about leadership, in his own words:

I lead with a focus on kindness, listening, and inclusion. Drawing from my own experiences of exclusion and feeling like my thoughts or ideas never mattered empowers me to create platforms for others to showcase their ideas, speak freely, and voice their thoughts without fear of judgement. Everyone deserves to be seen, heard, and have the opportunity to flourish.

Thanks, Johnny.