Episode 653 Can You Love What Isn't Perfect? Acceptance, Faith & America's 250th Birthday with BizzyEpisode 653 Can You Love What Isn't Perfect? Acceptance, Faith & America's 250th Birthday with Bizzy
Busy Living Sober with Host Elizabeth Chance
Elizabeth "Bizzy" Chance reflects on acceptance, faith and forgiveness through the lens of America’s 250th birthday and her long-term sobriety. She talks about loving imperfect countries, families and selves while choosing action over resentment and trusting a higher power.
16:43•30 Jun 2026
Can You Love What Isn’t Perfect? Bizzy on Acceptance, Faith and Sobriety
Episode Overview
- You can’t change the past or other people; if you want something to change, the starting point is changing your own actions and attitudes.
- Acceptance means allowing the moment to be as it is, even when you strongly wish it were different.
- Handing life over to a higher power, as in the third step, helps ease the burden of trying to control outcomes and other people.
- Small choices—like greeting strangers or picking up someone else’s rubbish—can shift you away from resentment and towards peace.
- Loving what is imperfect, whether it’s your country, your family or yourself, becomes a practical tool for long‑term sobriety.
“Can I allow this moment to be exactly as it is, even though I wish it were different?”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction? In this solo "It's Bizzy" instalment of Busy Living Sober, Elizabeth "Bizzy" Chance talks straight from the heart about acceptance, recovery and loving what isn’t perfect – including yourself, your family and your country.
Wearing her American flag shirt, Bizzy uses America’s 250th birthday as a backdrop to a bigger question: “Can I allow this moment to be exactly as it is, even though I wish it were different?” From there, she links national division, messy relationships and everyday irritations (yes, including uncollected dog poo on the beach) to core recovery principles like letting go, forgiveness and getting into action instead of stewing in resentment.
Drawing on nearly 20 years in a 12‑step programme, she talks about the third step, handing life over to God, and the hard truth that she “cannot change my past” or other people: “If I want something to change, I have to get into action. I have to change.” Her examples range from divorce and estrangement to simple acts of kindness like saying hello to strangers and choosing to pick up someone else’s rubbish rather than staying angry.
The tone is warm, chatty and honest, with plenty of Midwestern humour and patriotism mixed with spiritual reflection. People in recovery, those living with estrangement or grief, and anyone struggling to accept life as it is will recognise themselves in her questions: Can you love something you don’t like? Can you forgive what you can’t fix? Can you choose joy, even when things feel unfair?
By the end, you’re left with a gentle challenge: if nothing and no one is perfect, how might your sobriety – and your sanity – change if you focused less on fighting and more on loving what’s right in front of you?
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