For as long as I can remember, I have never been good at waiting. I like to do things immediately and throw myself into them wholeheartedly. When things go wrong, I get frustrated because I lack the patience to wait them out and figure out a solution.
My parents have always repeatedly told me, “Lauren, patience is a virtue. You need to wait.”
I always have the same response: “Well, patience is a virtue I don’t have.”
This usually receives an eye roll and then the conversation is over. I knew eventually this would catch up with me. Eventually, I would have to learn that patience is something I have to develop. It seems like that season of my life is now.
Learning to wait forces us to notice other things about life. We become appreciative of things that once were small and invaluable. We become appreciative of things we once took for granted.
Learning to wait forces us to reorganize priorities. We realize what is truly important, and what we want to make time for.
I have realized that all things take time, but time always moves. It seems like such a simple concept, but I think we often overlook it.
A 75 minute class may feel like an eternity, but it’s not. The time is always moving, we just have to have the patience to get through it. On the opposite side, two hours hanging out with friends may be gone in the blink of an eye.
I believe part of patience is learning to value these moments. These moments are ones that we cannot get back, and we might as well use them to our fullest advantage.
In the moments where I just want time to pass in order to get to the next circumstance, I am realizing that these are moments that I am wasting. Each moment is in our lives for some reason or another. They are all there to teach us something, prepare us for another lesson in life down the road.
In situations that require every ounce (or lack there of) of patience that we have, it is important to use a “glass half full” mentality. I am the first to admit that I am often horrible at this. I tend to focus on the negatives and then have wasted an opportunity of growth.
Unfortunately for people like myself, I hate to admit that good things take time. They take time, and they take a lot of patience. Great people don’t become great overnight. They became great through years and years of growth, change, and patience.
Sadly, studying one night extra hard for an upcoming bio test is not going to make a world of difference. But, the patience to study multiple nights and taking the time to do it right will pay off. This is easier said than done, and is something I am trying to implement in my own life.
Learning to be patient is a process, and ironically, a process I believe requires a whole lot of patience. Patience, you are the missing virtue for now, but hopefully not for long.