We live in a very fast-paced world. Everything is instant — our access to the Internet; our communication with friends, family and coworkers; even our coffee and meals. And the crazy thing is, this fast-paced world has made us expect everything to be right at our fingertips at all times. We expect the service we receive at restaurants to be as fast as possible. We expect the checkout lines at the grocery stores to move in a constant flow. We expect our teachers to grade our assignments the day we turn them in.

Everything is expected to be instant. We've forgotten how to wait our turn. We've forgotten how to enjoy the simplicity of life without being attached to our phones or rushing off to our next appointments. And we've essentially forgotten how to be patient — something we were taught as children. These days, we expect everything to come to us at our demand — what we want, when we want it, how we want it. And if anything happens otherwise, we lose our patience.

Don't get me wrong. Losing patience is human nature. We all have our bad days. But it seems as though today, every day is a bad day and patience no longer exists. When our parents ask us the same questions in one sitting, we become upset and we give them an attitude. When our waiters take "too long" to bring out our food or to refill our drinks, we become irritated and tip them poorly. When we get stuck in traffic, we come home in a bad mood that ruins everyone else's day too. If any one thing falls short of our expectations, it's as if our tempers skyrocket with no signs of slowing down.

I don't know about you, but I grew up learning that patience is a virtue. It's a desirable quality that we look for in others. I still believe in that statement. I think patience is a quality that everyone should strive to obtain. Instead of losing our tempers and becoming snippy at anyone who gets in our way, why can't we just take a breath, count to 10 and be appreciative of the time we've been given and the people we're lucky to spend this time with?

I'm not saying that we need to be calm, cool and collected all the time, but we can't live our lives getting frustrated at every wrong turn down the road. Realistically, no one ever wants to be around people who are angry all the time, people who seem to be fed up with everything in the world or people who can't simply take an extra couple of minutes out of their day to just be present.

Patience is a virtue. Our bad attitudes, our snarky remarks, our temper tantrums are not.