Learning how to be patient is an investment in your life, and will pay-off in dividends for the remainder of your long life. 100%.
How do I know? Because I learned in my life…
I lost a decade of my life. At 35, the height of my career, and what used to be defined as middle age, I had to pivot (like many are doing now).
I had a personal crisis where I had to suddenly move back to the area I grew up. You see, the year prior moving back to my roots wasn’t even a thought I had for the future.
Leaving a job and fulfilling life, one big change was I went from living in a large home on a picturesque lake to a tiny room facing a parking lot.
I thought with my emergency life call, I was going to take action right away.
As months and years went by in waiting for the real reason I moved, I realized I was called to hurry up and wait that lasted another decade. That’s a long time, my friends. It also flies by faster as you grow older.
In the middle of that decade, I landed into a mid-life sabbatical, that led me out into a better place.
And in that waiting period, I became patient in a typically impatient metro city area.
Patience is not usually something you would impose on yourself, as no one likes to wait. Waiting is a dread to most, and especially in a busier city environment where people can run circles around you trying to avoid any long waits.
There is a silver lining to developing patience as it helps you grow for your own happiness sake.
Waiting is the best way to learn and internalize patience. Unlike a complaining child or loud employee that you’re quieting or disciplining to test your patience, waiting in life is a subtle way for effective, inner character personal growth.
You learn to adapt in your situations and mature in contentment.
Here are 8 ways of how growing in patience can help you.
1.You become less impatient. When you have to stand in line, wait for people, and wait in life, being patient helps you keep your cool. You’re the person who breathes calmly and has an attractive aura that people gravitate towards whether you’re a supermarket clerk or the corporate executive.
We can feel other people’s energy in the same room. When people are impatient, their breaths are hot and heavy, and their voice is less important. They allow the wrong thoughts to replay in their minds. A patient person is open to new ideas.
2.You become ready. After long waiting seasons and years, you’ve developed the skills, maturity, and character needed for your opportunities. Without time, you wouldn’t have been able to fully carry out in the way needed.
We’ve all been in places where we knew we were not ready yet, ill-equipped, or lacked the experience.
We then had to stretch and try harder, and that helped us grow, but at our expense. If we had come on the scene feeling confident and ready to tackle what was ahead, then we could achieve more without scrambling and scraping by.
3.You become grateful. As you become more patient, you gain gratitude for simpler joys along the wait journey. You expect less and that helps you become content, wanting less. You develop refined qualities to become a more resilient and resourceful person.
4.You develop discipline. This helps you execute good habits, that are the foundation to good success results. You work harder to get to the finish line that requires dedication and commitment.
5.You become compassionate. You are reminded that you and others can be hurting. When you’re busy and in your own set of circumstances, it’s easy to forget about other needs in the world.
6.You become less prideful. You can stop to consider others. There’s nothing more attractive to the world than your showing up with humility. Long waiting will help strip you of the deepest core layer of pride that helps to keep your ego in-check.
You’ll know where your deepest pride is when you see a begging poor or homeless person on the road and honestly consider what are your thoughts? …do you think about this person at all (as a person)? Do you feel pity or negative feelings towards the person?
This can be an indicator of how far you’ve come and what else you need to develop compassion and humility.
7.Patience makes life easier. For the late bloomer in life, they get to build up anticipation to what they’ve been dreaming and aspiring to for their life success. If the same person experiences early success, then they set themselves up to expect better as life goes on. If that doesn’t happen as nothing is guaranteed, then there can be disappointment.
8.If you can actively wait, you can strengthen your leadership qualities. No one wants to hear they have rough edges, but we all do or start off that way in our careers. We wouldn’t necessarily agree to changing these areas ourselves. While waiting is not an easy road at first, coming out on the other side makes us more promotable, and attractive to the world around us.
When you’re patient, you no longer complain and get upset that your food took 20 minutes longer to make or was missing a topping. You’re appreciative for the life you have and the good food you’re able to choose and order.
You kindly move on and you may let their company management know so they can improve their customer service. You can then have a better day and life.
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Previously published medium
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Photo credit: by Cody Black on Unsplash