Virtues and dangers of patience
They say patience is a virtue! If so, then this is one virtue I'm totally lacking. It's like I always have something better to do, although most of the times I don't.
Earlier today I watched my lovely daughter taking her time arranging some flowers her grandma had just brought. Quite lovely flowers, actually! Still, waiting for her to be done was torture to me and even as I was watching her I realized being so annoyed was completely wrong- which got me thinking – what is patience? When is it justified and when does it become dangerous?
Maybe the lack of patience is a sign of our times – we live in a time when instant gratification is the norm. If we want something, we want it now! Even if it means getting a crappy fast-food meal, instead of waiting half an hour at a nice restaurant where they serve real food. Or buying clothes off the rack because who has time to wait? When I was a child, there was an old seamstress that came by our house – models were discussed and measurements taken, then there were fitting visits and alterations – getting a new outfit took forever! Nowadays, I wouldn't have that kind of patience. I guess the main reason is that the patience involved is of the passive type – it's just waiting.
But there are other types of patience, a bit more active!
Take for instance, Steemit – it takes a lot of patience to grow your blog and make friends in the community, but at least you get to actually do something. I know what is required of me and I can do this, even if it looks like it's taking forever! (Maybe I'm not such a bad person after all!)
That's the good kind of patience! The patience to work on something worthwhile.
It also depends on the goal. Working forever towards a mediocre goal is not always warranted.
The wrong kind of patience? Waiting for something to happen, without raising a finger! Like waiting for Prince Charming to show up on a white horse or waiting for a major publisher to show up with a million-dollar cheque for the manuscripts you keep hidden in your drawer! The not-gonna-happen kind of useless patience.
Or waiting for better times. It's not a virtue if you wait patiently for your country to be governed by better people. It's not good to stay in a bad relationship waiting for your partner to stop drinking or be more supportive. That's wishful thinking. It's not patience, but a passive attitude which takes you nowhere! Actually, in cases like these losing your patience is a good thing! Knowing when to say: Enough!
How about you? Are you patient?
Thanks for reading
Images: 1,2
lol well even I am guilty of wanting things done speedily, but I believe patience is still the biggest virtue humans should possess.
Steemit is the perfect example. I've been trying to grow organically which means make friends but that hasn't worked so well (maybe people don't want to be friends with me...lol). All the same I know it's just a matter of time
You need to keep trying, because you cannot make it on Steemit without friends. No matter what you write and how good you are, you cannot rely on that alone as there's simply too much content and few people manage to read more than their friends's posts. It's a pity, but we have to face facts.
I don't mind waiting...I once waited 9 days for a bus! It's when I'm presented with a fool that my patience is lacking. I'm aware of this and try to make extra effort these days :)
9 days for a bus???
Yeah...I found myself down at bottom of Morocco with £60 in my pocket. Had to get back to England. £56 would get me to Paris but I had to wait 9 days with £4. Was over 20yrs ago. I'll do one of my travel blogs about it sometime soon :)
Wow...fun story! You should write it!
Really i can't say am very patient but i try to be and I'm still working on it.
Being patient is quite difficult than it seems but trust me while being patient you can make out something reasonable than allowing the frustration to overshadow you and make you useless. That! i have learnt.
Impatient can only make an already stressful and unpleasant situation worse. Impatient can even lead to hypertension and high blood pressure.
So i urge us all to look into our impatient act and work on it.
Patience is not my strongest point either. Especially if your whole life philosophy is to make things the most efficient as possible. Yup, me too, I'm trying my best to cultivate myself to become a most patient person. Cheers!