Sitting behind the wheel of a car, morning radio on, traffic not moving, well not moving much, people can walk faster than the car is moving, seriously was that a snail speeding past me? Oh how I cherish the day I decided to buy an automatic car with a CD player! Flashbacks of my little manual car, with the tape deck that I brought fresh out of high school (sigh), I was so sad to part with that car, (awesome memories of driving down the beach, tape blaring, friends smiling and singing loudly, a quick swim and check out some cute boys, then back to Uni), but sitting in the traffic, bunny hopping along on my way to my city job, I am glad I brought an automatic!
Yep that was my life another lifetime ago, tape decks, (my ten year old has never heard of a cassette tape), and even the days of CD’s are long gone, I remember buying another car with a CD stacker, that was cool, now it’s blue tooth and iPod connectors. I still have my CD’s, but nothing to play them on, they are literally gathering dust in my garage.
Anyway, getting sidetracked on memory lane . . . back to me in the car that was barely moving. That was my morning journey, morning after morning, like ground hog day, stuck in slow moving traffic, one of the ultimate tests in patience. Other tests in patience would be,
post office queues (seriously with online shopping those post offices are busy places, especially at Christmas)!
Waiting for public transport to arrive on time . . .
Waiting to be seen in the Emergency Department, yep unless your legs just been cut off, or blood is pouring out of your eyes, the wait is going to be a long one. (You may gather some dust).
Doctors offices are pretty awful too, I hate sitting there for an hour when I already feel like crap or I wouldn’t be there in the first place, then I am made to wait in a germ invested environment, not fun!
Supermarket lines an be pretty painful especially when the person in front of you has an item that won’t scan, (“I knew I should have picked that other line”). Oh, and the Deli queue!
Drive thru’s, (“what was I thinking? I should have gone in)!
Waiting to take off in an aeroplane, then waiting to get off when you finally reach your destination. Then add on the luggage carousel!
Oh I can’t forget waiting for your child to eat ALL his/her vegetables at dinner time!
And ladies I know you’ll feel me here, LADIES TOILETS, how long do we have to wait to powder our nose? I mean it is bad enough having to go to a public toilet and squat over the seat, let alone having to queue up for the experience of seeing peed on seats, or finding when you reach a cubicle there no damn toilet paper left!!!!! Or no soap in the dispenser, sometimes I walk out feeling violated, (I love hand sanitizer)!
There is so much in our lives that is sent our way to test our ability to be patient! Maybe these ‘little’ tests are sent our way to teach us an even bigger lesson in patience . . .? Life! Yep life, we need to be patient about waiting for the life we dream of to actually become our reality.
It takes hard work, grit and determination to get what we want in life, for most of us things aren’t normally handed to us without putting in some serious effort, but no matter how much we put in, pray for, or wish for it, sometimes things just don’t move fast enough for our liking. This is where patience comes in. I am not saying just sit around and do nothing and eventually if you are patient enough things will just fall into your lap. (Sorry to burst the bubble). What I am saying though, is that even though we are working hard toward something, a degree, a promotion, a baby, a partner, it doesn’t mean we will have it happen right when we think it should.
Patience is a hard thing at times, the reality of knowing that even though you have worked your butt off for your boss the fact that he/she gave someone else that promotion sucks! At times waiting for something can hurt really bad! Waiting to find the person to share your life with whilst everyone around you seems so happy and in love can be painful, or waiting to get over a break up, an injury or waiting for a positive pregnancy test can break your heart. Patience is not easy, but we have no choice but to deal with it, even if we want to kick it up the ****!
No matter how much we want something to happen, it is not going to happen quicker by growing impatient, tooting your horn, or sticking your middle finger up at another car isn’t going to move traffic, it’s not like you can part the traffic by swearing at someone, in reality all you achieve is causing your blood pressure to rise, therefore causing you a headache, and maybe causing others around you to get anxious that you are a mad person about to go ape**** at them. (On the bright side, I am sure that the company that manufactures paracetamol will be happy)!
Patience is a choice, it is the ability to understand that you can not control everything, it is knowing that at all we can do is set the wheels in motion to where we want to go or what we wish to achieve and then wait. As long as we are headed in the right direction we have to trust that what we are working towards can be achieved just not on our time frame, but on that of the universe. And maybe the results may not come about in the exact way we predicted.
Surrendering control is hard, trusting in the universe that can sometimes feel like is letting you down is hard too. But being patient is like giving yourself a gift, it makes you feel lighter and frees you up to see the life you are living right now as a gift. Rather than feeling like your life is on hold look around and notice the wonderful things in your life, the people, the animals, the beauty in the world around you.
Click to tweet “Being Patient is like giving yourself a gift, it will make you lighter and will set you free“
I used to sit in my car on the way to my city job and instead of getting mad I would sing at the top of my lungs to my favourite songs, and although now my life is driving down a dirt road to take my children to school, I am still singing my favourite tunes (only difference is my kids are now telling me to shush)! And if I am stuck in a queue at the checkout I just flick through a magazine I have no intention of buying, I must admit I still find the wait at the doctors annoying, (not so much the time, it’s the germs that annoy me), taking a good book helps distract me.
My advice work towards your goals, fight for what you want with a determined spirit, but be patient, take the time to notice the great things around you along the way. Be patient with life, with the people in your life, with the universe, but most of all with yourself! Remember we are not all perfect, I stumble and fall with my patience, sometimes I snap at someone because I am so tired, but I get back up, dust myself off and remember to breathe (and apologise). Try living for today, try living as you would if you had already reached your goal!
Share your thoughts below, are you a patient person?
Click to Tweet “For today try living your life like you are already living the future you’re working so hard towards!”
Thanks for joining me, love Mackenzie xx
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8 comments
It is very hard to hand over control, i have just employed someone to do parts of my job so i can go out and increase sales, but how do i let go, i have always been the man, how can i trust that this person will do what i want them to do and that they won’t upset my customers or steak money from my till.
Letting go is very hard.
When it’s your own business it is like your own ‘baby’, it means more to you than anyone else, so yes it would be hard to trust and let go! All you can do is trust yourself to handle whatever will happen, we can’t control anyone else, but we can have faith in ourselves to be able to deal with whatever trials might come our way. Let go a little at a time, trust your gut, and hopefully this new employee will turn out to be worthy of your trust. Good Luck, let us know how it works out!
Patience is not of my strongest virtues but I’ve definitely noticed how I’ve improved as I got older. Your post reminded me so much of what I wrote back in 2010. I think patience has a lot to do with faith as well. When I can trust that my turn will come, I tend to be more calm and accepting. Great, insightful post Mackenzie! (P.S. I think I have a higher tolerance for falling in line and waiting coming from a developing country. I can’t even begin to tell you how much waiting I’ve had to do in various long lines when I was living in the Philippines….restrooms, gov’t offices, enlisting for my college courses, retail stores, etc).
I agree patience does improve with age and with having faith. Thanks for taking the time to comment I am very grateful
I am not patient at all. I try to hide it, but it is hard. As for toilets, don’t go to France. In some places the toilets are still a hole in the ground. Men have it so easy, right? They can pee literally anywhere. As for waiting, now when it gets too much, I just leave. I can’t take it any longer…
Yes when it comes to toilets men have the advantage, although I still have no desire to be a man (haha)! Thanks for stopping by xx
Great advice!
thanks lovely xx
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