Why Patience is NOT a Virtue!

Don's Golden Nuggets
4 min readJul 16, 2019

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πŸ™Œ ππ€π“πˆπ„ππ‚π„ πˆπ’ ππŽπ“ 𝐀 π•πˆπ‘π“π”π„! πŸ™Œ

One thing I continue to learn again and again: A LOT of us don’t have patience! 😲

We’d rather have the quick fix. We’d rather choose the fastest solution. We’d rather get things done sooner than later. πŸ’¨

And this is absolutely crucial when it comes to modern day technology. We do need to develop skills of efficiency! The problem is when we carry these same standards of efficiency into our interactions with other people. πŸ‘₯

I’ve been told by quite a few people I have a lot of patience. I’ll let someone talk for a long period of time. I’ll give someone extra time to work through a problem in their mind. I’ll let someone know through my presence their concerns matter to me. ❀️

But what surprises me the most is that this patience is not commonplace. We’ve heard the term β€œpatience is a virtue” right?! ✍️

So how do I have it so easily? It’s simple: I think if I were in the same position as them, I’d appreciate the same patience given toward me. ↔️

If you’re not patient with others, the odds are likely you are not patient with yourself. How you treat others is often a reflection on how you treat yourself. πŸ‘€

There are people working through far bigger problems in their lives than I’ve ever had to endure. And the biggest gift I can offer a person is my time and patience. It’s not to say I never experience impatience, but that it’s easy to remind myself why I give it. 🎁

There’s someone I love dearly in my family who currently suffers from dementia. And the #1 thing she’s said many times and with much gratefulness is: β€œThank you for being so patient with me.” πŸ—£οΈ

It tears me up to think how many people in the world feel insignificant and alone because others won’t give them the time and patience, even when they’re doing their very best to work through a problem. 😒

We wouldn’t give a baby a limited amount of time and patience to learn how to walk. We wouldn’t throw in the towel and say: β€œThis baby is hopeless! I got more important things to do!” 🀬

So why do we give this limited time to others?! βŒ›

One reason is because of the expectations we place upon other people. For a baby, we expect walking for them will be a learning process. We expect they will poop in their diapers. We expect they will need to be spoon fed. We expect they will need a lot of time and patience. 🐣

But as we see people get older, we in turn raise our expectations on how these people β€œshould” be. β™Ύ

πŸ“ β€œThey should already know how to do this!”

πŸ“ β€œThey should know better!”

πŸ“ β€œThey should be just like I am!”

There was a moment this weekend that tested my expectations. πŸ“†

I had the privilege to serve a dozen kids as they experienced their very first Unleash the Power Within event. They all came from different locations, backgrounds, and lifestyles. 🌎

This weekend I learned a very valuable lesson from each one of them. I learned I came into the group with far more expectations about where these kids β€œshould” be in their personal development! 😲

Some of them had already dipped their toes in the water. But others were stepping in for the first time. These ideas I have been around for years was brand new information to them! And unfortunately, I was expecting too much of what they β€œshould” know. πŸ˜”

But you cannot expect someone to learn Calculus when they’ve never learned Algebra. It has to be taken in steps. And as passionate as I am about personal development, I was challenged this weekend to remind myself how little I knew when I first attended the event. We all learn in different ways and at different paces. πŸ‘

All the kids were beautiful souls who I know will go far in their lives. There’s a part of me that woke up this Monday morning and remembered I’m not going to the venue to reconnect with them. A part of me will miss that. πŸ™Œ

But I told them before I left them all yesterday: β€œKeep these memories here close. They are with you now wherever you go.” ❀️

If we are to get along with each other, patience is not a virtue.

πŸ™Œ ππ€π“πˆπ„ππ‚π„ πˆπ’ ππŽπ“ 𝐀 π•πˆπ‘π“π”π„! πˆπ“β€™π’ 𝐀 ππ„π‚π„π’π’πˆπ“π˜! πŸ™Œ

Building this skill has become one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. πŸ‘

You’ll connect with people on a deeper level. You’ll see how much you have in common with them. You’ll remember how every one of us is a human being worthy of attention. 😊

🌟 Remember to meet people where they are at, not where you want them to be. 🌟

Because where there’s patience there’s also time for understanding. ❀️

β€” β€” β€” -

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