Hey there, let’s talk about patience!
Let’s talk about how we can make our rough and trying moments – where we want something so bad, rush to get it, and become disappointed in the outcome – better by increasing one area of our lives. Society demands we receive everything instantly and when that doesn’t happen, we become upset, angry, and/or frustrated.
Patience is that one area where we can always practice and improve on. This has been a HUGE theme for me throughout the past year. I’ve been been tested in the areas of employment searches, friends, relationships + dating, and my own self-abilities + skills. The constant rejection, not receiving the results I wanted, and daily life revelations and own experiences and hearing other positive stories helped me come to grips with needing to improve and increase my patience.
Patience is defined as the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset. To actually practice patience, it’s about learning our personality, traits, habits, and/or lifestyle + environment; these are important factors to understand and how it can truly work.
So what does my patience look like? My patience is more calm and understanding of the situations I am going through. I am no longer distraught, upset, frustrated, or feel pity for myself over what isn’t happening now because everything else is falling into place on God’s timing and not my own. I am mindful of my words and actions and I make sure I have the same upbeat and moxie attitude possible in all situations and people. What I’ve prayed and worked for, months and years in advanced, are coming into fruition now and I cannot complain.
These four reasons have helped me improve and practice my patience more because it:
- Helps for reflection and understanding.
We always, ALWAYS need to take time (either daily, weekly, monthly, or all of the above) to reflect on our actions and what we’ve actively and passively allowed in our lives. This is the time and moments where we grow – learning more about ourselves will help increase our patience. It allows us to stay sane, understand what is and isn’t in our control, and to always have an open mind.
- Allows time to progress.
Time helps patience come into effect as well. Patience has and will never happen overnight. It’s about actively waiting while working. Another factor that helps with the time factor is faith, which is complete trust or confidence in someone or something. Both go hand in hand because our faith fuels our ability and productivity to work.
- Releases certain situations to be removed or improved in life.
In my experience, patience has helped me see things and situations with much clarity. Certain situations can determine for us who and what needs to be allowed in our lives.
For example, I never enjoyed, or even liked, speaking in a public setting. I dreaded school presentations and anything in front of five or more people. But going into public relations and marketing, I knew I needed to improve on this skill. I took initiative and became a campus tour guide, joined student organizations and filled leadership positions where I knew I would need to talk, such as a panelist and public relations team leader. This helped me out tremendously and patience played a part in that.
- Builds tolerance and excellence.
According to Entrepreneur.com, patience increases our threshold of tolerance, which builds resilience, and develops excellence. Author Sherrie Campbell stated patience “gives us the foresight to expect obstacles on our path and to deal with them diplomatically. When we expect challenges, we respond with more courage, strength and optimism. We understand that emotional discomfort is a part of any obstacle and accept that life’s curveballs are a natural part of the business cycle; therefore, we don’t add any additional suffering, bitterness or revenge to the mix. Instead, we roll up our sleeves and do the work we need to do.”
Campbell also states, “We fulfill our potential with patience. Through patience we are able to offer our distinctive mark of excellence to the world. Success always begins with patience and the commitment to put in the due diligence necessary for excellence. Patience takes time and conscious effort to master, but impatience can lead to our demise.”
In addition to those reasons, I asked a group of unashamed women what comes to mind about patience, they said:
- “Prayer. Meditation. Feeling grounded. How you will be tried constantly but your loyalty should be with your heart and soul.” – Ta’lor Pinkston
- “Having composure, continuing to endure, and showing humility.” – Madisen English
- “Distinguishing between waiting and patience – understanding that patience still require actively working.” – Tameka Christmas
- “Quiet time, going with your gut, and trusting your heart. Prayer trusting God’s process and his timing and knowing that things will come to you and for you when the time is right….. All while working towards your goals and aspirations. Patience is not sitting doing nothing.” – Sunnie Rae
- “Patience comes with a certain energy, and a lot of respect.” – Sharda Ferrell
- “From the view of someone who suffers from anxiety, my level of patience is in between slim and thick. I can be very solid when I’m patient at times. This also helps how I react and respond! When I become very vulnerable and unsteady I become very very very antsy! This is nothing that was instilled into me, I just recently learned to have patience because when I changed my career to childcare. Imagine the type patience you need for 13 different personalities, this in return helped me outside my work and into my personal life. Very much a learning experience!” – Sabrina Persaud
So what does your patience look like? Use this post to encourage you forward and reflect on how you react in situations. Leave your thoughts and comments below.
xo, Jailyn
