Have you ever done something out of impulse, only to regret the outcome and deal with the consequences?
Have you ever said and done something you haven’t given too much thought on, only to end up with more problems than solutions?
Do you get bored easily and feels like time is moving so slow, even though a minute hasn’t passed by yet?
If you answered yes to any of these questions, then I regret to tell you this but you might be suffering from…. *cue in drum roll*
Whew, I got impatient waiting on that word! Lol, jokes aside, let’s get back to impatience. Of course, everyone knows what this is, but for formality’s sake, here is a dictionary meaning of what impatience is.
Impatience, noun.
Lack of Patience. Eager desire for relief or change; restlessness. Intolerance of anything that thwarts, delays, or hinders.
Don’t worry, you’re not the only one. Most people, if not everyone by now, suffers from this. I, for one, is guilty of this, unfortunately. There are times when I would be so restless that I want everything that in a snap or I have questions that I want to be answered in a heartbeat (good thing there’s Google for this). When I’m this restless or impatient, I tend to come up with stupid *bleep* (censored since my nephew reads my blog *winks*) that causes even more problems down the road than actually solving my problem at that time.
Here’s a golden and perfect example of how impatient I can be:
Earlier today, I planned on getting a sandwich from a nearby coffee shop for lunch. However, I got hungry around 9:30 and I figured that I should just buy cup noodles from the food truck that comes to the office. The food truck came, and I got myself a cup noodle. I was so happy to prepare my noodles but when I was about to do so, I noticed that the expiration date on the bottom shows ****2001.
I almost cried out of frustration. There goes the money I bought for the cup noodles for nothing. I should have just waited until I can buy the sandwich, just as I planned to. Also, I don’t understand why the food truck was still selling a cup noodle from 2001! Talk about bad luck. 😦
Yes, I know. Cup noodles are not expensive. But right now, every penny counts for me (since I’m just a poor Admin, huhu…). Especially since there’s a major life event that I’m looking forward to soon! You can’t blame me if I want to save every penny.
I might have gotten an expired cup noodle, but come lunchtime, there was food in the kitchen. Apparently, those are leftovers from the meeting in the shop earlier. I got myself two pastries and I was all set. 😊
Anyway, back to being impatient.
“Impatience can cause wise people to do foolish things.”
– Anonymous
Yes, I am a very impatient person. In general.
I didn’t use to be like this before though. Back when I was a kid, I know I was very patient, and I don’t mind waiting. (Heck, I even waited 10 years for hubby to reciprocate my feelings before we got into a relationship!) That right there is a testament to how patient I can be. I can even stand in line at the local Burger King for a ham and cheese sandwich before and I don’t mind waiting back then. But then now? Now I don’t even have the patience to wait in line for 5 minutes for the same thing. I couldn’t even wait for my pages to load when I surf the net. You know, those little things that didn’t seem to bother us before now seem like a big deal all of a sudden. And I hate that feeling. I really do.
With the rapid advancement of technology, we have been exposed to instant results. When you search the web now, Google displays the result of how fast they were able to retrieve the date. Yes, that is a good thing. But it also has its downside. At least to me, that is. Now, why should you care about my opinion? You don’t have to. But I know it’s not just me that feels that way. Right?
Instant gratification.
Instant results.
It feels as if everything now is with a finger snap’s reach. We have been so busy all the time as we keep up with the world around us. I know, we’ll be left behind if we don’t keep up with everything around us. But is that really a bad thing? I know change is the only thing constant in this world and we must deal with it. But answer me this: when did you actually slowed down or stopped, even for a bit, to just look around you and the world that we live in now?
If you ask me, I don’t have a definitive answer to when. But I do try to slow down and stop from time to time, taking a step back to see everything around us at a different perspective. I have a high tolerance to stress, but sometimes my personality fluctuates and there are times that I’ll be so stressed in a heartbeat and that causes me to be impatient. I wish my problems can be solved in an instant and everything that I want to be in front of me now. But I know, it doesn’t work like that. Our problems will disappear if we do something about it. Whatever we want in life, we can get if we work for it (unless of course, you were born with a silver spoon on your mouth).
I always tell my nephews, who get bored waaaaaay too easily, that it’s okay to be bored once in a while. It’s okay to slow down and be bored. The way I look at it now, boredom is not the absence of productivity, but rather it is the time where we just stop and relax and think about random kinds of stuff. I believe that in these times of boredom, there are chances that our brain would just come up with things that we’ve never imagined.
Eh. That’s just me though.
Anyways. The point I’m trying to make is: we should stop being impatient and let the small stuff bother us. Impatience won’t solve anything and just like the quote I borrowed, impatience makes us do foolish things. Do not rush things and practice being patient. How do we do this? Well, I don’t really know the secret to be patient but I do believe that we can train ourselves to be patient. Next time you feel impatient, start doing these things:
- Acknowledge or figure out the reason why you’re feeling impatient or what causes you to feel that way.
- Once you’ve figured out the reason for your impatience, sit down. Chillax and think of happy thoughts. Imagine yourself overcoming that impatience and the frustration it brings.
How to practice or train ourselves to be patient?
- Schedule quiet time (doing nothing) or let yourself be bored for a set amount of time (start with 5 minutes, or 1 if you’re reaaaaallly impatient).
- Gradually do this every day, increasing the set amount of time each time and see if there are any changes with your patience level, lol.
I try to do all of these and thought I’m still impatient, I can proudly say that my patience level has somewhat changed for the better.
Try it out yourself and let me know how it goes! Let me know in the comments or you can send me a direct message if you want to share. 🙂
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