LOSE PATIENCE AND YOU’LL LOSE PEOPLE
They say patience is a virtue. That one’s ability to wait for something without getting angry is a valuable quality in a person. I completely agree, in fact, I would take that a step further and say that to be a quality person you have to be patient.
I was most impatient in my younger rebellious years. I would act out without caring much about the consequences. I always thought that I could just deal with problems as they come. Being this way caused a lot of pain to myself and others. I destroyed a lot of relationships because I rarely thought about the consequences. What happened was I would lose my patience, act out, say things I’d regret later on and get into arguments. When this cycle kept happening people got fed up and I can’t blame them. You can try to make up but eventually you hit a breaking point with people. The damage is done and they no longer feel the same way about you.
Losing people was not a big deal because I always had this mentality growing up that I didn’t need anybody. Friendships and relationships were nice unless they got in the way of my career. Making money and becoming truly independent was my number one priority and the focus this required got me ahead. I wanted success now. I didn’t want to worry about anything and I thought money was the solution. I made money and I started living a comfortable life because I worked hard for it but I eventually hit a wall. I thought success would lead to happiness but in all reality I got more depressed than ever before. I had a hard time figuring out why but eventually I came to the conclusion that having people around you that make you feel loved is so much more valuable than anything money can buy.
Because of my experiences I now value my relationships more than ever. Now I feel like I can’t afford to be impatient because if I am, I’m going to lose the people I love the most. The challenge is that the same people I love are the people who test my patience the most. They know me better than anybody else. They know what makes me tick because they’ve seen me lose patience time and time again. The hardest things may not be learning how to be patient, but rather not expecting the ones you love to be patient in return. We assume that others show love the same way we do and if they don’t, we think it’s not there. Sometimes you need to change your perspective in order to realize what truly matters.
