I Outgrew Rigidity and Impatience to Cope with Life’s Challenges
For anyone whose life plan has been ripped to shreds, again
I don’t think I was born with my fair share of patience or flexibility — or maybe it was the childhood trauma that shaped my hypervigilance, tenacity, and control issues. I only know that I used to have a very rigid way of thinking, and I was always impatient to achieve the next goal and the one after that. I couldn’t think without plotting 10 steps ahead of wherever I was as if that’s where I’d find peace and happiness.
But life has thoroughly kicked my ass in the last few years. I didn’t slowly develop patience and a more flexible mindset because of meditation and a daily gratitude practice. I developed them because life was harder when I utterly resisted change.
I’ve always been resourceful, but this year has required a unique sort of resourcefulness. I’ve had to adapt to survive, and the benefit of this is that I’m more creative now than I’ve ever been before. Believe me — I didn’t appreciate that side effect at the time, but it’s served me well. I learned to stop living somewhere far in the future where I achieved every goal I’d ever set or could set. I stopped charting courses that left no room for interesting detours — or a change in route altogether.
