Tag: Patience

Are You in a Season of Waiting?

Some of you may be waiting for love, test results from your doctor, or even your dream job.

There are times in life when we feel like we are constantly waiting for something. For someone to pop into our lives, for something to happen. I am currently in a season of waiting. It is an uncomfortable feeling, but a few things have helped me along the way.

Waiting Patiently

Waiting for things that we want is very difficult. It is human nature to want something and to want it now. Patience truly is a virtue; it is hard to desire something and to have to be patient about it. We are hardwired to want instant gratification.

I am at a season in my life where I am waiting. Many things in my life right now are up in the air and as unsettled as that leaves me feeling, I know that it is a part of life. If we think about it, we are almost always waiting for something or someone.

Life Makes Us Wait

We may be waiting for the bus, our workday to be over, a green light at a traffic stop, we might be waiting for dinner, or our turn in line. Why don’t these types of situations cause anxiety while waiting? In these cases, we know that we will get what we want. There is no anxiety because we don’t have to guess whether or not our wants and needs will be met.

In other larger instances, we don’t know what the outcome will be. Unlike above, we know that the light will eventually turn green, we will eventually get off of work, and we will have dinner at some point. These larger situations in our lives can create a lot of turmoil and anxiety.

We start to wonder; will I find love? Will I get a job? Will my friend and I be able to work out a conflict? Our minds and imaginations go wild, and we start thinking of all possible scenarios. Will our test results come back with good news from the doctor? Am I going to have a future where I am financially secure?

What I Found Helpful

As I sit here and reflect on my season of waiting, here are some things that have helped me get through:

  1. Acknowledging that we will always want and desire something that we cannot have immediately. Even when we do finally obtain what we are looking for, there will always be something else that we will want in the future. Knowing that even when we get the one thing that we need or want now, it doesn’t mean that we will be free from desire in the future. As humans, we are always longing for something.

2. Being distracted is a huge help. Get involved in activities, and hobbies, and socialize when possible. Being with others and keeping your mind busy makes waiting feel a lot shorter than when we sit and dwell on something.

3. Practicing mindfulness can help as well. When we see what we do have in the present moment, it can help us feel fulfilled and grateful instead of focusing on what we lack.

Closing Remarks

Perhaps one of the biggest things that can help is also the simplest and that is holding onto hope. If we haven’t lost hope, we are in pretty good shape! Life can truly change at any moment and what are desiring may just be a day away.

Most of the time, we do eventually get what we desire out of life, even if it’s not exactly what we wanted or the way that we expected it to end up being. When we do finally get our heart’s desire, it will be the most amazing feeling in the world!

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My Life Lesson

I truly believe that we are all on this Earth to grow and learn specific lessons as we journey through life.

I am a big believer in the afterlife, and I feel that our journey in a physical body is a temporary one that goes through life experiences to grow the soul and prepare us for our permanent home.

The Saying Goes

It seems as though the saying that life’s situations keep repeating themselves until learned is true. I have noticed myself in similar situations time and time again and each time that I think I will handle it with grace and handle it better, it doesn’t happen.

Needless to say, the situation pops back into my life, willing to give me another try. I believe that once we master what the lesson is trying to teach us, it will go away, and we can then focus on other tasks to learn.

I almost view our life here on Earth like a school, where we are here to learn lessons that will power our souls once we reach Eternity.

Life Lesson

There are two life lessons that I can think of right off the bat that present themselves to me often. These are being truly authentic and having more patience.

Although I feel that being more authentic, vulnerable, and not being afraid to be me is a major lesson for me, I feel that having more patience is an even bigger lesson, so that is the one that I will focus on for this story.

Patience is a Virtue

I have had a lot happen to me in my life, a lot more than I ever expected to go through given that I am in my thirties. When I reflect on past events, it seems that a lot of the time my anxiety, worry, and stress revolved around not being patient with myself or with the world around me.

My anxious mind causes me to want to know things immediately so that they do not cause me more stress. The anxious me wants everything that I need or want to happen right now so that I don’t have to stress over when or if it will happen in the future.

I tend to have great patience with other people, but with anything regarding myself and my life, I need to work on being patient. I need to trust that things will work out for me. I need to trust that in time things that I need, or desire will come to me at the right time.

I also need to trust myself, so that I can learn to be more patient. I can try to work on the anxiety that drives me to have less patience with things outside of my control. Often, I will look at an important date on the calendar and I am eager for it to arrive, and then in a blink of an eye, it is here. Those days spent worrying flew by.

Worth Waiting For

Waiting is unfortunately a part of life, one that we may not be fond of, but one that we cannot control, nonetheless.

With many things, it is a hope that the things that we need and want will be worth the wait. Life is about learning and becoming the strongest person that we can be.

In the perfect world, we would have everything we want and need immediately, and although that brings instant gratification, it may also lessen the beauty of what we have and strive for. Our motivation may be out the window if everything was given immediately.

Here I Sit

It is up to me to be at peace with the unknown as hard as that is. The unknown is scary and causes great anxiety, however, there is a lot of hope and excitement in the unknown.

It takes great strength and trust to sit back and let life unfold the way it is meant to. This goes back to living every day as it comes and living it to the fullest because life can change at any moment.

I am slowly learning, but patience truly is a virtue.