Is anyone in the gophersphere a master of patience? If so, I
would love to read a phlog post from you on the subject.
Even though I'm loath to admit that patience is a problem
for me, I'm self-aware enough to know that it's something
that is causing me issues. I'll leave it at general issues,
and spare any readers a long aside.
When it comes to patience, mostly all I do is try to ignore
my feelings or distract myself. There is a particular thing
that I've been feeling impatient about for quite some time,
more than most things in my life, and I'm getting to a point
where the pain of the impatience isn't really dulled by
ignoring or distracting.
Part of the issue is that I have lived quite a spoiled and
intemperate life; not in any catastrophic or amoral way, but
in the sadly-too-common "first world" way. I'm accustomed to
getting what I need or want quite readily and without a lot
of grand effort or sacrifice. It's the true meaning of the
word "spoiled" I believe.
I don't hate myself for where I'm at, but I admit that I am
where I am and that I can see that it's not good. If you
read the bible then you know that God looked at the things
that he had created and said that they were good. I'm
looking at the things that either were created in me or that
I am responsible for creating in me (because I believe that
I'm a product of multiple influences and many variables) and
I feel like saying that some of it is just not good.
Impatience is not good, especially in a life that is so
generally and specifically blessed.
Recently, I was reminded of how "ordering" something was
when I was a child. There was no internet, and so we would
order things from a catalog or magazine. When you sent in
your order, you understood that it could take 6-8 weeks for
it to be processed and shipped to you. If you got the item
of your desires in 2-3 weeks, you considered yourself lucky.
Then came phone orders, and you could shave a few days off
your wait time. Early internet orders and eager companies
meant that really all you had to wait for was shipping time-
I seem to recall a week being pretty average in those days,
unless you wanted to fork over unholy sums of money to get
one or two day shipping.
Now, free shipping is practically ubiquitous, and free
two-day shipping is readily found. I've had instances where
I've caught myself feeling annoyed when my Amazon order was
delayed a day. Imagine, having to wait a whole extra day!
It's not fair! It's not right! I ordered two-day!!
I say that I "caught myself" because there really is no
excuse for feeling that way. Life isn't perfect, companies
aren't perfect, shipping isn't perfect, and there's no
real justification for being annoyed at such a minor
inconvenience. It smacks of ingratitude and self-importance.
Though my current issues with impatience have nothing to do
with shipping, they're similarly an issue of ingratitude I
think. But even if I can't define exactly or perfectly what
they are, the need for a solution or a change is the same.
Like I said, I'm getting to a point where my flimsy coping
mechanisms aren't holding up. What do I do next?
Perhaps the next step is the difficult process of
self-improvement, or actually dealing with the problem. I
think that's the point I'm trying to make, to myself and in
this phlog post. It's probably time to study what other
people have done to overcome the problem and choose a
course to follow as a first attempt.
