Patience
Have You Got What It Takes?
Once, my husband interviewed for a job, and a lot of people showed up. He and 27 others. I don’t remember the exact number, but there were a lot of people. So, the interview process began. People were eliminated for one reason or another until, finally, there was my husband and another guy. They would be interviewed separately and told the company would be in touch with them. Each time, both were called and asked to return for another interview. This went on week after week.
I remember we started thinking something strange was happening, but Dennis did not lose his temper and continued presenting himself for all the subsequent interviews. Finally, the other guy threw up his hands and said, “I give up. This is ridiculous.” He left, and Dennis got the job. Sometime after my husband had been working at the new company, he asked why the interviewing process took so long. He was told it was deliberately done. They wanted to see who had the most patience.
Here is another example of having patience: my writing at Medium. There are a lot of us in the same boat. We do not have a huge following. We also don’t make a lot of money at Medium. But still, we persevere and continue to write and publish. We read other member’s articles and notice how they stay on topic. We act professionally even when writing is not the job that puts bread on the table.
I inadvertently realized I had learned patience once when I was standing in line at the grocery store. There was somebody up ahead who was not only buying a lot of groceries but also had an issue with something. It was holding up the line, and the people around me, even in other lines, had begun to mutter. I also knew how the cashier felt, having been at the receiving end many times of somebody who went off half-cocked and took their anger out on the nearest person.
What I noticed was I really didn’t care what was going on. I felt for the cashier and the other people in line who were, in turn, becoming anxious, but I was calm. My blood pressure was the same. I waited patiently. It was, perhaps, the first time in my life that I felt patient. At least, there was a noticeable difference between what I was feeling and how the others around me were reacting.
I remember apologizing to the cashier for that irate customer’s bad behavior once it came my time to pay. She seemed to appreciate it. The last time it happened to my husband was when he was in line and witnessed the same sort of thing happening. When it was finally his turn to pay, he yelled in a loud voice to all the cashiers, “You’re all fired!” The place erupted in laughter and applause.
My cats have always exhibited great patience. They will wait the longest time for one of their toys to move. I can tell they are getting ready to pounce with their butts wiggle while the rest of them is still.
When I am short on patience, I have found that I become dangerous. I might stumble or drop things. Sometimes, those things break, which puts me in overload. I have to force myself to take a deep breath and to center myself. Whatever wasn’t working can be fixed. I have to remind myself at times.
Interestingly, the last time that happened to me, I stopped myself in time and asked myself, “What’s wrong?” I had just had a successful month writing during the NaNoWriMo in November. Everything was right in the world, and I was throwing a temper tantrum. I realized the next thing on my to-do list was distasteful, and I was not looking forward to doing it. I have a year’s worth of household finances to prepare for our tax lady. As soon as I realized what was making me angry, I was able to grab hold of my better mood again. So, patience was regained.
Once you learn something, there is, I suppose, a lot of backsliding that happens. Maybe it is like meditating. As the years pass, I get better at it, but I still experience that intrusion of thought. Patience is necessary to return to a meditative state, just like you are guiding a three-year-old child back onto the sidewalk and out of somebody’s garden.
Play in the flowers. It’s fun.
Thanks for reading.