Drat, This Whole Patience Thing Is a Pain!

To begin, I am NOT a patient person. In fact, much of my life has been pushing against sitting still and taking my time vs. moving forward as quickly as possible.

I hate to admit it, but there have been plenty of times when looking back with 20-20 vision in hindsight that being a bit more patient would have benefited me, others, and the eventual outcome would have actually been better than the one I pushed through.

So, now that I have that well-earned insight, why do I still get frustrated with situations I find myself in that test my patience or lack thereof?

This past week I injured my foot. It’s a struggle to walk around the house, much less walk the dog and do other things I enjoy without pain. It reminds me of a time when I had surgery and was confined to a chair for 3 months to recuperate. Not that I didn’t regularly test my ability to do more, but pretty much every time I ended back in the chair after a few steps.

Today it’s my foot that’s limiting me. If I look at everything currently going on today, I’m overwhelmed with all I need to do, be at, talk to, etc. If I take a step back and look at everything and wonder if I actually need to do each and every item, I can confidently say, the answer is, ’No, I don’t.’

The gift of having to sit still is to let go and realize you don’t need to do everything you ’think’ you need to do. It’s a chance to say ’no’ to those things that you feel like you have to do because of some obligation, should do, or even have to do.

When I look back to the time I was confined to the chair for 90 days, I was able to reset my life in ways I would never be able to do without the forced time in the chair. Today it’s the same thing. My foot will get better when I take the time I need to sit more than walk, ice it down and take the needed pause.

The next time you’re forced to take time out, see if it is the rest you need to look at things differently.