Patience is one of those character traits that benefits from the combined effort of multiple character traits. Patience benefits from endurance, discernment, diligence, flexibility, wisdom and more. The advancement of technology has given ours and younger generations an expectation of instant access to information and conveniences, with very little effort.  To wait for just about anything or be tolerant of an inconvenience these days can seemingly send normal people over the edge, as evidenced by viral videos found every day on Instagram, TikTok and other sites.

My husband and I recently returned from a vacation in Florida. We decided to drive this trip in order to stop and see family along the way. Most of the time, we both love driving to a destination because there can be much to see and experience along the way. Not this time, though. Patience was an ongoing theme for our drive as we navigated what seemed to be endless bumper-to-bumper traffic and delays due to construction and, thankfully, minor, accidents. Imagine Dallas type traffic for 1000 miles!  Fortunately, technology was a benefit on our journey.

We knew the information on the app was typically reliable, which made the wait a tiny bit more tolerable. However, even then, it could be maddening as we creeped along foot by foot, sometimes for miles, until the obstacle had been passed. We definitely lacked patience, despite the fact we could clearly see the beginning and end of the congestion on the screen, even if we could not see it through the windshield.

To combat the frustration of waiting for sometimes an hour or more we tried to make the conversation interesting, talking about where we would be stopping next or staying overnight, what we would want to do when we reached our destination, what restaurants might be good to visit or tours we may want to take…Anything to distract from the relentless crawl with the cars around us.

Then we became strategic in our approach. If there was a delay several miles ahead, we would determine if there was a way around the obstacle, then calculate the time and distance it would take to make a detour to avoid the traffic. Was it worth the additional miles or minutes, just to avoid the frustration of sitting endlessly before any forward momentum? Yes, the answer was always yes! For us, any progress was better than sitting and waiting.

These reactions are common of any situation that requires patience. You have an end point in mind, whether it is a project, a goal or literally a place you want to go. Impatience can cause you to wonder if it is worth the wait, the time, the effort, etc. Most often, it is, or we wouldn’t have embarked on the journey. Perseverance and perspective are a couple of strategies to help with patience.

Perseverance is persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success. If you know there are bound to be delays or unavoidable circumstances that will impact your forward progress, being persistent in the process will help you persevere and successfully make it through to the other side of the situation, project or destination.

Perspective has to do with your point of view and the way you perceive or have a particular attitude toward something.  If you understand that patience will be necessary to achieve the end result, that perspective or point of view can help carry you through to your goal. Patience and perseverance help you get where you are going, and perspective helps you understand it is all just a necessary part of the process.

Originally published in the Owasso Reporter March 2021