Day 24,397: Waiting for Patience to Arrive
IF I ever get another dog, I may have to name her Patience. I’m not intending on getting another dog, and therein is my constant problem with patience — I don’t have any.
Patience is one of my words for 2020 – meaning it’s something I need to work on.
It’s a cruel joke since my character assessment shows that I run with the wolves, doing things quickly, intuitively, based on a sniff in the wind, and certainly without patience.
One would think that as one gets older “patience” might come easier. It doesn’t. It might be harder than ever before because you now know for sure that time flies.
Are we there yet? When do we arrive?
My problem with patience is that it doesn’t have a deadline. I can be patient if I know the plan. What’s the timeline? If I know the endpoint, I can plan accordingly.
Examples:
- College takes 4 years.
- Pregnancy is nine months.
- You can take out money from your 401(k) when you hit 55.
- You qualify for full social security at 65.
You can take money from social security and your 401(k) earlier, but there are penalties and you can calculate them. These things can be part of a plan within one’s control so although one must wait for them, patience doesn’t feel required. You just have to work the plan.
My real problem with patience is when I’m waiting for everyone else to get something done in their own sweet times. Do they even know what the timeline is? Could they share it so I could plan accordingly? No, it seems more times than not.
PATIENCE – “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble or suffering without getting angry or upset.”
No one tells you, however, how to have patience just for the sake of it. “Wait and see,” could be my mantra for the year.
New Age wisdom would suggest that I take time and meditate on the word “patience.” Are you kidding? I don’t have the patience for that! As much as I toy with learning meditation, and every really successful person I know swears by it, I can only continue to contemplate meditation rather than practice it.
Fessing Up
I lied earlier. I do contemplate getting another dog. I’m procrastinating because it takes a lot of effort. I know the dogs in the shelters don’t have much time to wait for my whim to manifest itself. I also know I can’t get just one dog anymore. I’d need two to keep each other company and socialized — also to even their odds with the cat.
And, then I’d have to think of a second name — Patience and…whom? Imp? Put their names together and that would be my true state of affairs? Ugh. I’ll have to meditate on that.
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The Crone Diary 