Odds are you’ve been exposed to the idea that people should be patient and not impatient. However, patience isn’t always a good thing. Yes, strangely enough, being patient actually has its downsides. If you don’t believe this just keep reading so you can at least see why. I too didn’t believe this until I got exposed to a totally different perspective about patience.
It all boils down to situations.
When Is Patience Good?
The saying “patience is a virtue” is popular for a reason. Patience displays good manners and builds solid character. Patience is good when it involves good traits, such as kindness and discipline. For example, being patient is good if it establishes a sense of kindness where you forgo satisfying your own needs to help with someone else’s needs first. Situations such as helping an elderly or disabled person cross the street even though you need to be somewhere, or letting someone get in line before you. This form of patience establishes a selfless and caring way of life and brings out the good in humanity again, which are a couple of many reasons why it is encouraged for schools to teach kids to learn to be patient.
Likewise, patience can also be good when it demonstrates discipline. Having the discipline to be able to wait to do something that you want to do, while not letting the situation affect you is a very good thing. It resembles a strong sign of good character and maturity. For instance, when someone is rushing to get somewhere but gets stuck at a stoplight that they can’t control, it’s good to be patient so the situation doesn’t affect them and make matters worse. Or if a certain desired result was expected to come but hasn’t come, that’s when the character of patience would step in to neutralize the situation. There are some things in life that get in the way of a destination that people just can’t control. In these situations, it is necessary to be patient so the situation will at least not affect you emotionally.
When Does Patience Turn Bad?
It can be easy to think that patience is nothing but good because the popular perception of, “patience is a virtue“, makes patience seem that it can’t be a bad thing. The problem, however, is that patience can be bad. Patience becomes bad during situations where there are tasks you know you should be doing, but you choose to wait to do it instead. In other words, when you procrastinate. Yes, procrastinating is patience in its bad form.
Procrastinating isn’t good because it prevents you from getting things done that need to be completed. Not only that, it trains a person to be ok with laziness. Procrastination can be very enticing for a lot of people, especially when it involves being able to escape doing things that aren’t fun, are boring, or are hard. However, it is necessary to forgo being patient and take action instead when things need to get done. In situations where patience is procrastination, be impatient instead. Don’t wait to complete necessary tasks you know you need to do.
Conclusion
Patience is a virtue up until a certain point. It’s important to be aware that when patience involves good manners, good character, and maturity, it’s a good thing. And when it involves bad character like laziness, that that is when it turns bad. Think about situations where patience would benefit your life, and when it wouldn’t. How would these actions effect your life? Would you be happy if you were patient in situations that you usually get mad or frustrated at because you wanted something so bad? What kind of value would that bring to your wellbeing? And is procrastination one of those things that can control you? If so, would you be more satisfied with life if you were to decide to value being impatient in those situations and chose to get tasks done instead?
If there are certain situations where you struggle to implement patience in its rightful form, always think about the value that doing it right would bring to your life. When you think about the overall value, it becomes easier to make a decision that would have have lasting positive effects on yourself. So when you establish patience in its rightful place, it is a beautiful thing. But make sure it doesn’t lead you astray. Make sure you also value when to be impatient too.
For a more in depth advice on how to improve patience visit my blog post here.
For a more in depth advice on how to stop procrastinating visit my blog post here.