Dead stop traffic on I-5? Group project? Working retail? Crazy roommate? New relationship?
The idea of patience always seems simple and easy to accomplish until thrown into a situation that is less than desirable. When these situations arise, one needs to learn how to relax and take a breather in order to stop the frustration and achieve a peaceful mindset. To be technical, patience is defined on Dictionary.com as “an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay”. It is hard to know the exact ways to earn it, but teaching yourself to calm down and take a chill pill are important when trying to get through everyday problems.
- In order to learn the true value of patience, you must let loose and understand that everything that happens cannot be undone, so for your own sanity, just accept it and move on.
-
Once you are able to recognize the problem at hand, the correct way to handle the situation becomes more obvious. For example, rather than screaming and honking at a car that cut you off, just breathe and assume you were in their blind spot. Recognize that you have probably been guilty of the same act before. What’s done is done, and there is no way to change what happened. Having patience with others, as well as with situations, is a mature and advantageous way to handle relatively small rough patches in your day.
- After understanding why the situation happened, the next step is to calmly think of the correct way to react.
-
However, take into account that the other person, if there is one involved, has feelings too and deserves the same respect that you would want. This is where the mantra “treat others the way that you wanted to be treated” applies. If you react in a negative way, then the situation will only get worse, so stop to think about the consequences for your actions before acting upon your intuition. If you are just irritated with someone because they are not understanding what you are trying to tell them, remain calm and patient. This will continuously save unnecessary arguments that would not have occurred if patience was apart of the conversation.
- Keep a journal about situations that make you feel impatient, and when no longer frustrated, think of realistic solutions to the problem.
-
Over time, the amount of patience you have will grow and instead of immediately becoming frustrated, you will adopt a more rational reaction. Having an outside view of a situation can be helpful and allow one to think when in a clear state of mind. Being able to step away and assess a situation will make you feel better because you will soon realize that the situation was not as impactful as you at first thought.
- Remember, being impatient in certain situations is completely normal in certain situations.
-
For example when going to Disneyland and waiting in lines for what seems like eternity. It can happen on bad days where everything just piles up and you want to have a release but instead you become more flustered. That’s so beyond normal and every single person knows how days like that feel. Don’t feel bad if you are feeling a whirl wind of these emotions. Impatience is not a wrong sensation to be feeling but there are situations that is should not be bothering you as much and that’s exactly what you need to be paying attention to.
- As cliché as it may be, taking a deep breathe in stressful situations allows for a more calm attitude and is one of the most helpful and quickest ways to relax.
-
It gives you a moment to yourself to think and lower your stress levels. It soothes not only the body but also the mind, and it can be a quick fix when you don’t have time to write in your journal, which is understandable because everyone needs to remember that we are only college students. We’re setting ourselves up to be successful in the future. Who can blame us for stressing?
Although these tips might not work for everyone, it’s a great starting place if you feel like you are stuck in a rut of constant impatience. Just remember, inhale, and exhale.