A Lesson on Patience, or Rather Acceptance

A friend of mine unintentionally taught me a lesson on patience recently. Well, actually, the message they sent me was received months ago. But it wasn’t until last week that I just so happened to come across it again and was able to read it from a different perspective.

The words were quite simple actually, “…everything I am doing - or attempting to do - is not without purpose and I’m doing what I can to get to a point to make matters easier for me. It’s just taking time and I’ve accepted that and while some days are harder than others, I am still pushing through and making some progress.”

Pretty simple, right? But for me, it hit just a little extra.

Full transparency, I’ve been dealing with anxiety for about three years now. Maybe even longer actually. For me, it’s presented itself with this urgency to get things done…or feeling so overwhelmed with how much I have to do, that I do nothing. Add law school to the mix and I’ve had this constant feeling of rushing through life to get to the other side of all the madness (It’s included some irrational fears as well, but I’ll save that for another read).

It’s not a good feeling…this need to hurry all the time, and having negative thoughts and energy about everything. I’m sure it’s not healthy either. But something had me read that message again and my issue wasn’t really the anxiety, but my lack of patience due to my lack of acceptance. 

I was definitely not in an “acceptance” state of mind. I was complaining about everything. How long it’s taking, how tired I’ve been, all the things I have to do in the meantime. How much more time it’s gonna take. Whatever complaint you can think of, I probably said.

It was challenging for me to just accept that certain things take time. I mean there’s nothing I can do about that, right? Either I commit to the journey, which requires time to get through, or I quit. For a moment, I sat and pondered over that message, thinking about all the things before me, and my personal goals, and recognized how much I haven’t allowed myself to rest in the process. 

After having a heart to heart with the Most High, I sat still for a few minutes. I had to be honest with myself about how I was so focused on the end goal that I hadn’t appreciated all that I had accomplished. Acceptance.  I needed to accept that what I am working towards requires a set time to completion. And that’s okay. I don’t have to rush. I know how much time is necessary. I can literally see the light at the end of the tunnel. I also needed to celebrate myself for the small wins. I’ve made a lot of progress and that deserves recognition as well.

Patiently moving forward is a lot better than anxiously moving. I mean, it doesn’t use more or less time with anxiety. But it does waste energy. 

Accepting the reality of my life as it is, and the journey that I am currently on, I am patiently working through instead of anxiously working through. It’s a lot more peaceful this way. 

Blessings,

~Royalty