What time I leave my house completely dictates the traffic patterns that I will encounter on my way to work. Work is 9.9 miles away and it can take me ten minutes or it can take me 45. I hate traffic..... now rarely do you EVER hear that people love traffic. BUT... having a stick shift car and usually being late makes me hate traffic even more than the next guy. Especially because of the stick shift car.
But... lately, I have tried to look at it as a bit of a test. A forced test of patience for me. I am stuck there and I choose how I can react to the traffic and the waste of time that it sucks out of my day... Getting angry isn't going to do any good. Getting frustrated is not going to make that car in front of me move faster. SOOOO I have been working on taking a deep breath and telling myself that it's the universe's way of making me slow down. It's forcing me to be patient.
Patience has never been a real strong quality of mine.
They say that good things come to those that wait. But this is in direct contradiction to go out and make things happen. LOL. I don't *sit* well nor do I wait well. So anytime that I'm forced to let things happen on their own time it's hard. I want to force it. I want to jump ahead. I honestly think that this is why I got married the first time... and probably even the second time too. :-/ I wanted to *be* ten years down the road... established and an adult (now THAT is overrated) that could have nice things and a family and a dog etc. But I had to realize that I had to go through each of the steps to get there. Now... I'm there, well partially... I have the house, the kids and the dog! And I don't feel 40, (thank goodness) and I still have steps to go through. God willing, I will always have new steps to go through to better myself.
I trust that with patience great things WILL happen. Patience forces you to stop and smell the roses. It makes you have faith in the universe and whatever God you talk to (if you talk to one). It can slow us long enough to weigh options, make right choices and let prayers be answered or even unanswered if it's the way it is supposed to be. It can make you appreciate small things, big things and no things at all.
But it's also frustrating and it's scary. I don't know about you... but I have been taught to control my own destiny. So being patient makes me vulnerable. It's kind of like learning to follow when dancing. I have always tried to anticipate other people's next move.. Daddy taught me that. And when you're dancing you can't anticipate AND be a follower. You have to trust that your partner is going to lead you and then just sit back and enjoy and FOLLOW.
So traffic taught me to be patient. Be patient with the process and just sit back and be led.
Are you patient? What do YOU do to work on your patience?
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