Age of Patience
They say, “patience is a virtue,” the skill to wait for something without any frustration. As the lesser-known heavenly virtues, and opposing ‘wrath’ from the seven sins, patience is righteous; but, how much patience is too much? Is the age-old saying “fortune favors the bold” somehow bad then?
Success, as we’ve tackled before, is subjective. Every person defines it differently as it is something personal to them. For now, let’s take my definition of success: ambition, goal-achieving, good-timing, resilience and passion. For me, success isn’t something that falls in my lap and I know it never will. Rather, it’s something I go out and obtain. And why shouldn’t I selfishly take what I want? Because life’s too short. Point blank.
Don’t worry, I’ll back up patience too because I do believe patience is not a bad thing. But something people don’t really realize with patience is that in order for you to get what you want, you need to be strategic about it. On one hand, person #1 is extremely patient and waits 2 years to get what they want because at that point the value of it decreased and was easily handed to them. But person #2 who has been strategically patient, understood the timing of their surroundings and got the exact same thing in 1 year. Why is that? In the end, both people got what they wanted, but the reason why person #2 is more successful is the fact that they know when their patience is getting taken advantage of. Person #2 was smart where they needed to wait, but bold enough to make moves towards their goals.
Being bold, however, goes hand-in-hand with being patient. It takes time to cultivate that best version inside you, and it’s always important to take it one step at a time. We, as 20-something year-olds, want to be on top of the world, and then we immediately get anxious or depressed when we aren’t able to accomplish something big in the span of a month. It takes a lot of brainpower, time, and little but meaningful steps to get to a place where we can truly take flight. Think of it as rock climbing: every step is calculated, and through strategy and strength, we are able to get to the top. There’s patience involved where we take those deep breaths and let gravity guide us, but our own boldness, willpower, and determination is what gets us to where we want to be.
Days when you feel like you didn’t accomplish anything, reflect back, and pinpoint one thing that was positive. What if you tried doing that one thing twice a week, three times a week? Everyday? Sometimes we give people too much credit when our own opinion of ourselves matters the most. Make your 20s about you. Be selfless, but selfish with yourself when it comes to growing and being better. Make risky choices and big decisions and post corny quotes if it’s what you believe in. Figure yourself out because once you find that little piece that makes you excited, nothing will stop you from being successful. Success comes when we believe in ourselves and take what we deserve. Don’t let time decrease your value or worth. Keep pushing and striving towards bigger and better and let your boldness be a virtue.
As 20-somethings we still have a lot to look out for, but it’s also the best time to try literally everything you set your mind to. Be an artist if it’s been on your mind for more than 5 seconds, and if you think painting isn’t your jam, try to sell it and become an entrepreneur! Read a book, write a book, sing a song. There are so many things we can try and fail at and then do it all over. By doing this time and time again, our 30-somethings are when it’s time to flourish in one expertise (or not, but that’s a conversation for another time 😉).
For now, run with the wind and make mistakes. Patience is a virtue, but boldness is its strength.
