Patience

Patience is defined as the ability to wait, or to continue doing something despite difficulties.  As a country, we are being asked to remain patient throughout this pandemic. Earlier this month, we talked about boredom and creativity - another skill we need when dealing with the stress and anxiety that we are currently experiencing is patience.  Many of us have the same questions - how much longer will we have to wait to go back to school, sports, family events, social events, vacations, etc.?  These questions are much harder than the typical “How much longer until dinner” or “Are we there yet” questions that we get as parents and we generally have the answers for. Truthfully, we don’t have the exact answers for these questions and this can result in feelings of impatience. Impatience has a range of symptoms. Physical signs can include shallow, fast breathing, muscle tension, and hand clenching. There may be changes in your mood and thoughts, too. You may become irritable, angry, or experience anxiety or nervousness.  Recognizing these signs and consciously acknowledging them will help to increase our patience. There are things that we can do prepare ourselves to be more patient. Have you noticed that when you are hungry, tired, or sick, your patience seems to wear thin? If we know there are things that we can do proactively to have some patience left at the end of the day, perhaps we can start to incorporate those into our daily routine.  Many of the mindfulness exercises that Mrs. Louick shares with us are helpful in building patience.Take deep, slow breaths, and count to 10. Progressive muscle relaxation strategies are also helpful in creating a calm state.  I will leave you with the phrase “don’t wish your life away” to reflect on over our break. We are used to waiting for the next weekend, waiting for our vacation, waiting for spring break, etc. and while we are wishing for things in the future, we are not always appreciative of the blessings that are in front of us.  We are all waiting and wondering right now how much longer our routines will be affected by this pandemic and looking forward to our lives going back to normal. While we are waiting, we can challenge ourselves to find the things in our present that we are grateful for and focus on them to create a calmer and more patient way of thinking.  

My Reflections:

2 Challenges

• It is hard to maintain a schedule and stay active when we are staring at screens all day.  My patience is decreased after sitting all day and looking at my computer. I then find it even harder to adapt to all of this technology and learn new ways of connecting with others.
• Each time we hear more news about what is happening with the pandemic, it is getting harder and harder to patiently go along with the changes to our lifestyles. 

2 Positives

• I have the flexibility to change my environment more now that I am working from home so that I can take breaks, sleep more, exercise, and create a schedule that allows me to experience more calm moments during stressful times.
• I am able to help my kids work through their impatience now that I am spending more time with them.  We are able to work on school work but also focus on some of these reflections that will help them grow emotionally too.

What can I do differently tomorrow to show patience?

• I am going to incorporate more breaks into my day and my family’s day – instead of just taking a walk at the end of the day, I will plan to find a time in the middle of the day to also get outside and move. 

Your Reflections:

2 Challenges

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2 Positives

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What can you do differently tomorrow to show patience?

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