Patience

“Patience is not the ability to wait, but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.”

I’m not a patient person—not remotely. As much as life has tried to teach me patience, I can be as stubborn as a mule on this one. I often joke that my three kids are God’s way of teaching me patience. While I’ve come a LONG way, patience still isn’t a natural state for me, but I’m making progress.

Maybe it’s age, maybe it’s wisdom, or maybe it’s finally learning what life has been trying to teach me, but over the past six months, I’ve noticed that I might actually be slightly more patient. My natural patience set point seems to have jumped a bit. How has this happened? I took some time to reflect and dissect to understand what’s going on.

Here’s what I found: I’m not sure that I’m truly more patient, but I have changed how I think about situations that usually test my patience. When I change my thinking, I change how I experience these situations. Instead of getting triggered by things that are out of my control—like people being late, traffic, or anything that disrupts my to-do list—I’ve worked on changing my attitude. I’ve been more intentional about noticing when I get triggered and checking myself on what I can actually control in the situation. I’ve started coaching myself to look for the silver lining, maintain a positive attitude, and choose patience over impatience. I remind myself that being impatient just makes me prickly without changing the situation.

These little changes over time are starting to add up, and the result—dare I say—is that I’ve become slightly more patient. How you think about things changes how you experience them. What’s one way you change your experience by changing your thinking? Drop a comment and let me know.

Changing your mindset can change your life. I’ve found that the more I focus on what I can control, the more patient I become. What about you? How have you used the power of your mind to improve your experiences? Share your thoughts and let’s inspire each other.