What's the Hurry?

 This week's quotation, by Austrian writer, Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach, is true, but so counter-cultural for us to hear. "Whoever says patience, says courage, perseverance, strength."

Because we live in a world of do it now, get it done, then on to the next thing. But sometimes (I would say, more often than not) it would be better if we could find the patience to take the time needed to do a good job. And also time to appreciate what we have just done. A breathing space.

In her wonderful book, The Gifts of Imperfection, Brene Brown writes about "the new cultural belief that everything should be fun, fast and easy [which] sets us up for hopelessness. When we experience somthing that is difficult and requires significant time and effort, we are quick to think, This is supposed to be easy; it's not worth the effort or This should be easier: it's only hard and slow because I'm not good at it. Hopeful self-talk sounds more like, This is tough, but I can do it."

Which requires patience, courage, perseverance and strength. Brown goes on to write, "We develop a hopeful mind-set when we understand that some worthy endeavours will be difficult and time-consuming and not enjoyable at all. Hope also requires us to understand that just because the process of reaching a goal happens to be fun, fast, and easy doesn't mean that it has less value than a difficult goal. If we want to cultivate hopefulness, we have to be willing to be flexible and demonstrate perseverance. Not every goal will look and feel the same. Tolerance for disappointment, determination and a belief in self are the heart of hope."

So when we're getting bogged down in and/or impatient about whatever we're working on, let's try to remember that we're here for the long haul. I find it helpful to ask myself: "Will this matter in a month? in a year? in five years?"

Which helps me to regain some perspective and to be sufficiently patient and persevere with whatever it is.