but what do we consider worth being patient for? Ladder-climbing career opportunities? Endless, love at first sight kind of love? The nonfat, no foam, extra shot, 180 degree Starbucks in a cup?
When I am motivated by work for instance I know that nothing really stops me. I am an Aquarius and if the idea of my sign's characteristics holds any water, then I, the water bearer am not really capable of having the kind of patience required for things to get started...especially when I am the one that is charged with starting them. I am the rushing river, the high tide, even the trickling little brook when called to develop something, especially something that I am passionate about. And I believe I have a unique gift of seeing the big picture from all the little ebbs and flows that will require attention for the work to actually come to fruition. But I don't ever really stop moving...
...until this weekend when I was confronted with the title of this post in an email response. And I realized that I am not being paid yet to do the work that ultimately I will be tasked with once my contract is formalized. So I stopped physically doing any work.
Now I didn't stop making mental notes and that exercise got me thinking about past and forthcoming work I have and how if I had really sat on my laurels and been truly and virtuously patient, would past opportunities have fallen through and not led to others?
There certainly is a time for patience and taking time to simply enjoy the work or other spoils of life and I am learning more each day to parse and vett my work into appropriate amounts of time. But my experience has taught me, rather decently I think, what moments deserve patience and what moments must be seized; when the trickling brook is called for or the rushing river.
I have my concerns about the work I am patiently waiting to do because the expectation that I will magically make everything happen in record time will possibly follow and then leave me tired, frustrated and resenting the opportunity in the first place...IF I LET IT.
But if I simply respond when those unrealistic expectations manifest with 'patience is a true virtue', I will appreciate the work I am more than capable of doing; knowing me I will still get it done in record speed and surely I will learn more about the process and the respect I must have for myself, my abilities and my time, which is just as precious from a personal perspective as it is from a professional one.
And then like those that remind me that patience is a true virtue, I can calmly and patiently ask...
What's next???
Selena