This weekend I'm watching my sons play a baseball tournament. And honestly, I've been crying a lot. I know. I'm just all the emotions sometimes.
Watching my 14 year old so very casually pitch a no hitter and ooze coolness with his 8th grade (6ft tall!!) buddies opened the flood gates last night.
Then my 10 year old finished his game and committed to watching 2 hours of a live streamed dance competition to see his girlfriend dance to The Lion King. Seriously...... heart wrenching.
This brings me to my thoughts on patience. I'm am not as patient as I'd like to be. I want everything now.
But parenting has been a forced exercise in patience. We put years into the work not really knowing what the result will be until.....your son watches what he finds to be ridiculously boring because he promised his sweetheart that he would.
Seeing how the kids have grown up into fine young men is a testament to patience. You can't rush their ability to be thoughtful, conscientious, hardworking, friendly etc. All the things we put the in the work for just show up one day, decades later.
Talk about a long burn.
This revelation got me thinking about how I approach other things in my life. Weight loss...30 days or bust. Sales......hurry up and close them. Daily tasks....get it done as fast as possible.
A hurry up lifestyle is stressful.
For years my acid test for 'am I overcommitted and hurrying unnecessarily' was recognizing when I was literally running through parking lots to get to the next thing. Sprinting. Out of breath. Looking absolutely crazy.
I can usually catch myself and embark on correcting my priorities. But I creep there often.
All this to say, that when I have been forced to be patient, the rewards have been the greatest.
What are you rushing through? Do you know why you are driven to rush? Like really why????
I'd love to talk about what got you here and what it could feel like to practice patience.
In Happiness & Health,
E
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