LifeSightsSound

Those lines got me giggling because, as God knows, I am lacking in the department of patience when it comes to my own behaviour. The impatience I have is such that sometimes I reprimand myself for it, like, “Charity, please be patient, please be patient.” I do not have data to convincingly attribute it to my fiercely independent self or growing up with parents that keep you on your toes or a trait I picked from my plenty siblings but trust me I am not a patient person.

I think my impatience also affected my work life negatively, I was impatient with deliverables from my direct reports, and I squeezed them to breaking points sometimes, something I am not particularly proud of but learnt from nonetheless. In marriage, don’t even get me started, that is a blog post for another day, but trust me, my impatience was a bane to my existence and affected me in so many ways that I cannot even put it down in words.

One day, seven years ago at work, I acknowledged my impatience was challenging and needed to work on it. I started to read about why I was acting the way I did, I found out it wasn’t the impatience that was the root cause but a fruit of the root cause, so I went digging. I learnt more about my personality trait, genetics and how the mind of that personality trait works, the pitfalls and the strengths, and then the big thing, A CHANGE DOES NOT HAPPEN OVERNIGHT… lol

I am proud to announce to you that….. drum roll pleaseeeeeeeeeeee…… I am, in fact, still on the journey (I got you, you thought I have gotten over it???); every day, I am learning the act of patience. The most significant learning for me right now is leaving Nigeria, Lagos, a culture I know, a people I am familiar with, and that know me, to a place where I am not known, a culture I am not used to, just normal from a distance, a people I don’t still understand their way of thinking and a system that is alien to me.

Since leaving Nigeria again for the UK, I have seen the journey to patience jump in leaps and bounds. I have had to calm my soul; still, I have bridled my tongue. I have had to be patient forcefully, not by my will or choice.

Have you seen a waiting list as long as 18 to 24 months????I have seen this in the last four months, and it is trying my patience… anyway, patience wBS and is truly a virtue, and I can tell you for free, it can be learned.