One of the rarest character traits to have today is patience. Everyone is looking for things to happen yesterday. We want technology to be quicker and faster. We want our goals to be accomplished yesterday. Self-discipline and persistence are skills that you really have to look to find. It seems if a goal is going to take too much effort or too much time it is cast away and we pursue another avenue. I think you can see the obvious negative outcomes on our lives by adapting this manner of thinking.
One bit of collateral damage that occurs when we begin to think and operate in such a manner is that we apply the same logic to ourselves. It is perhaps a tired metaphor, but think of the butterfly and the stages it has to go through. Depending on what part of the butterfly’s life we walk in on, we will view it as a glorified worm, a hanging clump or a beautiful flying creature. I am not trying to speak ill of caterpillars. It is apparent, outside of Alice in Wonderland, there are not many people getting tattoos of caterpillars on their ankles.
It doesn’t help that people feel the need to only show us their butterfly stage. On social media the only time you see a ‘before’ picture is if there is an ‘after’ picture to go with it. It is natural to show yourself in the best light, but that is not always helpful to others who may feel they don’t measure up. Looking at pages and pages of people’s butterfly stage can make you feel like one ugly caterpillar.
In addition to taking time, people assume that life is a linear development. They forget we have peaks and valleys. In life you can be up one day and down the next. More to the point, you can be down one day and up the next. It is important to not view your entire life in just a section. Give yourself both time and opportunity. You might be in the caterpillar stage or you might just be in a valley. In working on developing our patience and discipline, it is important to start with ourselves.
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