Often in life we want something, and we want it NOW!
Especially in these days of instant gratification, we’ve almost come to expect that we can have anything we want, whenever we want.
And when we can’t get what we want when we want – we become frustrated, despondent, or we simply give up entirely.
Well, I’d like to introduce an old, unpopular, but very useful concept: PATIENCE!
With patience, anything can be done. Water can erode rocks with patience. Mountains can be ground to dust. Cities can be built. Entire civilisations can rise up and disappear again!!
Okay, I’m taking my poetic licence a little too far now, but seriously, with patience you can achieve almost anything.
If you work away at something, even just an hour a day, did you realise that’s equivalent to NINE full time work weeks per year?
What do you think you could achieve in 9 full weeks of work? Or 18 weeks?
But being patient isn’t only required when trying to achieve something. Sometimes it’s necessary just to be patient and wait for something to happen. Or for something to go away. That pesky house guest. The cold weather. The builders next door.
And then it’s not about what you’re waiting for, but HOW you wait. Do you wait and get upset? Do you wait and complain? Do you stop waiting entirely and move north to warmer climes?
If there was one thing living in Latin America taught me, it was a a lot of PATIENCE! Nothing runs on time. Nobody arrives on time. Pretty much nothing happens as you expect it to happen.
And if you get upset every time that happens, pretty soon you’re going to spend your life getting upset.
So you learn how to wait. You learn how to enjoy waiting. You watch the people. You enjoy the sunshine. You always take music and a book with you. You take a little mental holiday or you plan what to do with your future. You have fun with it and stop getting so stressed about life.
Basically – you learn to live in the moment!
When it comes to learning a language, there are few things as important as patience! Learning a language takes years, and unless you stick with it you’re never going to get anywhere. But if you do – even just an hour a day – then before you know it you’ll have a whole new world opening up for you, and a whole new skill at your disposal.