You do not wake up and become the butterfly. Growth is a process.
— Rupi Kaur
Impatience. This is one of the traits of the modern man —our desire to get what we want right on the spot, without delay. This quote by one of my favourite poets is remarkable and strikes home. We easily forget that life is a process —a state of gradual and continuous growth from one level to the next.
Impatience and time can never be good friends. These days we are constantly barraged with things like fast food, fast internet, fast technology, fast cars etc. We have become so used to having everything on the spot, thanks to advanced technology, that we become irritated, angry or raged when things become slow and we are unable to get what we want on the spot.
Our desire for fast things have affected our mental state such that we don't appreciate people going through the process that we may have passed through. Any serious growth or change takes time. The process could be slow, sometimes discouraging as though no progress is being made. But in reality, there is ongoing progress.
A person who achieves a goal successfully can forget the process he went through thereby staring down at or negatively criticising or shaming another person who is slowly going through the process. He is quick to forget that he had gone through the same process. That is a lack of empathy.
Empathy is one of the most disregarded of human virtues but a critical one. It connects us with our humanity, making us appreciate what the next person is going through. An empathic person would not lack patience. He would understand that life takes time before it happens. He would not expect the next person to become a perfect being on the spot because such takes time. It takes changing from one level to another.
If we are not careful, our desire for fast things and impatience may erode any empathy we may have because we would find it difficult to understand why things just don't work out automatically or for a person to attain a certain height within a given time frame.
When faced with a change, take it calmly and plan how to navigate it. Ask for help if you need it. Keep in mind all the steps you took to adjust to the change and above all, empathize with others going through something similar. Do not be judgemental or criticise harshly because you are no more in that stage.
Always remember that no one has the repository of knowledge…we are all learning at some point and life is a process.
Thank you for visiting my blog and happy Sunday!