Feeling impatient? Here's what I've found that can help.
When I was in sixth grade my email address was impatientanna@yahoo.com. That was back in the day when signing up for an email address was the coolest thing you could do besides buying a pink razor cell phone.
I remember asking my mom, “What do you think my email address should be!?” The first thing that came to her mind was that I was impatient. Hence, impatientanna@yahoo.com was born. I kept that email address until I was a senior in high school, and I think it became a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As a teenager, I was often insatiable and restless, unable to wait for anyone or anything before lunging into my next activity.
In my senior year of high school, a week after I got my license, I got in a car accident while exiting the parking lot of our local Chilis. I was devastated, falling into my dad’s arms and crying until I couldn’t cry any longer. He held me tightly and patted the top of my head, “It’s okay, honey,” he told me calmly.
My dad possessed all of the qualities I wanted at that age: Patience. Composure. Level-headedness. And it wasn’t until a few months ago, that I truly understood how I could unlock these qualities in myself.
It was on my road trip from Boston to Chicago. About a quarter of the way through, I immediately regretted my decision to drive instead of fly. I was outwardly angry, conjuring up a mix of mean emotions. It was almost as if I thought that if I got angry enough, Chicago would only be 6 hours away instead of 14. As you can imagine, that didn’t quite work, so I had a ‘come-to-Jesus’ moment and accepted the distance.
After I made peace with my decision, accepted my circumstance, and practiced patience, I was able to enjoy the scenery and Chicago came to me in no time.
I often think about the little girl crying in her dad’s arms all those years ago. Impulsive, feisty, and determined. She reminds me of the people who come to me with a burning desire to share their story, build a personal brand, gain more followers, write a book, or make extraordinary content. I see the fire in their eyes. I see the passion. The problem is, like all of us, we want things to happen right now.
We get upset when our content doesn’t get enough likes. We get angry when it takes us two hours to write a blog post instead of one. We complain when a video takes more than thirty minutes to create. We want all of these things, but sometimes we lack the patience to wait for them.
Here’s what I’ve found: patience is a two-fold process. First, there’s acceptance. As soon as we accept that building a personal brand is lifelong work, we can remain calm and unwavering: even despite the fact that it feels like we’ve been waiting forever for our content to be recognized by others.
Brands aren’t built in a year, they’re built gradually, over time. Over the span of many years.
Making peace with the distance is what sets you free, and ultimately gives you the spaciousness to enjoy the creative process without being attached to outcome.
We can have it all. All of the things we want: great content, a beautiful website, the ability to get paid for who we are, and not just what we do... I think we’re meant to have the desires of our hearts, whatever those might be, so long as we’re willing to wait for them.
You are special. There is a reason you are here. You have something important to say, and others want to hear it ♥️ (...no matter how long it takes.)
