There’s a saying isn’t there – ‘Patience is a Virtue’. But what are virtues? And how can we live the word “patience”?

Definition of virtue

1a: conformity to a standard of right : MORALITY
b: a particular moral excellence
2: a beneficial quality or power of a thing

I write about virtues, the qualities that perhaps some of us have forgotten, but are no less part of who we are and what we live through at one time or another. A virtue is a power, and in an age where so much is happening and changing so quickly, perhaps we can understand the powers we have deep inside.

This month I’m focusing on patience.

There’s a saying in the English language: “Patience is a virtue”. Patience is all about waiting for something without getting angry. By being calm and collected, rather than frustrated and upset or anxious.

In our world of everything being at our fingertips whenever we want it, of having anything we want when we want it, of everything being on demand, it’s a wonder whether we can be patient.

It’s certainly a quality I’ve sort of been trying to live with in the past two to three months. I had a period of time where my anxieties over a number of things reached a peak, and as a result of that my neck and shoulder muscles ached and tensed up. These days the tension is easing, but it doesn’t mean that people don’t experience this problem, of muscles tensing up because of anxieties either in the home or at work.

With this in mind – that we do have stresses in our life, I implore the value of patience. It does get easier. Sometimes things happen, and we can’t do anything about it. All we can do is wait out the storm. Do what we can, and be patient. Keep calm and carry on. Because life is filled with experiences that we don’t imagine would happen, and time is certainly a healer. These sayings mean something, they’re sayings for a reason. Because it’s all true. Time heals, and patience while things are happening is very important. Things will always even out. Nothing lasts forever.

I’ve had a lot of experiences in my life where I was both patient, and perhaps wasn’t at the same time. I’m a fairly tolerant person, but I don’t have patience for everything. From jobs that weren’t going so well, to health situations that I had to wait out, there’s a lot that I’ve had to endure in terms of stress and health problems as a result. But isn’t that the case for all of us? Don’t we all have to learn the value – the virtue – of patience in our lives, be it with people or our own health, physically and mentally?

Maybe we’re all born with a certain amount of patience. Or maybe we learn it on the way. We certainly learn a lot as we grow, and I wonder if patience is one of those things. The whole nature vs. nurture vs. experience debate comes into question here I think. 

This whole year has been a lesson in patience. Are you patiently waiting out the storm of Covid-19? How are you living the word patience this month?