. . . in the distant, early morning . . .

Patience

This morning, @marcusneto remarked on Twitter to me,

you have the patience of a saint

in this status.  He was responding to my tweet that Milton’s food aggression is limited to a single bowl, and to all of my work with my dogs.

Just the other day I was chatting with Chris about patience, and that I have none.  That is usually how I feel.  For instance, if I want something - such as, say, a Kodak PlaySport (my recent gadget of interest), I don’t tend to wait.  I get in the car and I go buy it, or I order it on Amazon for next day shipping.  I also despise standing in lines and will go to a less busy restaurant.  Because I work at home, I’m allergic to traveling during rush-hour.  If I’m mid-conversation with a friend and they take more than 30 seconds to respond I start spamming them.  Those sorts of things.

I remember how this came up, I said I’d be an awful parent because I have no patience with children.  I think that’s how it came up.

Chris mentioned that I have endless patience with the dogs; and others have mentioned the same in response to my handling on the ExpressionEngine forums with some of the trickier threads, and frustrated users.  Others have noted that when I’m teaching I am very patient.

I have trouble embracing that view of myself.  I see myself as the, “I want it when I want it, and I want it NOW.” gal.  Not the, “find a few different approaches, and get it working” gal.  I try to look at Elka and see that I turned a hyper, insane, independent husky mix into a therapy dog and see that took patience.  I try to look at Milton and see that I can now put my hand in his bowl, pet him, and be near him without aggression while he’s eating and see that I have patience.

But I sure don’t feel that way most of the time.  Yes, I feel that way when I’m actively working with the animals.  On the forums, though, I sometimes feel like I’m being too abrupt or impatient, but others see, in those same threads, impossible levels of patience.

Of course I do have my moments, and some folks have mentioned that they can see it through certain habits that I have.  And no, I won’t expose that secret on this site but it’s true, and I definitely need to be more careful about those habits lest someone actually notice I’m doing it while they’re pissed off.

Patience is a virtue, and can be difficult.  Thanks to those of you that have pointed out that I’m not always impossibly demanding.  It’s nice to have a positive perspective on my personality that I did not yet have for myself.

-Lisa, on May 1, 2010 at 11:07 am

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