Patience

"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble." - Titus Plautus

My first instinct when I'm confronted with stressful and troublesome situations usually isn't patience. In fact, most people I know don't exude patience when confronted with life's challenging circumstances. We tend to be reactionary instead of clam and collected.

Patience is an undervalued virtue. We often deride those who are genuinely patient as weak and incapable of standing up for themselves in the face of difficulty. Not only is this completely untrue, but it reveals our lack of understanding about what patience really is.

Patience is the strength to endure in the face of difficulty without over-reacting. It's a balance between self-control and endurance. It's hard to be patient because patience requires strength, fortitude, perseverance, and endurance. When we think of patience this way, we get a much better appreciation for those who are genuinely patient. The appropriate response should be to emulate that patience in the hope of incorporating this virtue into our own lives each day.

Patience is a powerful tool often unused.

"The strongest of all warriors are these two - Time and Patience." - Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoi