The world today is very fast-paced. Things happen as soon as you want them because of the internet, and this has made our generation quite impatient. The instant results we get from technology have in turn increased our appetite for instant gratification in other aspects of our lives. We have become an immediate gratification culture, and we expect things to move quickly, efficiently and in the way we want. When that doesn’t happen, we tend to become increasingly frustrated and irritable. Impatience is not good. It has side effects. Here are some:
Health risks
Impatience is linked to frustration, irritation, and even anger. Such emotions can raise our stress levels, which in turn can harm our health. It is a risk factor for hypertension, even among young adults. There are other health problems associated with the lack of patience. It is linked to obesity. Impatient individuals are more likely to gain extreme weight than people who are good at waiting. In some areas, inexpensive fast food is easily available at all times of the day, and many impatient people cannot resist the temptation.
Procrastination
Impatient people are likely to be chronic procrastinators. They feel compelled to postpone time-consuming tasks because they do not have the patience needed to bring the tasks to completion. The tendency to postpone can have serious consequences for the procrastinator as well as for the economy. Procrastination seriously affects our productivity at work and can cost people considerable amounts of money as impatient people postpone paperwork indefinitely or may not be patient enough to attend to customers.
Financial Woes
Impatience has been linked to higher debt levels. For instance, impatient newlyweds may want to have all the comforts of a home soon after the wedding, despite limited finances. So they buy the house, the furniture, the car, and everything else on credit. This practice can harm the marriage. Nowadays youth are so impatient that they want to be successful by all means, skipping growth. This has caused many to delve into illegal business and fraud. Impatience has led thousands of ordinary people to seek to acquire properties of much higher value than their savings justified.
Loss of Friends
Impatience can damage our ability to communicate. When a person does not have the patience to engage in meaningful conversation, he tends to speak without thinking. He may also get annoyed when others speak. Such a person does not have the patience to wait for others to get to the point of what they are saying. So the impatient listener may tend to rush others into finishing their sentences by putting words in their mouth or may try to find some other way to hurry the conversation. Such impatience can result in the loss of friendships. Impatience is not a very attractive quality. It will drive your friends away. These are just a few of the bad consequences that may result from impatience.
How to be More Patient
Identify the Causes
The things or situations that make you impatient have been called impatience triggers. What triggers your impatience? Are there specific individuals who try your patience? Perhaps your mate, parents, or children are the principal impatience triggers in your life. Or are your triggers usually time-related? For instance, are you likely to lose your patience when you have to wait for others or when you are running late? Do you lose your patience when you are tired, hungry, sleepy, or under some type of stress? Do you more often lose your patience at home or at work?
Simplify your Life
The brain cannot concentrate on several things simultaneously. Over time, multitasking erodes our ability to pay focused, close attention, and this eventually eats away at traits such as patience, tenacity, judgment, and problem-solving. It is difficult to cultivate patience when you are stressed from having too many things to do, too many places to be, and too many people to stay in touch with. Make time to enjoy life. Make time to establish deep friendships with a few people, rather than pursuing shallow friendships with a huge network of people. Budget your time, and set your priorities wisely. Beware of time-wasting hobbies and gadgets. In order to simplify your life, you may need to look at your daily routine. Where can you slow down or cut down? eliminate some time-consuming things so that you are not too busy to be patient.
Be Realistic
Have a realistic view of life. First of all, in real life, things do not always happen as fast as we wish. Accept the fact that time moves at the speed of time and not at the speed of your expectations. That is patience. Second, remember that you cannot always control your circumstances. Instead of losing your patience over circumstances that are beyond your control, try to identify things that you can control.
Although impatience doesn’t sound like a big deal, it can cause some serious problems. It can have an impact on our health, work, marriage, and overall happiness. Therefore, patience is a quality we should all try to cultivate.
