What is Patience?
Patience is the key to relief and a happy life. It is a person’s ability to face hardships without complaint or irritation and to endure them. It is the ability to calmly spend time waiting for deliverance from suffering or difficult circumstances. Patience suppresses anxiety and tension and is the best expression of a person’s strength in perseverance and diligence to achieve their goals.
10 Common Myths About Patience
There are many myths surrounding the concept of patience. Here are the 10 most common myths about patience:
- Patience is passive: Many believe patience means waiting for hours, days, or even months without achieving the goal, as if a patient person just sits and watches the world go by. Sometimes, this causes doubt in their ability to endure, leading to frustration or what is called being impatient. However, patience is positive; it teaches perseverance, strength, firmness in decision-making, and faith in those decisions.
- Patience is a personality trait: Some say “I am not just a patient person,” as if patience is a fixed trait some have. But patience is a quality that every person can develop. Either they nurture it and it flows within them, or they neglect it and succumb to surrounding circumstances.
- Being patient is difficult: Many believe that patience is hard to attain, so some insist that it is impossible to become patient, leading to laziness, mistrust, and helplessness. But nothing is impossible; this myth contradicts the inner strength of a person to work hard and strive for what they want.
- Patience is an illusion: Patience is a false dream, chasing the impossible, waiting in vain. Contrary to this, patience is real, and its result is crowned with success and the achievement of hopes and goals, but with endurance and calmness during the passage of time. Certainly, nothing is impossible.
- Patience is waiting in vain: The myth that patience means waiting without any outcome is false. A person’s ability to endure patience reflects their faith and strength in facing hardships. A ship does not sail when stopped by the wind; it pauses and waits for the wind to pass, then continues on the right path. After hardship comes ease.
- The outcome of patience is bitter: The myth that patience always results in bitterness or negative outcomes is false. Though patience can be bitter, its outcome is sweet.
- Patience is a punishment: Many believe patience is a trial or punishment. This is completely contrary to the concept of patience. Patience is a difficult test with a good reward.
- Patience is failed hope: Some say patience means failure itself, but as the saying goes, the flame of hope lights up the darkness of despair, and the tree of patience bears the fruits of hope.
- Patience is self-denial: Some justify sins and continue down thorny paths surrounded by doubts, claiming patience is an excuse to deprive oneself of life’s pleasures. On the contrary, patience allows a person to taste the sweetness of faith and obedience, and the joy of following the right path.
- Patience is injustice: Some say patience is injustice to its owner, but patience is actually a symbol of victory and support, especially during trials and hardships.
Psychological Effects of Patience
After discussing the 10 common myths about patience, let’s look at the countless psychological effects of patience, including:
- Healthy mental well-being, as a patient person does not get anxious or stressed but is calm and relaxed while waiting for the fruits of their patience.
- Ability to make wise and rational decisions without relying on emotions, as over time a person becomes better able to judge matters they cannot immediately think through due to emotional confusion.
- A patient person becomes a magnet attracting others, as they are trusted and many seek to talk to them and learn from their experiences.
- Patience helps in setting goals and priorities one by one, especially in the long term.
