I Just Can’t Wait: I’m Impatient

Impatience is one of the hallmarks of our time. We have received a lot of mixed reports on this subject. Hundreds of articles and documents promote the idea of ​​adopting a calmer attitude towards life. At the same time, as a society, we value anything that helps us complete tasks faster. We have gotten to the point where we get frustrated once the internet takes more than two seconds to connect and load a page. And God forbid anyone who takes too long to accelerate at a traffic light that has just turned green.

It’s important to remember that impatience is a learned behavior. Although there are definitely people who react more forcefully to given situations, that does not mean a lack of patience. It is culture and education that instill an inability to wait or tolerate something happening slowly.

“Patience is the strength of the weak, impatience is the weakness of the strong.”

Immanuel Kant

Experts associate impatience with the inability to tolerate frustration. First and foremost, there is no reason that delaying the desired result should be a cause for fear. Nonetheless, on the one hand, we find ourselves feeling pressured by society’s demands to do everything quickly. On the other hand, there is a tendency in education to separate effort and results from one another. Our culture promotes the idea that someone should get what he or she wants. The earlier the better.

The impatience and the here and now

The emotional perception of time has seen significant changes recently. We place an inordinate emphasis on the present and the here and now. Therefore, we are saddened when we do not get immediate results. So we are inundated with the present. And it’s racing by faster than we can handle it. The result is that we are fearful.

The terms medium and long term have a negative meaning for many. We no longer value the process, instead we only see the result. The opinion that time is short and that we should not waste it is widespread. Because of this, everyone is in a hurry. Time is only a mark of competitiveness.

Until recently, delays hardly had a negative connotation. They have been viewed as temporarily inevitable happenings, especially in creative work. Everyone knew that there were developments that took longer than others. They were allowed to flow without rushing. Today this is almost impossible. This is why many people look for methods or shortcuts that will get them to their goal faster.

The irritability and impulsiveness of impatient people

Impatience is a tense thread that threatens to break at any moment. On one end is the effort you put into a project and on the other is the expected outcome. There is a period between the two that many people want to reduce as much as possible.

This is why impatient people are often in a constantly irritable state. They suffer from their greed for time and want everything to happen quickly. But nothing is fast enough for them. If something takes two minutes, they want it to be done in just a minute. And so it goes on and on. Since it is impossible for things to happen immediately, they get angry and frustrated.

Impulsive behavior is also common in impatient people. Your obsession with speed turns into a need to always act hastily. Often times, they don’t stop to think about what to do or what to say. Their first instinct is to react, although later on they often have to take back what they said or did. This only makes their irritability worse.

Overcome impatience

Impatience is not in your genes. It’s not part of your DNA. As we mentioned earlier, it is a learned behavior. From this perspective, it is possible to retrain your emotions so that you can display more constructive behavior. There are several ways to achieve this. But the most effective way is to be patient.

In the beginning you should take a slower rhythm for this. Avoid frustration. It is good to start with breathing exercises. With five minutes a day of breathing deeply and slowly. This simple exercise changes both the heart rate and brain activity. It will help you get rid of the feeling that you are wasting time slowing down or waiting.

It pays to be patient. Because the calmer you are, the more likely you will get good results. Likewise, you can better plan your time and have more appropriate emotional responses. You will increase that precious sense of self-control and avoid saying or doing things that you will later regret. Look for situations that make you wait a little. If your case is not pathological then this will be enough to make you a more patient person.