Patience is a Virtue

I was hanging out on irc this morning while reading the news, trying to help a friend, who is also a newbie out with a java programming question. Well, more accurately, I was standing on the side while the rest of the channel was telling him to go RTFM. My friend wasn't flustered, but was eager to want to learn everything right away.

...and someone pasted this link to the channel.

I've been struggling with this same thing in my head for... well actually for as long as I can remember. It doesn't matter if it was football, learning how to code, attempting to date women, performing research, or almost anything that requires some amount of patience. I get so easily frustrated when things don't happen immediately.

Case in point, my junior year of high school I was starting on an undefeated varsity team and was miserable because I thought I wasn't playing well. I wanted to be the best and I was upset that I wasn't. The reality of it is, however, is that it was only my 2nd year of playing football and such an expectation is unrealistic. Same thing occurs in my third year of college football. I was ready to quit because I thought I sucked. The reality was I had only started 2 games the year before and still had much learning and physical growth to do before I could be where I wanted. Once I finally relaxed and I did my thing over the next two years, had fun playing ball, and the end result was a few awards that went my way.

But the point here is not personal gratification. The point here is that things take time. I've been hacking on a Master's thesis that has taken me nearly a year (and it's still a crap shoot as to whether I can still crank it out in time to finish this semester). Is it because I suck at it? No... it's because I've only just started to try doing research-type things and I'm learning very slowly as I go. I get upset about it very easily when writer's block hits or when something I try doesn't work, but that's only because it doesn't happen right then and there like I'd wish it would.

My best friends have pointed this out to me as well. I can only work hard and let the rest take care of itself. You can't force life to bend at your will. You can only work at it and take what's given to you. This morning was yet another reminder of that... and somehow I'll have to keep reminding myself that everything worthwhile that I'm going to do is going to require patience and time.