Patience is one of those virtues that’s easy to admire but hard to practice. In a world that moves faster every day, waiting feels almost unnatural—like time is slipping through our fingers if we’re not constantly in motion. But if I’ve learned anything from writing and life, it’s that the best things often take time.
This week, I was reminded of the quiet strength patience requires. Whether it’s letting bread rise in the kitchen, waiting for spring flowers to bloom, or sitting with a story that doesn’t yet know how it wants to be told, patience asks us to trust the process. And trust, as it turns out, is a form of courage.
The Slow Growth of Ideas
Writing is a craft that demands patience. Not every story reveals itself all at once; some arrive like whispers, too soft to hear clearly at first. One of my favorite stories took years to grow—what started as a single line scribbled in a journal eventually blossomed into an entire world.
In that early line, I had written, “The garden wasn’t hers to keep, but it grew for her all the same.” At the time, I didn’t know who the “her” was or why the garden mattered, but the idea stayed with me. It sat quietly, waiting for the right time to unfold. Years later, it became the heart of a story about resilience, love, and the things we care for even when we think we don’t deserve them.
The Patience of Nature
Nature is the ultimate teacher of patience. Seeds don’t bloom overnight. Rivers carve canyons over centuries. Even the tallest trees started as tiny saplings. This week, I noticed the first signs of crocuses poking through the winter soil, and it struck me how much trust it must take for those flowers to wait beneath the ground, believing their time will come.
That trust inspired a scene I wrote about a character who plants a tree for someone she loves, knowing she might never live to see it reach its full height. It’s a quiet act of hope, a reminder that patience isn’t passive—it’s a choice to believe in what’s yet to come.
Practicing Patience in Life
Patience isn’t just for writers or gardeners—it’s for anyone navigating the slow, uncertain parts of life. It’s for waiting on answers we can’t rush, for working toward goals that take longer than expected, for finding peace in the pauses.
Lately, I’ve been practicing patience with myself, especially on days when I feel like I’m not doing enough or moving fast enough. Instead of rushing forward, I’ve been giving myself permission to pause, to breathe, and to trust that I’m exactly where I need to be.
How Do You Practice Patience?
What’s something in your life that has required patience? A goal, a relationship, a dream you’re still working toward? Or maybe it’s something as simple as waiting for a pie to bake or a sunset to appear.
I’d love to hear about the ways you’ve learned to wait, to trust, and to find strength in the quiet moments.
The Beauty of Slow Growth
Patience isn’t about doing nothing—it’s about believing in the power of slow growth. It’s about nurturing what matters, even when we can’t yet see the results. And it’s about knowing that the most meaningful things in life are worth the wait.
So here’s to patience: the quiet, steady kind that reminds us to pause, to trust, and to keep tending to the seeds we’ve planted. Because when the time is right, they’ll bloom. And the wait will have been worth it.
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