Espresso: Patience in a 5G World

Living in West African villages my wife and I often find ourselves with very limited, slow, or non-existent internet. We frequently operate in a world of 3G or worse. This has created many times of frustration and irritation because we are used to the internet working extremely fast all the time. In retrospect, I am grateful for this though because it has instilled a newfound patience within me. Patience is becoming harder and harder to attain as technology makes things faster and easier everyday. Growing up I remember ordering something on ebay and hoping it would come in a couple weeks later. Now, I can order something on Amazon and often have it the next day! We used to wait for a new episode of our favorite TV show to come out every week and then sit through many commercials when the new episode finally came. Now, many shows can be binge watched with little or no commercials at all, so we find ourselves getting irritatd by inconsequential 30-second commercials. As great as these technological advancements are, they have caused us to expect all of life to operate with speed, and many things in life just aren't that way.

If I want to begin a diet or workout program, I know it is going to take time to see results. Yet, after a couple weeks of looking in the mirror and stepping on the scale seeing little to no change, I become discouraged and begin to question why I'm putting in the effort. However, if I stick to the routine, I will eventually start to see the results I hoped for. Some things just take a large time investement, and there isn't much we can do to change that. So how do we change our mindset and develop patience in such a fast-paced world?

I have personally found that there are still many activities and hobbies that take a lot of patience. Knitting, sowing, writing, reading, hiking, learning a new skill, baking, building, and painting are just some activities that are enjoyable but take a lot of patience. Instead of avoiding these, we should invest time in them. Patience is like a muscle. If it is never worked, it will become weak. When a moment comes that requires much patience, the weak muscle will cause a lot of pain and irritation. If the muscle has been continuously worked, the moment requiring patience will be much easier to endure. If you find yourself becoming increasingly impatient or irritable when situations requiring patience arise, take an honest inventory of your weekly activities. If you are not willingly partaking in activities that require patience regularly, why would you expect to have patience when you are forced to have it against your will? Stretch the muscle and keep it strong.