When I was a child, I spent a lot of time in the countryside. My grandparents had some land somewhere in the field, and a pretty big back garden. Early spring, was the time of sowing. There was a lot of activity back then, a lot of commotion. Then they watered the soil periodically to make sure the seeds sprouted.
They had to be really careful not to water them too much and drown the seeds, nor too little to reach them. When it rained, they were happy, it saved them from watering them. It was a gift from heaven. However, they had a certain discipline in taking care of what they sowed. Then they patiently waited for the plants to grow. They did not complain that the plant did not grow fast enough, or that the soil or the seed did not respond to them fast enough. Their confidence that they would get the expected result was unshakable.
Of course, weeds also grew among the sprouted seeds, but they knew it would happen, they took them as such, they plucked them, they did not get upset on the weeds, the soil, the sky, or who knows who else.
I think we have lost a few key elements: patience, discipline, trust, a certain relaxed attitude that has its place. Now we want everything as fast as possible, we think that we deserve it, we demotivate ourselves in seconds and get depressed (a term that people have abused in recent years).
Patience has the following synonyms, in the online dictionary: forbearance, pain, tolerance, restraint, self-restraint, resignation, stoicism, fortitude, sufferance, endurance, calmness, composure.
The antonyms of patience are impatience, intolerance, anxiety, nervousness, impetuousness.
It would be interesting to see how we each evaluate ourselves on the scale of patience and impatience.
The modern human plants the seeds, metaphorically speaking, then he waters them, once, twice, starts kicking, dissatisfied that the seeds do not respond quickly, like the beanstalk in the stories, then he frets, gets angry, falls into apathy, dissatisfaction, despair. If we do not have our immediate reward – if the client, our manager, the colleague does not answer fast, if others do not come to us, we forget to take care of the relationship, to water the planted seeds. We forget that any success requires effort, tenacity, a high dose of self-confidence, and confidence in others. We forget that patience does not have to be a traditional one but an active one, in the sense that, while waiting for the result, we mind our own life, keeping the same serenity our grandparents had.
Nowadays we call this serenity zen, mindfulness, yoga, we go to classes to relax, in order to remember that state we saw in our grandparents, most of us, but we didn’t seem to give it due importance.
After a long wait and rigorous work, harvest time has come. Back then it was a different work. But that time was definitely coming. Our grandparents harvested what they sowed, the seeds they cared for bore fruit.
What we do know is not far from such a life cycle. The success of the harvest is given by patience, dedication, expectation, discipline, and confidence that things will turn well if I know how to manage myself properly during this process.
Thank you for taking the time to read!