The Space Between Patience and Impatience
by Michael Feeley
We live in the tension between patience and impatience every day. You’re waiting for the job offer. You tell yourself to be patient. You are patient—until you’re not.
This isn’t philosophy. It’s checking your phone every twenty minutes.
We’re taught that patience is a virtue and impatience is weakness. But that’s too simple. Patience can be wisdom. It can also be paralysis. Impatience can be anxiety. It can also be clarity.
The job offer doesn’t come. Your patience feels reasonable—you understand hiring takes time. Then impatience arrives: “Should I follow up? Apply elsewhere? Did I misread their interest?”
Here’s what we miss: these aren’t opposites to choose between. They’re both present, both real, both telling us something, both working together.
Patience says: give things time to unfold. Impatience says: you have agency here.
The wisdom isn’t in picking one over the other. It’s in listening to what each is trying to tell you—then deciding what action, if any, this moment requires.
Thanks – Michael (he, him)
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This matters too – Gratitude Eases Impatience.
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