Read This If You Feel Like The Most Impatient Person In The World

I am the most impatient person you have ever met. Seriously.

Several years ago, I had my nose pierced and decided later that night that I didn’t like it. Instead of waiting until the next morning to have a professional take it out, I spent two hours in my bathroom in the middle of the night tugging and pulling on this little metal accessory, determined to get it out of my nose. I blacked out from the pain for a moment and came to on the cold tiles of my bathroom floor. And then I finished the job. All of that just because I couldn’t wait.

The problem with waiting is that it sucks. It takes so long to wait for something. Time basically stands still the minute we begin to wait.

Waiting for a future thing to happen forces our attention away from the present things that are happening. We stop living in the now and start obsessing over the future.

The problem with thinking too much about or imagining the future is that it never meets our expectations. The future doesn’t give a shit about the tiny details or circumstances we planned or imagined for it in our heads. The future happens however it wants to happen.

Why is the future such a stubborn bitch? Mostly because she has so many factors to consider while unfolding. All of these present moments that lead up to her big unveiling still have to be fostered and developed. And nobody is around to help her out. While the future is preparing itself, we are ignorantly waiting, pacing back and forth, fantasizing about it, practicing our speeches and picking out our outfits. We forget all about our present moments while fixating on the future.

And so, it takes forever to get there. We neglect the moments that we are in and so time stands still.

Time likes attention. When we focus on only one part of it, like the future part, the rest of it gets jealous and slows down on purpose. Spiteful little child, time is.

The only remedy is to turn our anticipation for the future into our gratitude for the present.

Being present in the moment is a universal concept that everyone seems to preach and most appear to understand. But few of us are brave enough to really do it.

I don’t mean to live like there is no tomorrow. I mean to live like today matters. Live like this moment is precious and each moment after is too.

And trust the future to unfold as best it can for you. Trust that you will know what to do in the moment without having to practice it over and over. And trust that the universe knows what’s good for you.