Recently I have noticed that my patience is running a little thin, especially when it comes to my son. Could it be because of the Shelter in Place order and only leaving the house three times in almost five weeks? Is there something underlying that by the end of the day my patience almost seems nonexistent? Do we come with a certain amount of patience daily or can we periodically recharge?
As I work with my animals I need to be very present with them and hold a lot of patience for each one. Try that when you have an almost three year old who wants your undivided attention. ALL DAY LONG. Now I am not complaining that my son loves to play with me and I have this wonderful opportunity to do it. I have to understand as well that this is probably pretty hard on him also. However, I am noticing that within myself I am struggling to do both. Animals feed off of our emotions and I can not allow my patience to run out with them or I may as well throw in the towel and try again tomorrow.
Mack really brought this to my attention last week. I was working with Mack in our round pen and I was preparing to get on him for the first time. It was an exciting adventure for us but a nerve wracking one to say the least. My husband, Frank, had to run to one of our job sites to check on it and so I had Ethan. Ethan was trying to play in the round pen when I had asked several times for him to play with the goats on the other side. Distracted with my mule, getting short with Ethan and worried that either Mack, Ethan or I could get harmed were weighing on my mind. I wasn’t giving my full attention to one or the other and my patience was running very thin. Instead of snapping at Mack, I in turn snapped at my son. Mack needs my patience in order to learn in a calm environment and yet, so does my son. I noticed in that moment my patience had run its course and my mood dramatically changed. By staying where I was and continually trying to do what I was doing was draining me. It did not put me in the right state of mind to be working with my animal and would ultimately do more harm. I needed to somehow recharge before pushing forward.
Does this apply to life? To my child, husband, work, family? I believe all this does. I believe having patience brings so much good into our lives. It changes our mental state, our outward emotions, how we interact with people and the way we react to a situation. I believe we have the ability to recharge and we are not limited to a certain allotment daily. The key is to take the time to recharge throughout the day and try not to let our patience run out. Maybe instead of continuing on the course, we need to stop, walk a way, take a different avenue and maybe revisit what ever it is we were doing or discussing at a later time. Sometimes we get so focused on finishing a project, or getting our piece said, or trying to make a three year old listen that our patience runs out and it does more damage than good.
In the end, instead of making my son listen to what he clearly did not want to do, I had him join in on the teaching moment. I stood back, took a few deep breaths and decided my son could play the role of a steer. He would happily, and full of laughter, run away from us while I tried, ever so non-gracefully, to throw the lariat to catch him. All the while Mack was to calmly stand next to me (which he did so amazingly). It was a blast for Ethan and full-filled his need for attention, a learning experience and teaching moment for Mack and a moment of recharge for me.
Do you notice yourself running out of patience more as of late? How do you recharge? Is there something that you can do throughout the day to try and replenish your cup of patience?