“Patience is not the ability to wait but how you act while you are waiting.” - Joyce Meyer

This quote simplifies patience down to a situation that requires “waiting” for something, such as waiting for a late bus, or for someone who was supposed to show up to a meeting an hour ago. In these kinds of situations, one has no choice but to be resigned. You have to wait because what else are you going to do? Yes, you may be annoyed and frustrated, but sooner or later you will have to suck it up and just wait. The true nature of patience, however, shows up in more complicated occurrences. It shows up in situations that force you to choose between acting impulsively and prematurely or holding back your gut reaction, no matter how hard it can be.

Patience is a virtue. It is the most respectable trait and the rarest to find. You only know if you have achieved this characteristic once you have gone through testing times. These instances don’t have to be major calamities, such as being hit by a hurricane or a flood; it can be the littlest of situations that to you feel like being hit by a hurricane. How do you act in those situations?

Think of times you have been betrayed by your closest friend or when someone said something that hurt you. You feel incredibly upset because the last person you thought would be the one to betray you (your best friend) ended up doing so. You have every reason to hurt them back by avenging yourself or being mean towards them. If you did, matters could be worse, but they would also be justified. There is always two sides to a story and if someone heard the motives behind your action, they would understand why you did what you did. What makes a person unique, however, is when they do the opposite, when they are able to hold back their feelings and act in a dignified manner. No matter how much it hurt them and no matter how justified their reactive behavior would be, they maintain their calmness.

If you have been wronged, but you still find the strength to keep a smile on your face, then you have the noble and rare trait of patience. You are being patient by making a tactful decision to keep silent. You are being patient by believing in the good side of that person even after they showed you their true colors. You are being patient by believing things will get better even if it hurts in the moment. You are being patient by trying to silence any negative thoughts or emotions that you are feeling, even though those thoughts and emotions are valid.

Practice this by trying to exercise it in the day-to-day moments that call for it. Soon, you will acquire a trait that will make you strong enough to face any bad situation.