TIME AND TIDE WAIT FOR NO ONE

 

    When we are born, immediately time begins to pass and we are bombarded with a myriad of stimuli.   Usually, all of our sense modalities are activated.  We can see, touch, taste, smell and feel.  It is now at this moment that we start to learn.  As a matter of fact, we don’t have to do anything because whoever is our caregiver will try to meet our needs.   However, we use our sense modalities as we become aware of what’s happening to us. It doesn’t take long for us to use them.   Again, as time moves on, we become more alert as to what is comfortable to us. Our learning is very rapid and we start to react by accepting or rejecting what is provided to us.  In essence, this short paragraph makes it sound like our early learning is very simple.  But it isn’t!  Each of us perceives the world from different viewpoints and we learn to behave in a variety of ways.  It is really remarkable how well so many of us learn to adapt to our environment.  I guess we can give some credit to our significant others who tried to lead or guide us in the right direction.  Although, our own insights have helped us too.  
    
    Nevertheless, as time has gone on, each of us has learned a variety of behaviors, some of which have made life easier or perhaps difficult. There is one behavior, in particular, I have learned over time which has been helpful and yet, very challenging. 

    Learning how to wait seems easy but, it just doesn’t happen without our being conscious about something we anticipate.  Waiting is the act of staying in one place or remaining still in expectation of something.  It’s really all about time and what we want may not be in the present.  So, it occurs in the future and requires one to have some degree of patience. It appears that waiting and patience are really not mutually separate concepts.

    Remember when we were children and we wanted an ice cream cone and mother said to wait until after dinner?  Boy!  That became a problem to wait and required patience.  Yes, and that necessitated the ability to not only wait but to also endure a delay in our desire for immediate gratification.  For some of us as we matured and became adults, that delay became easier to handle.  Life teaches us to face many conditions as we get older that are challenges to our patience and we often find it difficult to accept or overcome.  But fortunately, most of us have learned to cope well.  Some of us find it more difficult to face disappointments or adversities such as a job loss, illness and our physical or mental disabilities.  If we learned through life how to wait and use patience, we find our senior years more comfortable.