All We Need Is Just a Little Patience... Right?

im·pa·tience

  [im-pey-shuh ns]  Show IPA

noun

1.

lack of patience.

2.

eager desire for relief or change; restlessness.

3.

intolerance of anything that thwarts, delays, or hinders.

In today's society, everything is a click/push/(insert onomatopoetic verb here) away. Every song and book you could ever want can be purchased and downloaded within a few seconds. Tired of those pesky kids asking how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop? Google it and instantly be enlightened (although... they only offer a range -- the world may still never know). Information travels faster than the speed of light, so it's only natural that the expectation of instant gratification would trickle down into the psyche of post-graduates. As much as we might be fooled by the false sense of appeasement and comfort that instant gratification offers us in other situations, we most certainly cannot expect for success to follow as "instantly" or immediately upon graduation day. Should we be discouraged by this in the midst of everything else being accessible within minutes and seconds? Or should we settle for a certain degree of complacency that is required to "pay our dues?"

I often find myself wondering if  I should quiet my inner-restlessness in the name of patience. I recognize that as a recent graduate that I am going to have to "pay my dues" so to speak. To me, this means getting an entry-level job that doesn't necessarily satisfy all of requisites for a dream career and job environment. In fact, by this definition, it means that I might (and most likely will) have to take a job that I don't like or isn't "perfect" just to get some experience. While gaining this important work experience, should I be patient, bide my time, give it a year or two, and then get back out there? Or should I continue to let that restlessness grumble until it becomes a full-on roar?

I think what I'm trying to get at is that it's hard to silence the part of you that wants to have the dream career immediately, which can make it difficult to accept that you're going to have to settle at first. However, I think this isn't a bad thing per se -- in fact, it can be motivating. If a part of you is never complacent, then you're actively trying to make good things happen for yourself and if you're always trying, it's gotta happen eventually, right? One would hope.

Despite this impatience for "the dream career," I think it's important to recognize that you do still need to focus on the "right now." You can't always wish your current life away, impatient for what's going to come next and for your life to start. Fact of the matter is, your life is happening right now, and the key is to make the best of it right now. This doesn't mean that you can't prepare for the next chapter, but there are lessons to be learned and mistakes to be made (cliche, yes, I know, wah wah) In truth, this sort of patience is required so that you can gain valuable life experience from doing something that you simply don't want to do or aren't entirely interested in. By "settling" for now, you do learn something about yourself and what you want out of your next job and even out of life in general. Life is full of things that will happen to you that you just don't like or that isn't what you wanted, but you have to learn how to deal with them -- that's what makes you grow as a person. In the mean time, we can use that dissatisfaction and restlessness to motivate us and to focus on how to take the step towards something that will meet more of our credentials.

There needs to be some sort of merging of both extremes and both ends of the spectrum. It's time to find the middle man, use our desire for change and life to get moving to actually get moving and, at the same time, recognize that it is going to take hard work, self-realization and just a bit of patience (and maybe even luck) to make the step towards something great and better.