Why does it all come down to patience?

The other night I was lamenting to Marshall about how I feel like I will never improve in my running speed. (Granted, I have only been running for a month and a half now and have been making good progress, but I still want to be faster sooner.) They say speed comes over time and I believe it. But I still get frustrated that I am not increasing my speed as quickly as I want to. Am I really not Wonder Woman? What?! I lack this thing called "patience" when it comes to most things in life. If I had patience, my life would be so much easier.

Marshall, in his wisdom, taught me a very important lesson with his response. He reminded me of how angry and upset Rachel gets when we are reading scriptures and she comes across a word she doesn't know. Instead of asking for help, she gets mad because she can't read the word. Even though she has been reading for two years now and is very good at it, there are many words out there she doesn't know. Yet she expects to know all words she comes across. She has no patience for that which she cannot do or understand. As a parent, it is frustrating to watch her get so upset. I think to myself, "It's not the end of the world! It's just a word. We can learn it together and move on." But to Rachel, the sky is falling.

And here is where I say, "Light bulb!" I'm being just like Rachel. Often I am too hard on myself because I can't do what I want to do right away. I get mad and frustrated and I want to throw a tantrum too or crawl under the covers and hide from the world. Wah! I think we are all like that. Obviously, we don't get frustrated and throw a fit when we don't understand a word while reading, but how many other times in life do we get upset when things don't happen how and when we think they should?

I know my running speed will increase in time the more I work at my endurance. It will happen. I just need to be patient and humble enough to realize I cannot do everything perfectly, which is OKAY. I need to let myself be imperfect. We all need to cut ourselves some slack. Wonder Woman and Superman do only exist in comic books, after all. Sometimes I think I learn more from my kids than they do from me.