Every few months, I try a new skincare line.
Not because I work at the counter of some hip store that’s always bringing in cool-looking new beauty products.
Not because I’m a dedicated beauty blogger who wants to review products personally before she recommends them to her readers.
I try a new skincare line every few months because I hate waiting.
If I don’t see immediate, holy wow! results, I’m unimpressed. Ready to move onto the next thing.
And this anti-patience vibe appears elsewhere in my life too.
If I drive 20 minutes out of my way to go to the post office and there’s a line more than 5 people deep, that package is not getting mailed that day.
When I decided that I was ready for the love of my life, I was all “Uh, hello, Universe. Where the heck is he?!?”
For years, I thought this was the mark of a driven, with-it, ambitious woman. I’m busy. I don’t have time to wait for things to happen. I’m making stuff happen.
But lately, I’ve started to receive blessings left and right that I can see now were not the result of me charging into the wilderness with my spear, ready to pounce.
These blessings have come because I let things just be.
I stopped racing on to the next person or the next face mask or book and fully relaxed into being with that one thing for a while.
(Sidenote: it did not always feel like relaxation. Sometimes the repetition of doing the same thing over and over felt monotonous as all hell.
But for reasons I can’t quite recall, I decided to stick with it. I found creative ways to freshen up each experience so remaining consistent wasn’t so much of a bore anymore. )
I’m a huge supporter of Quit it Hard + Fast thinking. When something isn’t working, whether it’s the supposedly waterproof mascara or the relationship you’ve poured years of heart and energy into, draw up the courage to END it.
But.
Sometimes, we quit things too soon. We give up before the giving up season has truly arrived.
And this means that we lose out on the benefits of that new moisturizer. We don’t enjoy deeper passion and intimacy in our relationships. We miss the life-changing epiphany that would have happened if we’d kept reading the book.
Sometimes, we quit too soon. So be careful of your quit.
The results you were hoping for could be just around the corner. Maybe a little waiting isn’t such a bad thing after all.
Love,
Annika
PS. Is there something you’ve quit recently that maybe, you didn’t give a full chance to? How do you tell the difference between a healthy quit and a rash, impatient one?
