Shankar Vedantam

It's painful to acknowledge our relationships are not in a good place.

It can be demoralizing to contemplate a health problem that just will not go away.

That's where patience comes in.

If moving forward requires us to first accept where we are, it's patience that allows us to take that first crucial step.

The psychologist Sarah Schnitker once told me a story about a time her patience was sorely tested.

Sarah is Christian, and she loves singing in church.

But some time ago, she got some unwelcome feedback.

Sarah experienced this feedback as a deep existential crisis.

She felt rejected by a group that was supposed to embrace her with acceptance.

Angry thoughts bubbled up inside her.

If someone had a problem with her singing, maybe they should attend a different service.

Wasn't the whole point of church to celebrate faith?

How could her pastor be telling her to turn down the volume of her worship?

But rather than act with haste, she decided to practice what her own research into the value of patience had taught her.

She asked herself what her faith meant to her.

She pondered why she felt so hurt.

She gave herself time to think, to feel, to sit.

We all have moments in our lives when we know we need to exercise patience.

But knowing something and actually doing it are two different things.

When we come back, Sarah Schnitker shares what she has learned about putting patience into practice.