"Be patient with yourself. You don't have to make a huge leap to make changes in your life. Everyone's looking for the lightning strike, the epiphany, the Moses-and-the-burning-bush moment. There is something very dramatic and exciting about that. But it doesn't often happen. It's more like a trail of breadcrumbs - it's a scavenger hunt. I know people have read Eat, Pray, Love and see this big, dramatic journey, but there were three years of a collapsing marriage before I did anything. It wasn't as if I came home one day, and slammed the door very cinematically and walked out with a squeal of tyres on the gravel drive. I cried every single day for three years, looking for other solutions, and cried for three years after. We all want the short cut. We long for "aha" moments when we are given the answer. And yes, they do come. But then you still have to fix the 20 things that need to be fixed. What we need more than anything is patience and self-forgiveness - as well as being able to forgive others - because change is not an easy thing to do."
- Elizabeth Gilbert, Author of Eat, Pray, Love
In my personal experience, even with a strong desire, much focus and hard work, change is a process. We're dealing with genetics, upbringing, past relationships and experiences. I've heard a lot of people talk about how, surprisingly, life doesn't get easier as we age. You'd think we would be less sensitive over the years, but a certain amount of post-traumatic stress seems to haunt us. So, yeah, patience and forgiveness for self and others sounds like a really kind (and realistic) way to go.
Blessings,
Chatgirl
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