Forever En Route

Annie’s Take Away Tuesdays focus on situations I’ve reflected on and lessons learned from throughout my week. See what this week’s Take Away is.

The first step is admitting you have a problem, so I’ll just go ahead and admit it. I am impatient.

Whether it’s waiting in line at the store, dealing with customer service people over the phone, or getting stuck behind slow walkers on the street, patience has never been my strong suit. And being abroad where I am the “new gal” presents many situations where my impatience creeps up.

The biggest obstacle I have faced so far is making sure people understand what I am saying. Repeating something in different variations for others to understand can become a little tiresome and frustrating on both ends. It’s also difficult at times to understand what people are saying to me and what they really mean by it. They can say something in English that correlates as one thing to me, but something completely different to them. Add this to a work environment and you find that regular tasks take longer than usual simply because of a small misunderstanding.

Therefore, the Take Away for this week is the following: have some patience. When things aren’t working out your way, or seem to be taking a different (and somewhat longer) course, don’t stress over it. Use the opportunity to take a deep breath and look at the situation from a different perspective. There’s always something to learn, whether it’s about yourself or the person you’re dealing with.