What a Necklace Can Teach You About Patience

What if I told you that a knotted necklace is all you need to learn about someone’s level of patience?

There are two types of people:

Type 1:

They are happy to help get the knot out of the necklace! Of course, let’s get that knot out!

They gingerly lay the thin chain of the necklace on the table,

examine the knot,

see which direction the tiny links are entwined,

move it delicately, slowly...

Maybe even employ some tweezers or safety pins to tease out those stubborn links shifted so precariously upon themselves….

It may take 5 minutes or 5 hours, but they will gradually pick apart that infinitesimally small knot so you can wear that necklace again!

Hooray, the necklace is knot-free!

Type 2:

They are happy to help get the knot out of the necklace! Of course, let’s get that knot out!

They lay the thin chain on the table,

Pick at the knot,

Pick at the knot from another angle,

What? Tweezers? No, we don’t need that, no time, we can get it.

They pick at it, pull at it, pull it at it, pick at--NO IT’S OVER THE NECKLACE CANNOT BE SAVED THROW IT IN THE TRASH BURN IT THE NECKLACE IS DEAD TO ME.

I am Type 2.

Patience is a virtue, they say.

Well, it was one virtue I was not blessed with.

My dad says it’s a Sherman family trait, so at least I get it honestly…?

What does this mean for us?

As we start to move forward in our “regular” lives again, after the Great Pause of 2020 thanks to #MissRona, we have to decide what/who to let back in.

So Karli, what should I do? What things should I go back to doing, or not doing?

Tell me what to do!

Give me answers!!

Well buckle up, buttercup, because here it is -

No one has all the answers for you.

You have to be patient and figure out your own answers.

And this is coming from a certified Type 2 zero-patience person.

Yikes, right?!

I can’t tell you what’s right for you, but I can give you some advice.

Be patient with your family, your professors/teachers, your coworkers, your kids.

Your bestie, your restaurant waitstaff, your next door neighbor, your doctor, your cashier.

Your facebook friend selling their wares online, your exercise enthusiast friend, your small business owner friend.

Your artist friend, your angry friend, your non-profit fundraising friend, your happy hour friend.

Your community leaders, your boss, your clients/customers, your pets.

…. Everyone is figuring this out together.

No one actually knows.

We are just trying to pull from our experiences and try what might be best.

Have you seen all these people and posts on the interwebs saying I have the answer! Here’s the answer!

Here’s your guide to working from home!

Here’s your self care checklist!

Etc Etc….

Well guess what - They don’t have all the answers either.

They are doing the best they can to figure it out too, and offering to share what they are doing in hope it helps someone else.

Which is wonderful!

But it’s not necessarily the magic answer to what’s going on in your life specifically.

They don’t have all the answers because no one does.

And that’s ….uncomfortable.

Karli, I do not like being uncomfortable, so what can I do? Like Right Now?!

Ok, I hear you. Try something with me:

Sit up

Straighten your spine

Relax your shoulders

Take a big big breath in

Let it out

Next breath, in through your nose

I wanna hear it, suck it in all the way down into your belly

Push it out through your mouth, blow your screen back with that air

Last breath in through your nose

Slowly fill your chest and belly

Let it out slowly through your mouth

Now breathe normally.

And just breathe.

Because we need to BE. PATIENT.

I can’t give you more patience in life, because I literally do not have any extra to spare, but I can tell you to breathe.

One of my professors in undergrad would stop class randomly and have us all take three deep breaths just like we did above.

She talked about how we don’t consciously breathe enough. But there is so much power in simply breathing.

It can be a physical, mental, or emotional game changer.

And it can help when you are running out of patience trying to get that knot out of the necklace.

Stop. And breathe.

And maybe you won’t throw away that necklace after all.

Or maybe you will, I don’t know, but isn’t that the point?!

You have to figure it out for yourself.

So be patient.

Take a deep breath.

And go.