Impatient with family

If you are like me, you can be a saint to other people, and impatient with the people you love.

Strangers can bring out the best of us. We don’t know their history. We assume the best and give them space to make mistakes. Family – oh no. We know them too well. Or rather, we think we do.

We think we know when they are stalling or procrastinating or doing whatever it is to get out of a task or to complete some thing.

But often, I think I just think I know. We all make assumptions and sometimes it’s the assumptions we make about those closest to us that trip us up the most.  How many of us are willing to consider that what we believe our spouse to be thinking at any given moment might be wrong?  How many of us are willing to reconsider that our kid’s slow response to things may not be because they just don’t want to do it but because they are genuinely distracted by the cool patterns the light is making on the floor.

We all lose patience with family members. If you find yourself doing this a lot, maybe it’s time to challenge the assumptions you are making about the family member and ask them what’s going on instead.