The Value of Patience and Perseverance

Many years ago, I received a gift of Rune cards. What are Runes? Wikipedia (everything is in Wikipedia it seems!) states that Runes are the letters in a set of related alphabets, which were used to write Germanic languages before adoption of the Latin alphabet and for specialized purposes thereafter. Just what are those specialized purposes you might be asking yourself? This is the fun part – Runes have magical powers!! They were often used in magical charms for protection and healing. Over 3000 rune stones were found in Scandinavia. Their origin has been documented in Viking history as early as 100A.D.

So why am I carrying on about Runes? When I received the cards, I pulled one every day to see what the day would bring. It was fun and a great topic of conversation with my co-workers. They started pulling a daily card for themselves. Consistently, I pulled a card where the meaning was – ‘stability, doing the right things, patience, perseverance, endurance. Decided what is the right way to get things accomplished in your life.’ Now all these years later as I look back, I see how accurate that prediction was and continues to be.

I was successful during that time in my life, but I was bored, and I knew that there was something else that I needed to pursue. I moved around to other jobs that were of interest to me but lost my motivation to stay in that position after a couple of years. My gut (subconscious) kept me looking but my frustration was escalating. A change of my plans was abrupt – a couple of automobile accidents had me reconsider everything. So back to school I went in my late forties.

Now I was excited each day about where I was going in my life. There was a big fear overshadowing me, however. I was in period of my life where I should have been at my prime earning potential and getting ready for retirement. Instead my efforts in transitioning all of my knowledge to paying positions were thwarted. Everything that I studied in preparation for my new career was really ahead of the curve of the norms of that time. Where I could see a need and address it was not even on the radar of my target audience. I was not even in my prime earning potential years – I was in my – no earning years. This was terrifying. My biggest fear was being realized. I applied for positions that I was more than capable of and had the ‘new’ education degrees to support that. I was met with ageist declines. I couldn’t even get an interview! It was then that my Rune predictions came into play. I had to keep going.

Patience is the strength of will to navigate the obstacles and challenges you will face as you work the process.

Perseverance is being relentless about doing what needs to be done for as long as it takes. You trust the process and you do the work. (www.focus3.com>blog>the-law-of-patience-and-perseverance June 11, 2019)

I am still in patience and perseverance mode. It may be like that forever. But I know that spreading the word about the importance of brain health is critical for all of us as we age.

Why am I pressing this ideal right now? Everything has changed for all of us this year. There is so much fear about our future. Those in their prime earning potential years might be without a job now. Panic over how to manage the future is starting to permeate all of our lives. Deep down inside us there is a solution. It might not be that quick fix that we all hope for. It may take patience to find what’s next and perseverance to make it happen. Once you release the fear, then your life seems more controllable. Find your ‘why’ (as in ‘why am I here’) and go for it. Patience and perseverance can make the unattainable – attainable.

Patricia Faust, MGS