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Pursuing Happiness? Patience, Young Grasshopper

What is the old saying? Patience is a virtue? If you ask me - and I know you did – it’s more than that: Patience is a gift. It is also vital in cracking the safe surrounding ever-elusive happiness.

In the interest of time, I won’t get too existential on you in this forum. No need to thank me.

Now, I’ve always considered myself a patient person, as patience was long the most heralded quality of my late father. He was a friend to many and an enemy to none, working extraordinarily well with any personality type. He was also sincerely honest, kind and trusted by all who knew him. For me, this makes him someone more than worthy of emulation. But I digress.

The issue here is that patience isn’t simply about having a long fuse or remaining level-headed under fire. There is an entirely separate end of the patience spectrum; one that many - especially eager young professionals such as I - tend to disregard. Since I couldn’t seem to find a name for this type of patience, I’ve decided to come up with one on my own… I’ll let you know what it is when I think of it.

It has been exactly one year since I was forced to confront this particular end of the spectrum for the first time. It all started when I said final farewells to my beloved alma mater, the University of Colorado at Boulder (cue fuzzy flashback transition).

It’s a funny thing, graduating from college. There’s a whole lot of “hurry up and wait” followed by a series of sleepless nights, lazy days and a toxic dose of self-doubt. The last few weeks of classes represent the ultimate sprint to the finish, with students packing libraries and tossing back Red Bull by the gallon. Then, in the blink of an exhausted eye, it’s over. And then – if you’re like me – unemployment awaits. Oh, and you’re moving back home. Oh, and your peers are snatching up jobs left and right.

Or maybe that was just me.

Regardless, it’s easy to lose patience and wonder whether or not you will make it. A laundry list of questions seep into your everyday consciousness:

Why can’t I land an interview?

Is my résumé subpar?

Should I have gone to a different college?

Did I pick the wrong industry?

Am I not smart enough?

Am I not good enough?

Whoa. Take a deep breath, champ.

It’s a scary world out there, especially when you don’t feel a part of it yet. In the months between college graduation and signing on the dotted line, making my first “real” job a reality, there were many moments when I questioned everything from my intelligence to my hair style. Only when I relaxed, gave myself a break and made the decision to let the chips fall where they may did I even land that first interview.

In a way, finding happiness is like finding love – it sneaks up and bites you when you least expect it. Until that point, all you can do is prepare, be steadfast in your pursuit, be confident in your abilities, and worry only about what you can control. This is where that other type of patience comes in. Although, on second thought, patience may not be a strong enough word.

Faith.

There’s the word I was seeking. Not necessarily faith in a particular religion or worldly philosophy; rather, a broader faith that, in this crazy mixed up world, things typically work out the way they are meant to.

This leads to the biggest single lesson I have learned to this point in my infantile career: If you’re patient, have faith and stay true to your convictions, CIG will offer you your dream job… Or some variation thereof. Keep calm and carry on – happiness will be there in the end.

Believe it.

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