Coping with Impatience: Finding Calm in Everyday Waits

I feel like I expend a lot of time and energy just…waiting.  The grocery store lines when only one or two lanes are open.  Sitting in traffic after a long day.  Waiting to be seen by a doctor.  It all builds up and becomes too much for me to handle sometimes. I find it incredibly difficult to manage my emotions and my temper in those moments. 

I’ve often wondered why I react this way.  Is it because I have unaddressed anger issues? Is it my autism—how my nervous system becomes overwhelmed so easily? Or am I just impatient? 

If I’m being honest, I think impatience is the biggest part of it.  I want things to happen now.  I want ease, not delays.  

When I feel stuck or helpless in a situation, I start spiraling into a negative headspace. I really struggle to get out of it.  Sensory overload only deepens the frustration.

Being in public heightens everything.  I get fidgety, irritable, and physically uncomfortable.  Sometimes I mumble under my breath and try to talk myself down from the edge. My mind just gets so loud that the only way to process it is by speaking out loud. 

It’s not easy to admit this.  It’s hard to feel like your emotions are just “too much” in a world that expects you to always be composed.  But I’m learning to shift my mindset. 

I’m learning how to breathe through the frustrations quite literally.  When I feel that agitation rising, I try to pause, take in some long, slow breaths, plant my feet firmly on the ground, and glance around without judgement or urgency. 

That’s the ultimate goal.  But right now? I’m starting small.  Deep breathing when I feel irritated.  A soft reminder that this moment doesn’t have to control me. 

It’s not easy trying to retrain your brain to stay calm in moments of internal chaos, but I’m working on it.  Every pause, every breath, every grounding moment, is progress.  

I’m trying to see these moments as an opportunity to be present and reconnect with myself.  To listen to my body.  And simply just be.

Do you have moments where impatience overwhelms you?
I’d love to hear how you cope or what helps you come back to center.

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.”

Anne Lamott