So says Paulo Coelho in his landmark novel, The Alchemist.
Today is the day that I launched a business that I have spent more than four years preparing. Never in my life have I worked on a project for so long prior to its being ready for primetime. One may naturally conclude that I chose the Coelho quote in reference to my desire to see my business through to fruition. In fact, while the business has something to do with my motive, the picture is actually bigger... as was the desire.
I am not what one would consider a patient person when it comes to timeframes. I get things done quickly and efficiently. I've been told I'm patient when it comes to people, but a dear one pointed out that the correct quality when dealing with people who are slow to grasp concepts may not be patience, but tolerance.
I've had fulfilling business ventures commence and conclude in less time than it's taken me to get my current enterprise off the ground, but in retrospect, I wouldn't have it any other way; because the experience has given me what I wanted even more than the business. It's given me the opportunity to cultivate patience.
An example of the universe's conspiracy to help me occurred just a couple of weeks ago. I'd been working on a series of videos for the big launch and was down to the very last one of about a dozen. Each video was an undertaking in and of itself, and I could hardly wait to have the entire series done. After creating the final video, I hit the upload button and nothing happened. I hit it again... same thing. I spent the entire evening, hours on end, trying different tricks and workarounds in order to get the darn video onto Youtube. I actually re-did the video about 8 different times. By late night I was out of options and out of ideas. I decided just to quit worrying and face it all again in the morning.
The next day I woke up grateful for a good night's sleep, and while I had no idea how I was going to rectify the upload problem, I was just happy to know that there was an answer somewhere. I opened my laptop and was floored by what I found. I'd been conspired against, in my sleep. It turns out all of the videos (nearly 20, all told) had successfully uploaded. They'd just taken their own sweet time to do it.
While I was thrilled that my problem had been solved, especially without additional effort, what impressed me much more deeply was the lesson I learned about the good that is always taking place on our behalf, whether we know it or not -- often, behind-the-scenes. I'm so grateful for this small example of grace, and look forward to growing in patience with each passing day and project.
xo
J.
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