{"id":215,"date":"2016-12-31T20:59:59","date_gmt":"2016-12-31T20:59:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lynnricker.com\/?p=215"},"modified":"2020-05-19T14:01:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-19T14:01:58","slug":"time-to-tolerate-no-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/?p=215","title":{"rendered":"Time to Tolerate No More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. – Karl R. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are seemingly endless quotes about the finality of time, how it is our most treasured resource, and in short supply, although no one knows how much remains.\u00a0 It is a theme that has been studied and explored in many a song and poem, as each person contemplates his or her own mortality.<\/p>\n

Do not squander time.\u00a0 That is the stuff life is made of.<\/p>\n

Time Waits for No One<\/p>\n

You may delay, but time will not.<\/p>\n

Time, time, time, see what\u2019s become of me\u2026While I looked around for my possibilities.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As 2016 draws to a close, I find myself thinking about time; how I sometimes find myself rushing ahead, and at other times feel I surely must be standing still.<\/p>\n

In one of my favorite childhood movies, The Man in the Moon<\/em>, the father makes a comment to the mother about Reese Witherspoon\u2019s character being too big to go running about the countryside wild as a jackrabbit, to which the mother replies:<\/p>\n

Used to be she was too little. Now she’s too big. I guess she passed by ‘just right’ when no one was lookin’.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I think it\u2019s easy to wait, marking time for \u2018just right\u2019.\u00a0 As a young women starting my career, I used to worry my clients would question my experience based on my age.\u00a0 Now, I\u2019ve come to a place where I notice many of my clients are younger than I.<\/p>\n

Likewise, as a parent of young children it\u2019s easy to put off things, waiting until the kids are just a little older \u2013 to go on a trip, resume a family tradition, or visit a favorite restaurant.\u00a0 In a way this becomes marking time, waiting for \u2018this phase\u2019 to be over, until you come to a place when things will be right, or the conditions ideal.<\/p>\n

Nearly everyone can relate to the idea of waiting to do something you always dreamed you might. \u00a0In my youth, I enjoyed day-dreaming about the things I might do. \u00a0But as life races ahead, I wonder, hadn\u2019t I better stop day dreaming and start doing at some point? \u00a0What if \u2018just right\u2019 is right now?\u00a0 What if the conditions may never be ideal, but I can choose to stop waiting?\u00a0 What if I decide to do the thing I dreamed I would, knowing tomorrow may never come?<\/p>\n

Behind our house our backyard slopes gently up\u00a0a hillside.\u00a0 Adorned with a semi-circle of trees, the hill is a compilation of tree roots and large rocks.\u00a0 This along with changing sun, shade, and moisture creates a challenging planting environment.\u00a0 Only the hardy thrive, and most often the hardy are weeds.<\/p>\n

For years we looked the other way while weeds ran rampant.\u00a0 In the spring we would pull, trim, and lay mulch.\u00a0 In early summer we would plant, full sun in one section, shade tolerant in the other.\u00a0 But, it was all a mere band-aid.\u00a0 In truth, it was something we just tolerated.<\/p>\n

As humans we can tolerate a lot. \u00a0This adaptability is one of the things that prolongs our survival. \u00a0A less-than-ideal neighbor, an unpleasant situation, there are some things that are better tolerated, but there are also things we can tolerate, but don\u2019t have to. \u00a0There is a difference between adaptability, and change we choose for ourselves, lest we fall into apathy.<\/p>\n

Late this fall, I mustered up the will to tackle the hill, maybe not once and for all, but more than a band-aid.\u00a0 For three days, I pruned and pulled.\u00a0 I found muscles I didn\u2019t know could hurt from using a pick ax.\u00a0 I must have removed several hundred brambles, tiny trees, and invasive thorny bushes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s amazing how this task changed my week, even my month.\u00a0 I felt emboldened by removing it\u00a0from my to-do list where it had gathered dust for years.\u00a0 It was energizing and confidence boosting.\u00a0 If I could accomplish this seemingly small thing, what else could I do?\u00a0 That distracting pile of folders in my office that sapped my motivation, gone. \u00a0\u00a0Why had I waited so long? It produced uncharacteristic boldness, and I tackled other unpleasant chores with verve.\u00a0 I was tired of accepting things that I could in fact change.\u00a0 I found I was more scared of the answer to the question – If we accept these failings, what else can we learn to live with?<\/p>\n

Patience is a rare virtue; life certainly involves a lot of waiting, but I don\u2019t want to wait if I don\u2019t have to.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want 2017 to be a year I wait to do things with the kids until they\u2019re older, or hold back on dreams until the time is right, or wait to fulfill goals until things are easier.\u00a0 Time promises no guarantees.\u00a0 Even if more time were certain, I want to fill our days with joy and love now.<\/p>\n

What I do today is important because I\u2019m paying a day of my life for it.<\/p>\n

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We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. – Karl R. Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies There are seemingly endless quotes about the finality of time, how it is our most treasured resource, and in short supply, although no one knows how much remains.\u00a0 It… Continue reading Time to Tolerate No More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-posts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p78aL7-3t","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=215"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/215\/revisions\/221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lynnricker.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}