Day 78 - Try To Be More Patient

I am not a patient person. I never have been, it is who I am. But, I acknowledge that I really need to do something about that. Today I had to go to Best Buy to replace my daughter's phone. Her phone was stolen yesterday. Since we don't have a land line, she has to have a cell phone for safety reasons when she is home alone. Strangely, the stolen property did not try my patience at all. It was the replacement of the phone that pushed me over the edge!

I started this errand being very patient and nice to the salesperson. We worked out a deal that would allow us to get Hannah her replacement phone for $1, so I was really happy. That was at the beginning of the transaction. Two hours later, I was no longer patient. I was pissed off and ready to strangle anybody with a Best Buy shirt on. Everything that could have gone wrong did. It was lunch, so I was starving. Hannah was with me and just wanted to text her friends to let them know she had a phone again so she was difficult. That was when I saw myself in her. She declared "I never want to come back to this store again!" That was a little embarrassing, she said what I was thinking and obviously giving off with my body language. Hannah thought it was okay to be rude because I was being so obviously rude. Clearly, I need to work on my patience.

What do I do to change this? I am not even sure. I guess I need some advice on this one. How do I force myself to be more patient when standing in line? Waiting for a phone call? Waiting for my kids to get home? The list goes on and yet I have no idea what I need to do to become a patient person. What do others have in their personality that I don't? I know so many people who have the gift of patience, I am just not one of those people and I wish I was.