Have a Little Patience

It's amazing what a short walk at 7:30am can do for clearing out the cobwebs and giving much needed perspective.

As mentioned in my last blog post, yesterday was spent mainly on my own as fella was away working and didn't get in until just gone 1:30am. As with most things in life, there were good bits, and not so good bits, but the day as a whole, yes I'll chalk up to a success.

Sometimes life throws you a bone and in a very random way, tries to teach you valuable 'life lessons' - you just have to be open enough to received I suppose.

This morning, whilst clearing the cobwebs, I realised that I had been given one of these life lessons.

Yesterday was a day off from work, and as there was nothing that needed doing that couldn't wait, the day was mine to do as I pleased with.

It all started in the morning. It was noted that our grey chicken has 'disappeared', and as the run was secure, meant one of two things - she was sick of the rain and decided to go 'indoor', or she went in to lay her first egg. I say to fella that I would keep an eye out whilst he took pooch for a walk.

Immediately I started to feel as if I was on a stake out, so set up camp in the conservatory with some binoculars, sat and waited. It was amusing watching the other three chickens like this, they weren't doing anything particularly interested, but it was still fun to just watch.

Then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a small bird land on the bird table, so zoomed in on it to see is I could tell what it was. I couldn't. I can spot robins, magpies and pigeons - that's about it!

One of my bug bears is not knowing. I want to know that those constellations are so when I look up I can go ah yes, that's such and such. I want to know what the different types of clouds are (don't ask I have no idea why I just do!) and as with many other things, I want to be able to recognise the different species of birds. It's really frustrating looking at a bird and thinking, so what are you then (apart from just a small bird that is!).

This was my window of opportunity, I grabbed a pen and pad, and about 4 different bird identification books. For the first bird I wrote down all the colourings first and then tried to look it up. It took me a while, but in the end I discovered it was in fact a Blue Tit.

Please welcome bird watcher extraordinaire! Honestly I spent about 4 hours consumed in watching the comings and goings of that bird table. We get a lot of Blue Tits, and after a while the novelty of seeing one wears off.

But nature has a funny way of rewarding the patient.

So I am sitting there, Blue Tit, Blue Tit, Blue Tit, another Blue Tit, oh hang on that's got different colourings on! Again I turn to the books, variation on a theme, but this time it was a Coal Tit! Doesn't sound exciting? Well they say variety is the spice of life, and yes, this not only spiced things up, it motivated me to continue to sit, and be patient, to see what else would drop by.

I never had myself down as a 'bird watcher', but I have to say I really did thoroughly enjoy the experience. It was quite a buzz watching, waiting, and then all of a sudden your patience is rewarded by something that isn't a Blue Tit or a Pigeon, or the reoccurring Robin! With every 'new' species that visited, I was able to search through the books, identify the bird, and read a little background on that species. When that species came back I could then go 'Ah, you're a Nuthatch, or whatever', and that is a very satisfying experience, be able to see something and know 'what' it is!

Whilst walking pooch at silly o'clock, my thoughts turned to yesterday morning, and that is when I realised that I had experience one of those 'life lessons'.

What would have happened if after the tenth Blue Tit landing on the table, I got bored or frustrated (is that all there is out there!), or perhaps lost sight of the real reason why I was sat there in the first place (staking out our grey chicken!). I would have been annoyed at myself because I'd just wasted half an hour of my life? I would have refocused my attentions onto something else, perhaps something less rewarding?

If I had of walked away the minute things got 'boring' or indeed at the times when all signs of life disappeared, I would have missed out, and wouldn't be where I am now - feeling quite humbled at the community that appears to have invaded our garden!!

When there was nothing to see, I'd divert my attention back to the chickens, or try and search the trees or the sky to see if i could see anything. Keeping an eye always on the bird table so that I could quickly go back to it when the birds decided to show.

It's the same for anyone who wants to get healthy and shift their excess baggage. You go on a diet, start off with great intentions, and then you get to the stage 'same thing, different day', you get bored, frustrated 'why aren't I seeing results yet!! It's been four days!', you get disheartened, and give up, walk away, do something else.

Well stop a minute will you? So you've decided to go on a diet, or just change your eating habits with the intention of becoming healthier. Remember how long it took for you to get like this in the first place? Well that's not going to be fixed over night - the magic lose weight over night weight loss fairy doesn't exist. I'm sorry to have to be the one to break it to you. It's like Santa or the tooth fairy, nice idea, but in reality, nothing in life is that free!

So what do you do? You practice being patient. You have faith that what you are doing will work - and you remind yourself of this every single day, every single night, and whenever your own El Saboteur pops up to say hello.

I learnt yesterday that nature has a way of rewarding the patient. How do predators get their dinner? patience! fishermen catch their fish? patience! NASA get man to the moon? Patience!! (oh and lots of money).

So you don't see results in the first three or four days - so what!? Have patience!! Keep your eye on the prize, have patience and before you know it, you'll be unexpectedly rewarded with a compliment 'my you're looking good, have you lost weight?', 'there's something different about you, have you lost weight?', 'wow you're one foxy lady, would you like to come out for a drink sometime' (sorry getting carried away with myself there!! But you see my point).

When you receive that compliment, store it away so that you can bash El Saboteur over the head with it later!! And if you're having a little trouble staying patience, change your focus. Continue your diet, but just focus your mind on something a little more fun / a new hobby, believe me, not only will you love the fact that you are living life, but you'll find the results will come much quicker!!