Patience vs. Passion

I wrote an initial post for this blog about how starting new things is hard for me. I included a poem from my poet-crush, David Whyte. Then I proceeded to start redesigning the colors, pictures and fonts for the blog and in the process deleted that first post!

Rather than rewriting that post and trying to get back into that train of thought, I'm moving forward and embracing my thoughts of today. Today, as on many days, I've been spending too many moments trying to plan my next moves in life rather than focusing on the tasks at hand. The main topic in my head is this: is it time to make a big change in my life, follow my illogical passions and take a risk or do I continue to exercise patience, spend time planning and saving resources, meanwhile slowly making changes? I've recently had two conversations with two different people and, not surprisingly, got two different answers. One person urged me to go for it, stop waiting, stop making excuses. The other person cautioned me to think before acting, to remember how much I value financial security, to be more specific about what my plans are before uprooting.

I read this poem by Maya Angelou today and it seemed to fit perfectly with my thoughts.

Seek patience 

and passion in 

equal amounts.

Patience alone

will not build the temple.

Passion alone

will destroy its walls.

I am equal parts annoyed and impressed by this reminder about how at every moment, no matter what the situation, we are always faced with the task of balancing extremes. As for my thoughts about my life, the answer is that there will be no answer just yet. Patience is winning again today, but we'll see what tomorrow brings!